The Fens

A very interesting description of the present problems and the proposed future solutions.

Chris, will the proposed 6 pumps all be used at the same time or does number this include for redundancy?

Given the capital investment, one would hope that provision has been made for at least one standy by pump (preferrably 2) to be included, and that absolute levels can be maintained by using only 4 out of the 6 pumps.

A most interesting article Chris. This probably means that we may have a major catastrophy looming if something isn't done soon.

I had no idea that the pumping equipment was so old.

Ron,

you will well remember when the River Idle used to flood a quarter of a million acres of land between Bawtry and Idlestop. To alleviate this flooding the river authority of the time de-silted the river and installed what were then the largest pumps in Europe - capacity of a quarter of a million gallons an hour if my memory serves me correctly.

We worried about the consequences at the time but had no need to in the long run. We don't see the flooding of old - axcept when the greenies ask for the gates to be closed to create artificial floods for the sake of the 'rare' marsh marigolds (No matter that a years fry is lost or thousands of little furry things drown).

No, the river is now better regulated. The gates are dropped and flood water is pumped into the Trent against the tide which would have run upstream in the past and overloaded the Idle system.

It's all about responsible management of water flows and never forget that pumps cost a lot of money to run. My best advice to the local anglers is to get political. Whether you like it or not you should be making formal representations now regarding how the pumps will be managed. It means attending meetings, asking questions, behaving responsibly but at all times professionally. Work with the people and you'll do okay but do it now. Tomorrow is always too late.

A very good point Bob. As one who loves the fens I concur whith what you say.

I have fished the Idle from a child. It was 45 minutes bike ride from where I lived. It always had class roach yet a genuine 2 pounder is a rarity. Lots of pounders though. Idle roach are some of the prettiest in the country.

The Idle used to be a tributary of the Don until that 17th century Dutchman Cornelius Vermuyden changed it's course. The river got it's name apparently due to the fact that it was very difficult for boats to navigate.

So it became "Idle" as it were.

Slightly off-topic, but yes I do know the history. The river formerly ran due north from Idlestop and discharged into the Don.

Drop in at Lindholme lakes sometime and consider the width (and depth) of the main lake. It will give you some idea of what the Idle was like in the past because the Lake is the last remaining part of the old course.

The man-made section runs approximately 4 miles to West Stockwith, discharging into the Trent. The work was undertaken as part of a project to drain the Thorne 'Wastes'. Other works included digging the Dutch River up towards Goole.

Back in those days Bawtry was a port. 48-foot lighters took materials like Millstones from Derbyshire, Wool from Yorkshire, etc, to Stockwith.

Bawtry's importance waned when John Grundy built the Chesterfield Canal in 1770. That and the coming of the railways.

Go under the railway arches in Bawtry at the back of the kids playground and you will find the old course of the river, now overgrown. I used to fish this channel in flood conditions prior to the de-silting of the main river and the introduction of the pumps.

The railway viaduct was built on the river bed of the old course of the Idle, the railway engineers diverted the river to run parallel to it. There used to be a weir at Bawtry, owned by the railway, but that has since been removed.

God, I'm getting boring now! The Pilgrim Fathers left Scrooby and began their epic journey to America from the port of Bawtry.

Enough. Back on topic. What are these Fenland tigers going to do then? Put up or shut up? It won't go away guys...

You're not boring me Bob. I love anything connected with angling history, or the history of Britain for that matter.

No it won't go away. I wonder what will happen if we get a huge deluge into the Middle and Upper reaches of the Ouse, Welland, Nene, Witham and other rivers of the fens?

It's my understanding that these pumps are designed to be used when the water levels on the seaward side are higher than those on the land side.

When it's higher on the land side you simply open a gate (is that right?) The level of the river or drain is then regulated according to the EA's requirements.

Rivers like the Witham and Ancholme are lowered in winter anyway, anything like three feet below summer level.

When heavy rainfalls are predicted the pumping generally starts before the rain hits us, thus giving extra capacity in the drain system above.

Ecconomics will drive everything. The pumps will only be used as and when required and the likelyhood of some idiot pumping the fens dry is pretty far fetched.

My reading of the situation is that anglers are concerned someone could run the pumps flat out and make the fishing difficult but the real threat is surely if they fail and the water backs up for an extended period of time causing massive floods.

Dunno really. Any of you locals care to enlighten us foreigners?

I'm interested to know how they propose to route the incoming tide whilst the new pumping station is being built downstream?
I understand the priniple of a cofferdam having worked on a couple of small ones, will they construct a section at a time?
I imagine the EA
would have a large interest in this due to potential pollution problems.

A high spring tide and a north-easterly piles up the ide in The Wash and there have been imes when the water's been almost to the top of the sluice in recent years.

Spares for the current pumps are getting harder to source and they reckon in future they'll sometimes need to run all six pumps at a time.

The coffer dam at Salter's Lode a few years back was enormous, this one will also be pretty big, I think they plan to route the outfall around it so they can still pump while it's being built.

Some of the drains aren't pumped. The South Holland is just let out into the Nine via a gate between tides, but this won't work in the southern Fens where levels of the drains and much of the land is so far below sea level.

Anglers fear whole generations of fry have been washed out to sea and you hear stories about the shellfishermen finding dead bream, zander etc on sandbanks in The Wash.

The Relief Channel has has croys (artificial reefs) installed in some places so fish can shelter from excessive flows. It's also got rushes either side where the fish can tuck in out of the way.

If the pumps need sorting out, then it has to be done, the drains were'nt put there for us fishermen. All I can see that would be of help to fry and other fish is the creation of more fish reefs. Then again I've heard of bream going right up to the locks on a high tide to munch on the shrimp that come over. If them bream are still there when the tides down and the gates open right up, then they get minced or washed out. How can that be prevented?
Them fry need to be fit and healthy enough when them big flush throughs happen, if theres a low stock of natural food for that year, then there out the gates I suppose.
If people keep fishing the fens, then they stand a better chance. It was'nt long ago where we were all being told off for chucking away left over bait into the rivers. Not long ago I read about a river that had a pollution incident that wiped out the tiny natural food sources that the fry depend on. Anglers were urged to fish the river to feed the fish.

Bob said "We don't see the flooding of old -except when the greenies ask for the gates to be closed to create artificial floods for the sake of the 'rare' marsh marigolds (No matter that a years fry is lost or thousands of little furry things drown)".

Come on Bob - why is a fish more precious than a marsh marigold ??

Having studied Environmental Science at East Anglia University I got to know this subject area reasonably well. The building of the fens and other drainage systems in and around Norfolk, Lincolnshire etc, and their subsequent maintenance, has done untold damage to numerous species of flora and fauna all over the area.

Also, not only did the land ?shrink? when drained, which exacerbated the issue of the land being low lying, it also had an impact on the whole chemistry of the soil and water. Effectively land that was regularly flooded could now oxygenate, thus creating a very different ph etc.

So when I read about subjects like this, while I love fishing, I think we need a more holistic view.

Apart from this, most of the farming is either heavily subsidised and/or goes to creating more wasted food mountains, so give the fields back to nature !

Seen that happen this year re: the fields.
Watched the drainage board take 1ft of water off the river Glen to fill a small drain. This happened while the river was extremely clear and about a week after cutters had been down to cut and clear the weed. Luckily a week or so after the 1ft of water had been taken off the Glen, we had alot of rain. Which was then flushed out quite quickly so that residents in Surfleet were not under water again. Also noticed that the fields around the drain that had been topped up were absolutely water logged for a few weeks after the rain, just was'nt possible to work on the land. Who was winning, I don't know?

Chris said: "they reckon in future they'll sometimes need to run all six pumps at a time."

I can hardly believe Chris (and I am not doubting you at all) that they are entering this project with an inbuilt design fault of having no back-up pump capacity.
How the hell are they going to cope with periods of planned maintenance, or worse still breakdown maintenance, when they need all 6/6 pumps?

Who are the design engineers?

Tarquin

The Idle is not in the Fens so your comment re: untold damage is not relevant.

If marigolds require water to survive then they should be relocated to existing marshland. It is not our responsibility to create artificial marshes just to suit an erroneous flower.

Deliberate flooding of surrounding fields in springtime sees the water temperature in the fields rise disproportionately to the main river course. This encourages the fish to move into the warmer water and inevitably triggers spawning. Consequently we lose a whole year's progeny because they get left behind in pools as the levels drop.

This is not supposition, it's a fact as any of the anglers who have been involved in the subsequent fish rescues will tell you. Predators have a field day with the mature roach, bream, chub and dace. Large numbers of carp to over 24lb, bream to near 7lb, roach to 2.5lb, chub to 5lb, etc., have been rescued and returned but many are missed.

The term decimate is often used wrongly. It means to reduce by a tenth. It's a fair assumption to say that the river is genuinely decimated by these wolly hatted actions. When that happens ten years in a row the impact is huge.

Fish more important than marigolds? I say yes. You can grow bluddy great marigolds in a very small garden if you really want to. Try that with fish.

What next, let's recreate dynasaur habitat, just in case? Rubbish. If you want to mollycoddle rare plants, create the right environment for them in managed, self contained areas. Please don't tell me that it's okay to decimate entire fish populations for the sake of a few precious flowers.

Sorry mate, I don't agree!

Sorry Bob, I cannot disagree more with you!

Not our responsibility to create artificial marshes ?!?! I have no knowledge of the Idle specifically, my comments are just based on the studies I did.

Numerous native species have been wiped out by drainage of land, and the subsequent clearance of the ditches and drains of vegetation that at least provided some semblance of a habitat, and not just in the Fens.

Protection of native species, be it Marsh Marigold or something else , is equally as important as protecting fish species. These drained lands are the artificial land, and keeping some in their ORIGINAL state, be it marsh or water meadow, should be welcomed.

Don?t get sidelined by the Marsh Marigold, lots more plants and animals are at risk. When you decimate these species, you are effectively wiping them out as they have no more natural habitat, which is hardly the case in Angling where numerous artificial havens are being built.

Sorry....got my name back now.

I can hardly believe Chris (and I am not doubting you at all) that they are entering this project with an inbuilt design fault of having no back-up pump capacity.
How the hell are they going to cope with periods of planned maintenance, or worse still breakdown maintenance, when they need all 6/6 pumps?

The back-up comes in terms of the fact they plan to install electric pumps with back-up in the form of mega diesel-powered generators.

At present they have two electric and two diesel pumps, if memory serves me right.

The diesel ones are the older and more prone to breakdowns.

Clearly the worst possible disaster of a severe storm/flood could cut off the power around there, which would leave the electrics unable to function.

Glad I live up the coast on top of a cliff sometimes either way.

Update on this is Flood Minister Elliot Morley has today announced funding will be made available for the new station. I've spoken to the chief engineer and he says they'll also be raising banks along some of the more vulnerable drains.