Beavering away

About once a year I manage to get on a FWAG South West work party. For whatever reason, I don’t seem to get notified of the programme and then it clashes with other things. But it’s always fun to be with Archie and today was an interesting task to build a series of natural dams in a steep, wooded valley in the North Cotswolds.

The location was a huge working farm set among beautiful, rolling hills. They suffer with many streams arising in the property which cause downstream problems with waterlogged pasture.

They had recently thinned some ash in the section and wanted a series of dams that could slow the water.

The flow was obviously very fast at the moment with all the rain recently, so the objective was to make enough of a block that the level would be higher on one side than the other.

Then, in normal flow, the water should flow less intensively down the valley.

I spent the first part of the morning cutting the fallen wood into manageable lengths and thicknesses with the bow saw. These could then be placed at an angle to try and create the effect in the stream. So, more or less doing the job of a beaver.

After lunch, we then went to stake the piles in place. There was an ingenious method of splitting the stakes with a bill hook, and then creating new sharp points to bang into the stream bed.

After making a starter hole with a large pole, they could be hammered into place and notches cut in the sides to bind them with wire. This should create a solid structure for the future.