WET WET WET
‘For example, on Crookston, a hill farm near
Stow, we fenced and planted up 24 hectares of the fl oodplain. This was marginal, boggy land that was a source of liver fl uke for sheep. The tenant farmer used to lose around a dozen sheep in it every year as they got stuck down holes, stranded and drowned during fl oods. ‘The other bonus of such work is that they
yield a host of other benefi ts such as increased wildlife, cleaner water, sustained fl ows during droughts, and reduction in soil loss. On the Tweed these headwater streams and tributaries are the production powerhouses of juvenile fi sh. Improving the quality and quantity of these habitats helps enhance the salmon fi shery that is worth over £18 million a year and supports over 500 jobs. Likewise with shooting, where restoring wetlands for wildfowl, woods for pheasants and deer, peatland for grouse, will generate jobs and revenue for the area.’ If all else fails, there is always incentivisa-
tion. ‘We’re looking at “opportunity” mapping for woodland planting,’ says Comins, ‘where we overlay planting opportunity maps with the fl ood generation hot spots so that the future planting grants can be directed to places where we can get maximum bang for our grant buck.’ ‘The other way to use the grant system is to
encourage best practise amongst farmers, very few of whom would break even without this state subsidy,’ says Spray. ‘No-one wants to see trees grown on prime agricultural land, and of course it’s not realistic to reconnect all rivers with their fl oodplains, especially because in places like Fife, which have been extensively drained, that would be economically disastrous. But there are places where we can use the grant system to incentivise sensible compromise. ‘There’s the temptation to prevaricate because,
unlike large parts of England and virtually all of Holland, which are below sea level, we don’t face an existential threat. But this is a problem that won’t go away and is only going to get worse. The one thing for sure is that the status quo is not an option; we can’t go on as we are.’
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 85
‘Restoring wetlands for wildfowl, woods for pheasants and deer, and peatland for grouse will generate jobs’
Above left: Dinghies provide a lifeline for those in need of rescue. Above right: The River Tweed bursts its banks.
FIELDFACTS
ELSPETH HARTOP, HOMEOWNER, WARRISTON CRESCENT, EDINBURGH
We have lived in this fl ood-blighted street
for 11 years now, moving in three years after the big fl ood hit the street. When we moved in we prepared for the fact there may be fl oods, raising our Aga off the fl oor in the kitchen, raising basement doors and leaving the garden untouched. We were right to do so, because when they were doing the fl ood prevention works to stop the Water of Leith fl ooding our gardens and basements it happened again. We had ten fl ood-free years and then when they began to replace the walls, we were fl ooded as the fi rst thing the engineers did was to remove the wall which protected us when the Water of Leith was in spate. I hated the building work as they removed the beautiful established trees, we had two years of people in high-visibility jackets walking around my garden, huge diggers right outside my bedroom, massive cracks appearing in our internal walls, lost half our garden and now have a huge wall at the end of my garden. But the long-term picture is more rosy. At some stage we would have fl ooded again, and we’re now spared that spectre. Our insurance premiums – which used to be so expensive they were barely affordable – are now down to a sensible level.
TOP LEFT: SEPA
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