08/05/2026
I have been sent a newsletter by our partners who undertook the flood prevention and tree planting, we have a mention (below) which explains what has been done and why.......NFM = Natural Flooding measure
At Anston Stones Wood, working with Anston Parish Council we have installed a large amount of different NFM interventions, more than was originally planned due to the excellent collaboration between NWT and the landowner [That's us, Anston Parish Council]. We have installed 15 substantive leaky dams within the lower reaches of Anston brook, where the river flows out of the limestone canyon allowing for high flows to slow and spill out of the river channel into the adjoining woodland. These leaky dams have again been used with site won material, mostly beech. Each leaky dam has used several large sections of tree, dug into the bank, often butting against tree stumps and pinned and tied with metal stakes and wire to fix the structures in situ. Trees whips have been planted on either
side to further stabilise the structures and created additional roughness. Several surface flow routes within the woodland have been filled with wooden deflectors and brash to increase roughness, encourage vegetation growth and slow the flow of water along defined flow routes flowing through the woodland. These combined with the leaky dams will also reduce erosion and trap silt as well as providing good ecological benefits to the river with increased flow variation, gravel deposition downstream of the leaky dams, which in turn will provide excellent spawning condition for brown trout. An offline pond has been restored with its water storage capacity increased to over 50m3. 2428 trees have been planted across seven locations, once established will create nearly 2ha of additional woodland habitat which will increase rainfall absorption, through better soil pe*******on and increased evapotranspiration. Lime loving native trees and shrubs have been carefully chosen to compliment the existing woodland interest. Three core areas have been rabbit fenced. Further tree planting is planned for next winter.
