Plea for EA to pump out flooded grazing
Plea for EA to pump out flooded grazing
By David Green
GRAZIERS who have been prevented by floods from moving their cattle on to one of East Anglias largest grazing areas are calling for help from the Environment Agency.
The agency has so far declined to use pumps to remove water from the Ouse Washes in Cambridge-shire, a flood relief area which also provides rich wildlife habitat and, usually, excellent grazing for more than 2200 head of cattle.
But a wet spring this year has meant graziers are still unable to move their cattle on to the marshland.
Some, like Bernard Morton, are grazing their stock on the nearby banks, but face the prospect of bringing in supplementary feed if water levels on the marshes – most of which are owned by conservation groups – are not quickly reduced.
Mr Morton, of Upwell, near Wisbech, said graziers expected to be on the marshes by mid-May. "At the present rate it doesnt look as though we will be on before mid-July." Another grazier, Roger Martin, said there was a lot of frustration over the inability to use the marshes. "For some graziers what has happened this year is going to be the last straw," he said.
Chris Durdin East Anglia spokesman for the RSPB, one of the biggest landowners in the Ouse Washes, said the problem of summer flooding was getting worse – making life difficult for bird populations as well as graziers.
Water arrived there from as far away as Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire and increasingly larger volumes were dealt with in flood conditions because of improved drainage upstream, from agricultural land and housing development.
"Action needs to be taken and we believe a further sacrificial flood area, similar to the Ouse Washes, is needed," he said.
Local RSPB officials say water on the Washes is becoming stagnant and could pose a pollution risk to the River Ouse. An Environment Agency spokesman said with sluices still discharging water the use of pumps was ineffective. *
Flooding means these cattle cannot graze until mid-July.