Through sheer luck, I have been away on holiday while Dudley, Eunice and Franklin swept through, but in this calm after the storm, the effect they had on the River Wharfe is visible everywhere. Matted wads of grass, vegetation and detritus hang in branches like ragged nests, sometimes 10ft or so above the current level of the water. Parts of the bank have been scoured and disfigured; trees have toppled and snapped. A pair of grey wagtails flit across an alder that has crashed into the water, yellow plumage glinting brightly as they explore this altered component of their riparian world.
River flooding is, of course, a natural process, and the life in and around rivers can adapt to, and sometimes even become intertwined with, the effects of deluges. In general, though, the increasing frequency and severity of floods is awful news for wildlife – wetlands suffocate, washed-away topsoil stifles the aquatic ecology, and invertebrate populations die as gravel beds are ripped out, providing less food for fish, and less prey for birds like the kingfisher.
Upstream, I am startled to see the leathery carcass of a sheep dangling from a sycamore branch, suspended by its hind legs. It’s a pitiable sight, but it makes my thoughts journey upriver, to the landscape of heavily grazed sheep pastures and treeless moors which the Wharfe drains.
The political dialogue around flooding often mistakenly – or cynically – counterposes the aims of conservation and flood prevention. But when looking at rivers as a whole, measures such as reforestation, moorland restoration and the reintroduction of “lost” species like beavers have all proven to be extremely beneficial for – among many other things – helping to control flood peaks.
Hard flood defences have recently been built here in Otley, at a cost of £4m. They prevented local homes from being deluged in the recent storms, though the Wharfe burst its banks elsewhere. But more ambition is required to implement the natural remedies needed to rise to the challenges of this increasingly extreme era. Ambitious solutions have the potential to benefit everyone.
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