fencing and seasonal river height...

Tuesday I tried to sort some field stuff, and then it rained :(
Consequently i still have a large amount of young trees at home rather than planted up - especially holding back on the orchard trees until the fencing is sorted to keep any straying sheep out.

Wednesday I put a new field gate in and discovered that I had to break through 2 feet of compacted limestone sub-base from when the track-way was reinstated during the by-pass construction. With over 3 feet of the 8" square gateposts in the ground, I hope I don't have to replace them any time soon.

From Blogger Pictures

I ended up down at the field until after 9pm, just the odd hoot of an owl now and then - until a couple of monster tractors and trailers tried to squeeze down the track and do a sharp turn.
They were getting round-bales out from the next field and suspected the river might be coming up after the rain. The Environment Agency's monitoring page showed a rise and a plateau of the River Dee.
No cause for concern just yet though...

Thursday and Uncle gave me a lift with some fencing and a willow tree over-hang tidied up with the chainsaw.

About, 1am on Friday I got a recorded phone message saying flooding was possible in the lower Dee valley between Llangollen and Chester - an issue I was aware of prior to purchase (hence a cheap price). I had spent a bit of time studying the trees and vegetation prior to taking it on, as the land is liable to flood (I was born relatively local a few miles north, so reasonably aware), but it isn't waterlogged or saturated ground and only happens seasonally when the leaves are off the trees.
Friday lunch-time the brook along the track way was about a foot higher than normal, but rising about an inch an hour. The sheep from the surrounding fields had been moved to higher ground.
Below Holt Castle the river was well up in it's channel, but still below the top of the banks.

From Blogger Pictures

A couple of hours later the brook had come up onto the trackway and had quite a flow

From Blogger Pictures

Still half a meter below the field and there is a fair bit of neighbouring land lying lower to fill first.

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

By 6pm it was a few inches below the low end of the field and there was some ponding. Time to give up on the fencing for now...

From Blogger Pictures

Saturday saw a trip to Carmarthenshire on an informal tour of a woodland, fine hospitality and interesting landscape and tree & undergrowth varieties and decent chat with like minded people.

Cross-country to Bristol and probably a look-in at a walled-garden at Wrington