Cambridge, UK. 28th July 2015. Dr Vince Lea (CRT Monitoring Officer) clears weeds at the opening of a restored meander on Bourn Brook, near Comberton Cambridge UK. The Countryside Restoration Trust (CRT) was awarded a grant from the Ridgeons Family Charity Fund to restore the meander loop in the Bourn brook making a new home for wildlife, which has now been fully restored. Approximately 30 years ago a ‘by-pass’ was added to the Bourn brook in Cambridgeshire as it was believed it would help the river flow. Credit: Julian Eales/Alamy Live News
28th July 2015. Dr Vince Lea (CRT Monitoring Officer) clears weeds at the opening of a restored meander on Bourn Brook, near Comberton Cambridge UK. The Countryside Restoration Trust (CRT) was awarded a grant from the Ridgeons Family Charity Fund to restore the meander loop in the Bourn brook making a new home for wildlife, which has now been fully restored. Approximately 30 years ago a ‘by-pass’ was added to the Bourn brook in Cambridgeshire as it was believed it would help the river flow. Unfortunately this was a misguided approach which actually made flooding downstream worse. Restoring the meander means more floodwater will be held where it should be, on the floodplain. Dr Vince Lea (CRT Monitoring Officer) went on to say “The original meander is 250m long compared to the cut-off channel which is only 150m so there is now 100m more riverbank for wildlife like Otters, Kingfishers and Water Vole - the banks are so much more natural, gently sloping and shallow compared to the dredged channel that characterises most of the watercourse. The channel now has more variation in flow and depth” Credit Julian Eales/Alamy Live News
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Photo credit: © Julian Eales / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: bourn, brook, cambridgeshire, conservation, countryside, crt, cut, event, lea, meander, nature, opening, restoration, ribbon, trust, uk, vince
