7th August 2017

Simon Thornton with his big digger finishing off re-profiling the bank along the 45m stretch of worst erosion. The once vertical bank now slopes at about 30 to 40 degrees. The bank has to be cut back so that the slope is made of the most compact earth. An added slope would wash away very easily. The work took about 14 hours with one man, a digger and dumper truck. The excavated earth was laid to create a gentle slope up to the bridge which would protect the pier should the river rise that high.

Vertical sandy river banks can be habitat to sand martins. The banks have suffered so much damage over recent years that there were no burrows in them.