Repair and clean-up time after the storms.

Recently our prioriy work has been to  either rectify damage or clean-up the mess left by the spate of recent storms.

Here are just two examples from last week!

This post and rail fence and water heck, separating  woodland from pasture land, was demolished when the beck burst its banks during exceptionally heavy rainfall... courtesy of Storm Desmond!

The beck flows through woodland adjacent to one of the routes to the Garburn Pass. (Near Troutbeck Church). It then flows through Howe Farm pasture land and under the A592 prior to joining Troutbeck.

This is an image of the beck after the wreckage of the old fence and water heck had been dragged out and cut up. Boulders were also removed and gravel scooped out to allow the beck to flow more freely.

With the preparation work completed, construction work can begin.

The ground was very slippery and muddy so Sam is using the power barrow as a work bench to construct the new improved water heck!
Ray is in the background using a 'driveall' to knock in a fence post.

The completed work. It is much stronger than the original and the heck is also sturdier and much wider. This should hopefully cope with future flooding.
The whole job took just over a day to complete, helped by the ease of access to the site and its close proximity to our base at St. Catherine's.
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Lakeshore clean-up.

A lot of debris was left at Cockshott Point on the eastern shore of Windermere after the floods. Just how much soon became apparent once the flood water had receded; it also gives a stark reminder of the hight of the water level at its peak.

There was so much debris that it wasn't practical to cart all of it away so the bulk of it was burnt. James, with help from Sam and Tom loading up the power Barrow.,

Unloading the brash onto the fire. 

Looking tidier but much work still to do!