{"id":1819,"date":"2019-12-06T11:46:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T11:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/?p=1819"},"modified":"2019-12-10T10:03:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T10:03:19","slug":"winter-on-the-brook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/12\/06\/winter-on-the-brook\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter on the Brook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Letcombe Brook looks very different now and is much more visible with all the overhanging branches now bare of leaves. It\u2019s a good time to try spotting trout as there is less cover for them to hide in but they are still well camouflaged and it can take a few minutes to get your eye in.  Good spots are the mill pool at Mill Street Wantage and the stretch alongside Betjeman Park.  In Grove I can usually find one lurking just downstream of the footbridge at Mary Green. Trout spawn at this time of year so look out for reds \u2013 the spawning hollows they form in the bed of the river \u2013 let me know if you spot one, I am keen to try and work out which bits of the river are most important for the resident brown trout population.  The Wild Trout Trust have some great information on spawning, follow this link https:\/\/www.wildtrout.org\/content\/trout-lifecycle<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trout spawning sites – Reds- show up as shallow depressions of bright clean gravel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Water voles become less active at this time of year but do\nnot hibernate so you might still spot one munching away on some sedge at the\nwater\u2019s edge.  Unfortunately, the\nresident male otter was killed on the road at Grove at the end of October which\nwas really sad.  There is still\ndefinitely one otter still using the brook though and I am hopeful a new male\nwill move in soon, fingers crossed, we are so lucky to have them in our\nneighbourhood!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work parties at this time of year focus on pollarding and\ncoppicing bankside trees to let more light into the brook \u2013 essential for the\ngrowth of aquatic and marginal plants that provide food and shelter for all the\nanimals using the brook.  The work also prolongs\nthe life of the trees and prevent them collapsing into the water and increasing\nflood risk.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Willow responds well to regular pollarding, starwort responds well to the extra light!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Flooding has been all over the news lately and it’s something that we all certainly need to be more mindful of.\u00a0 If you are lucky enough to live near a river it is worth thinking about your flood plan \u2013 there is good advice in the Flooding<\/strong> section of this website with links to further guidance.\u00a0 More focus has been put on reducing flood risk with natural measures \u2013 \u201cslowing the flow\u201d and storing flood water in the environment rather than just dredging everything and just sending it all downstream to flood the next town or village.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landowners can play a huge part in this \u2013 tree planting on\nslopes to help the water to get down into the soil, taking measures to prevent\nsoil erosion and keeping precious topsoil on the fields not in the river where\nit can add to pollution and increase flood risk.  Setting low lying areas aside to act as flood\nstorage helps reduce peak flows and is great for wildlife but we need to find a\nway to encourage landowners to do this. \nIts only right that they should be compensated in some way if it means\nlosing productivity.  Unfortunately, due\nto the underlying geology and lack of places where the river is connected to\nits floodplain there are very few opportunities for these sorts of measures on\nthe Letcombe Brook.  I am keen to talk\nwith any landowners that feel they might be able to help with flood alleviation\nthough and will continue to look for opportunities.  The local Flood Groups also do a great job maintaining\nditches, clearing obstructions, even whole trees that have collapsed into the\nriver (well done Hanney!) all helping reduce flood risk for their\nneighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clive from the Hanney Flood Group wades in….<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With all the extra development that has taken place in the\narea there is much more hard surface that water runs off fast into drains and\nwaterway.  Another measure everyone can\ntake to help slow the flow is to make a \u201craingarden\u201d which does not require\nmuch space and can make an attractive addition to your garden and help wildlife\nat the same time.  Have a look at this great advice on making one https:\/\/www.rhs.org.uk\/advice\/profile?PID=1009<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weather might seem\nuninviting at times but it\u2019s a great time of year to be out enjoying your local\ngreen and blue spaces.  Its much easer to\nspot birds and mammals with less vegetation for them to hide in.  Wrap up warm and get out there \u2013 you\u2019ll feel\nbetter for that fresh air and a bit of exercise, don\u2019t forget to let me know if\nyou do spot any interesting wildlife!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letcombe Brook looks very different now and is much more visible with all the overhanging branches now bare of leaves. It\u2019s a good time to try spotting trout as there is less cover for them to hide in but they are still well camouflaged and it can take a few minutes to get your eye in.  Good spots are the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1819"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1834,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions\/1834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letcombebrook.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}