Autumn Notes - London and the South

River Thames, Central London 07/11/15

My sketch on the South Bank last March

The weather forecast had been revised for the better since Friday, the rain in the morning / Friday night clearing by early afternoon. Still uncannily mild 17-18^oC in London. A fast ebbing tide beneath Hungerford Bridge as I sat eating my sandwiches, pleasantly surprised to do so in the dry, and minus the chilly Thames wind I’d usually expect at this time of year. The Thames vibe improved as the afternoon went on.

Thames vibe improved with weather. Unlike in the summer, now the huge tourist groups have gone, pleasantly busy instead of oppressive along the South Bank between Hungerford Bridge and Bankside. Children in wellies splashing in puddles. I dread to think what will happen when they start on the Garden Bridge, early next year, carrying on regardless. A piece in the Guardian about the silly, Orwellian restrictions, thirty of them (6th November online). 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/06/garden-bridge-mobile-phone-signals-tracking-london

I haven't seen anyone flying kites from Thames bridges, but essentially, Big Biz will be watching you to make sure your face fits.  Subsequently article about the high cost of it too: 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/14/work-on-london-garden-bridge-to-begin-despite-30m-shortfall-private-money

More than anything else, it's the disruption during the construction along what's already probably the busiest stretch of river in England I dread. The noise, cramming, restricted access, generally very oppressive. What effect will this have on the vibrant South Bank - National Theatre, Royal Festival Hall, bars, eateries etc while it's all going on? As the tide ebbed and people began wandering along the shore, I wondered if I ought to get down there again while I still could. 

Just as we left Bankside, around 3pm, the sky began clearing. The sun broke through. The colours came out along the Thames. Tide now well out, people wandering along the Thames shore, two brass band quartets playing on the more sandy bits beneath the South Bank. November, but al fresco lattes outside the Royal Festival Hall, with low sun on the South Bank architecture. 

Interesting ITV programme about canal trip in SE England, broadcast circa 1^st November

Missed when broadcast, but picked up and recorded by my mother. A journey - as much as possible inland in a 60ft narrowboat - from London to the English Channel via the Thames, Wey Navigation, restored / navigable stretches of the Wey and Arun canal and the lower Arun to Littlehampton. As well as visiting places I know well, it came across as a heart warming tale of two older people enjoying life while they still could, in a boat. Timothy West is an experienced canal hand, in his early 80s. Prunella Scales is now 83 and I understand she has dementia but for much of the way she was pretty lucid and agile physically for her age. Scenery wise, there was more in Surrey / along the Wey than West Sussex. They passed through many long loved places I know, particularly along the Wey. They joined the Wey and Arun canal just south Guildford, near Shalford.  Timothy at the tiller, both negotiating the locks. The Wey and Arun Canal is still very patchy, though improved since the 1980s. It’s in water and navigable to narrowboats just south of Shalford, and a short stretch at Loxwood which we visited in 2003. The Wey & Arun Canal Trust are now trying to restore a section a bit further south. A visit to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre on the Wey at Guildford, a detour from the water to Abinger Hammer, visiting the house where Prunella Scales was born. There was nothing of the Arun above Arundel, so not clear how they got from Loxwood to Arundel. Because of the strong tidal currents, they did the last stretch in a passenger motorboat with a regular skipper. I recognised the boat as the one which does public trips from Arundel quay, just downstream of the bridge in the summer. 

Costing The Earth BBC Radio 4 podcasts - November 2015

  

50 years of coastal change - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06j1xzd

Featured John Whittow who, aided by geography undergrads invariably trudging through mud / getting soaked, mapped the UK coastline for the National Trust in the mid-1960s. Amid the post-war building boom, worries about the coast becoming urbanised through industrial and property development, including , caravan parks. The issue of caravan parks - views vs more affordable holidays controversial, but particularly along prominent, picturesque stretches of SW England, they could perhaps do more to blend them in, paint them green maybe?

They quoted GM Trevelyan, 1930s historian, on open spaces including the coastline: “ultimate injury” through development. “Happiness and the soul’s health is at stake. Without natural beauty people will perish in the spiritual sense. True for all time, developers please take note for the benefit of everyone as far as possible. 

River Quality - focus on River Itchen near Alresford

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mfs7m

This pretty much confirmed what last year's report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on chalk streams said about the Itchen and chalk streams more generally.

The Environment Agency's claims that river quality (in England and Wales, for Scotland it's SEPA) is now the best it has been for the past twenty years seems to be at odds with the experiences of local river-goers, such as the Salmon & Trout UK along the Itchen near Alresford. Chalk streams throughout southern England have suffered diminishing flows during the past 60 years or so through water abstraction (certainly the Kennet and Salisbury Avon). Some encouraging news from  Southern Water about what they have been engineering/ been planning to do around Soton / the lower Itchen to reduce the amount of water taken out of the Itchen and make present levels of abstraction as efficient as possible. They now have plans for a pipeline to divert water from the Test to the Itchen. Southern Water say they would only use it during “droughts as bad as 1976”. There have been at least two other major, prolonged droughts impacting on chalk streams since then (late 1980s- early 1990s), 2011 – early 2012. It also assumes that in such situations the Test would have water to spare, too.

The main emphasis of this programme was on pollution. The situation along the Itchen sounds worse than I'd expect for a prized chalk stream and a protected site. The WWF report says much the same. 

During the past 20-30 years, there have been great strides in tackling the big pollution culprits: industrial pollution and large discharges of raw, untreated sewage. In northern England river water quality has improved dramatically since the 1980s. Most notably the Aire, the Mersey and the Tyne which used to be some of Britain's dirtiest rivers. The River Tyne  is now said to be the best salmon river in England.  The problems now are the cumulative effect of smaller scale sources: particularly of nitrate (N) and phosphate (P) pollution from agricultural run-off, use of fertilisers  and smaller scale but significant discharges of inadequately treated sewage, eg from septic tanks. These nutrients promote the growth of algae, especially when the double whammy of abstraction and drought has diminished the flow. This blocks out much of the light, meaning aquatic plants such as the water crowsfoot which should be abundant in chalk streams like the Itchen, die. The decomposing bacteria then starve the water of oxygen, so nothing can thrive, fish stocks included. They also say silt run-off into the Itchen and its tributaries such as the Alre at Alresford after heavy rain can prevent salmon from spawning.

Salmon & Trout UK said the diversity of plant life in the Itchen had diminished - describing it as more or less a lifeless desert. Though the water still looked clear, it was still more turbid than it should be (due to suspended silt / sediment) and pretty much devoid of plant life. Fish stocks have been declining, too. There should be water crowsfoot – the vivid green weed seen waving gently with the current in healthy chalk streams. Used to see plenty of it all around the Winchester area. They didn’t mention this, but now the dominant plant life in chalk streams and clear running waters seems to be the species with the long, straight spindly weeds. I don’t know the name of that, but there was lots of it in the Stour around Canterbury when I was there last year, and also in the Lavant when that’s running. Both are classed by the WWF as chalk streams, as well as the classic ones such as the Test and Itchen. At Canterbury, I overheard a boat tour commentary saying that kind of weed is down to fertiliser use and impedes navigation. It’s a pain to weed out.

The Great Stour, Canterbury, August 2014

 Research on the Thames at Wallingford by CEH indicates that, though phosphate levels in the Thames and its tributaries has declined by 90% during the past 20 years, algal growth is still rife. I can vouch for that from what I’ve seen along the north branch of the Wey. That is classed as a chalkstream as well, but I’ve never thought it has looked healthy or attractive through Farnham. The only time I’d say not is when the river is running fairly high (as in spring 2008 and last February). Then, it’s invariably turbid because of the increased suspended sediment in the faster current. CEH’s findings suggest that to make a real difference, phosphate levels would have to be reduced further to a third of their present level. Planting more trees along riverbanks to create dappled light rather than the strong relentless sunhine algae like would help, too. It would also give shade to sun sensitive river ramblers.

In 2000, as part of the EU Water Framework Directive, there was a target to improve water quality so that all Britain’s rivers could be classified as Good. Recall the ratings are Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor, Bad. I don’t know the quantitative criteria which decides these but they include nitrate and phosphate levels, biological oxygen demand and presumably biodiversity of aquatic flora and fauna. The target date was this year and we’ve missed them by miles. In England, just 17% of rivers are now classed as Good, 43% in Wales, 50% in Scotland. The government will soon publish new “River Basin Management Plans”, intended to improve thins.

What isn't helping is the Environment Agency's diminishing, strained resources. All things outdoor and environmental have taken a particularly big hit during government spending reviews during the 2010s. This means they unable to do as much as they’d need or like when it comes to monitoring and things which might improve water quality, such as working with farmers and landowners to reduce / better manage agricultural run off and improve sewage treatment.

World Wildlife Fund – State of Britain’s Chalk Streams report, published November 2014

http://www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/press_centre/?unewsid=7378

This from John Vidal in The Guardian, 2011

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/aug/30/rivers-spin-environment-agency

Even if EA funding was to improve, the combo of population growth and climate change would put extra pressure on rivers through increase demand for water and greater likelihood of drought. Already we seem to be seeing binary / either full-on-full- off rainfall patterns increasingly regularly. 

The Scouring of the River Lavant

 22^nd November – on our way up to the Trundle, South Downs near Chichester, on Sunday morning, we saw that, not only was the stream still dry, but it also now more closely resembled a flood relief channel or reservoir outlet than a rural downland chalk stream. Last week (18^th November), I’d seen people working here, including a guy in orange hi-vis standing in the streambed. I could tell from the far side of the village green, then it was still dry. They had a digger, though I thought it was all heavy duty gardening, clearing leaves and cutting back trees, rather the stream itself. Through East Lavant, the channel and banks are now completely scoured of anything natural, beyond autumn leaves which have fallen during the past few days.

  

As noted previously, this is a winterbourne. The water table in the chalk is obviously too low for it to run at the moment. Given what I’ve said elsewhere about autumnal drought, I’m not surprised if recharge is a bit late last year. Hopefully rain during November help. 

Recent features in The Guardian  etc on Rivers / Water / Weather – UK

Why are river names so repetitive? 

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/22/why-river-names-repetitive-avon-don-derwent

Grim Long Read about drought and other pressures on Britain’s rivers, focusing on the Sussex Ouse

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/08/are-we-killing-our-rivers

WWF claim UK government failing to protect rivers from farm pollution

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/27/government-accused-of-failing-to-protect-waterways-from-farm-pollution

Britain 'must abandon Churchillian rhetoric' in face of rising seas

http://gu.com/p/4e59v?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Drive

River Wey, Woodbridge Meadow Guildford

Revisited 20th November, en route to the Farnham area. Woodbridge Meadow is to the north of  the town centre and Dapdune Wharf. In recent years, the area has seen a makeover by local tree sculptors. Now a giant buried in the grass, two feet and a hand sticking in the air. Nearer the road, a nose and lips. A couple of troll-like face carvings in growing trees. Recently, too, the adding of a flinty structure with seating and wooden seed sculptures. These are some of my photos.

Figures sillouetted in shadows under railway bridge

Around Farnham, Moor Park and Waverley Abbey

On Friday (20^th February) I walked to Waverley Abbey via Farnham Park, through Farnham town centre. Then across the A31 at Hickley’s Corner to the North Downs Way – Dover 153 miles. Followed the NDW to Moor Park, then along the Greensand Way to Waverley Lane and Waverley Abbey. Further to our Hangers walk the Sunday before, I encountered more literary associations with William Cobbett, albeit with less slithering and sliding in mud. Additionally William Blake, EF Schaumacher, Jonathan Swift. There were various things to reflect on along the Wey, including the changing landscape and land use through the centuries to the present day. 

See also:  Carls Rambles - Literary Walking in Hampshire – a Slippy Slidey Affair

http://www.carlsrambles.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/literary-walking-in-hampshire-slippy.html

I wore my wellies as I knew it would be muddy as always through Farnham Park, particularly the top bit, which is clay though there are paved paths, including the NE-SW diagonal from Upper Hale, past the Ranger’s House at the top, then down towards Farnham Castle. Noted when I came to the dip before the hill up to the Castle that there was a hint of a stream flowing in the dry valley here. This was the Nadder Stream which only appears above ground when, like now, the ground is saturated. The rest of the time, it disappears into the chalk here.

From Farnham town centre, I headed out towards Hickley’s Corner via St. Andrew’s churchyard, the Central Car Park, The Maltings, Gostrey Meadow and South Street. Along the fence by Wey near The Maltings footbridge, there were knitted arrows directing people to some sort of knitting event on in The Maltings called Unravel – Keep on , Nearly…

Reaching the road bridge across the river and crossing the road to Gostrey Meadow, I noted that the police station had gone. There was now a gaping hole surrounded by a construction wall. In its place will be yet another block of retirement flats – UK Over 50s Housing Awards, Sunday Times 100 Best Smaller Companies, said  the hoardings.  In the middle of it all  a piling borer - were they prospecting for oil / shale gas? 

Across the bridge to my right, at the junction with Abbey Street, was the William Cobbett pub, William Cobbett was born in Farnham. 

I followed the river through the Gostrey Meadow gardens /park past the War Memorial to South Street. This was the River Wey North Branch which rises on the north side of Alton. It meets the South Branch at Tilford. The water was murky and faster flowing than usual after the rain the day before. Though the Wey has substantial baseflow from the Chalk and Lower Greensand, it rises quickly after heavy rain – as it did over Christmas 2013. Through Gostrey Meadow and across South Street near Home Park House, it filled the overflow area, built after the 1968 floods.

Turning right along South Street, I came to the busy Hickley's Corner crossroads on the A31. Thankfully a pelican crossing, though even with that, people need to care crossing this busy road. It's always been a potentially dangerous junction, particularly when traffic backs up towards the level crossing near Farnham station. Over the years, there have been various proposals to (supposedly) improve the A31 here but they would all have been to the detriment of the town. Even with the bypass which has been there throughout my lifetime, the town centre has always been busy, much of it seemingly through traffic. The basic problem has always been a convergence of main roads (A31, A325, A287), with much of the traffic making for the A31 / Guildford from the M3 to the west. 

Just after Hickley’s Corner, I joined the North Downs Way path: here a track running close to the dual carriageway for a while, behind the garage, then coming down to the River Wey, near where that passed under the dual carriageway.  The path then left the river to pass under the railway. Just after the railway and footpath to High Mill was a pilgrim’s post. 

At the top of the post an oyster shell from Whitstable. Below it, information about a 2013 pilgrimage heading about 200 miles west from Canterbury to Glastonbury. A symbolic journey from the time of Benedictine monk St. Augustine arriving from Rome in 597AD, back to 35AD when Joseph of Arimathea landed in western England. Then lines from William Blake: Jerusalem, 1827. Take time to contemplate – I contemplated the view across the valley to High Mill House, one of the numerous watermills along the River Wey at one time, some cattle, sheep, but also the noise of the A31, a bit further away now towards the Shepherd & Flock roundabout, but still there. Further down, a quote by the scientist RF Buckminster Fuller, of fullerenes fame, “You never change things by the existing reality…only by building a new model which makes the existing one obsolete.”. Then EF Schumacher – Small is Beautiful – from his 1973 book A Study of Economics as if People Mattered . I wish more more modern developers and the world economy generally was geared more this sort of way. 

Moor Park House

Then, I came to  Moor Park Way and turned left towards Moor Park House. crossing the river a low key brick bridge. However, there was nothing low key about the development that has sprung up in the grounds of the house since I was last here, where there had once been a walled garden. I was using an old map (OS Explorer sheet145, dated 1997), it wasn't on that. My guess then is it must have been built sometime since 2000. Hoardings by the lane promoted Country Retreat, along with luxury apartments priced well north of half a million grand. Moor Park always has been a grand, exclusive address, the garden always private. I think I'd feel pretty much the same way if a more-down-to-earth "affordable" housing development had been plonked here: an intrusion on what had been a green, rural riverside. 

Moor Park Heritage Trail

At the gateway to Moor Park College, I joined the bridleway along Moor Park Lane and followed the Heritage Trail past the 1890 gateway with clocktower, then the grand frontage of Moor Park House itself. This dates from the late C17th, the home of the statesman and member of Charles II’s Privy Council, Sir William Temple. He was instrumental in marrying William of Orange to Princess Mary, the daughter of Kings James II. When William became King, he visited the house several times. Temple lived there from 1684 until his death in 1699, cultivating and admiring the gardens. Charles Darwin visited repeatedly during the mid C19th, when it was a hydropathic institution. In effect, he was on a kind of country retreat, like visits to aforementioned development down the road today. During the last century, Moor Park House housed the Canadian Army in WWII; as bought by Canon Parsons and turned into Moor Park College. I vaguely remember that still being in existence in the 1970s, and in the 1990s judging from the OS map. After that a finishing school, the Constance Spry Flower School, then finally the “stylish offices” of Link Connect from 2000. 

There are also associations with Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels. He'd been Sir William Temple’s secretary. There was a young daughter of a maid there who he helped educate. He called her Stella and wrote about her in the “Journal” poems, hence Stella Lodge at the other end of the lane.

A few yards further along, a bit about the grand extensive Moor Park Garden, began in Temple’s time, then added to by subsequent generations of his family. It stretched down towards the river which was once channelled to feed a fountain. William Cobbett passed this way in the C19th, praising the garden and admiring the flowers. He wrote about it in The English Gardener, 1833. Though he speaks of looking at it for several hours at a time, it sounds as if he didn't get to go in. He had to view from the outside through a gap in the wall. 

Mother Ludlam's Cave

Further along, on the left was Mother Ludlam’s Cave. The cave was blocked off by an ornate looking gateway, much the same as the one here in 1906. Around it and arch of stonework stretching back to the cliff formed of the Lower Greensand Folkestone Beds. A spring flowed out of the gate forming a rivulet across the track. After drying up for a time, it was restored by the monks of Waverley Abbey. A Mother Ludlam lived there later on, dishing out various utensils to the locals, until she got cross when her cauldron went missing. Lud is derivation of loud, meaning bubbling in the watery sense. At the far end of the lane was Stella Lodge, where tree fellers were up a tall tree working.

The Wey through the trees near Moor Park

Stella Lodge

Waverley Abbey

From Stella Lodge, I turned right down Waverley Lane – tricky road this with blind bends – and crossed the Wey at Waverley Bridge. Here, a drop down in water level, with plenty of rapid frothy flow through the sluice and under an old brick structure on the Abbey side.  Entering the Abbey grounds from the car park, with the lake on my right and the C18th house up the slope beyond it. The Abbey ruins were on my left. The River Wey enclosed it in a loop around the meadow, flowing behind what would have been the monks’ dormitories. The Abbey was Cistercian, founded in 1128. 

It was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. Near where the Abbey Church had been was the yew tree featuring in my father’s wood engraving. I wouldn’t mind coming back here myself sometime and sketching the twisting, knotted roots with their subtle colours. I know some yews around England can be many centuries old, but this one must have post dated the dissolution of the Abbey as it was growing on what would have been the north wall of the church, not far from the high altar. A tree growing through the wall would have no doubt intruded on the monks' prayers.

I ate my rolls on the east side of the ruins, by the River Wey, sat on one of the concrete WWII anti-tank defences. I contemplated what I’d learned on the Moor Park Heritage trail, by the pill box, about the ditches by the lake and anti-tank defences by the river being set up to trap the invading enemy in the meadow, thereby turning it into a killing field. A chilling thought amid the tranquility I’ve known here all my life. The numerous pillboxes, anti-tank blocks around north Hampshire and along the North Downs area were part of the WWII GHQ Line, built to defend against the Germans invading London by land from the south.

Anti-tank defences, Waverley Abbey

Anti-tank defences, Waverley Abbey

Yew tree, Waverley Abbey

High Mill House

Leaving the Abbey, I walked back much the same way until Moor Park gate, when I crossed the road and followed the bridleway straight on and turned left onto the footpath towards the river at High Mill House. I crossed what would have been the millstream as I walked across their driveway and through the gate at the other end. Shortly after crossing the Wey again, I rejoined the NDW and headed into Farnham and back through the lower end of the Park. By now, I my feet were quite tired after walking all day in wellies.

Notes from the Mole, Wey and Thames - September 2014

15th - 17th September 2014

North Downs and River Mole - Monday 15th September

View from Denbies Vineyard towards Leith Hill

Walk from Dorking to Leatherhead via Denbies Vineyard, Ranmore Common, Norbury Park, Thorncroft, Leatherhead.

Fine, warm settled weather great for walkers and plein air painters, though it's been a long dry summer for rivers.

Dorking Deepdene. Arrived about half-ten. Across the A24 to the park and pond, then path across the A'road and railway into Denbies Vineyard. Vineyard extensive, extending out the west. Grapes ripening. 

Box Hill from Denbies Vineyard

Started off following tracks through vineyard west, but couldn't find a way up the hill (not PRW), anyway. Retraced steps north acrosd vineyard to NDW and followed that up the hill and round to the west at the edge of the woodland of Ranmore Common. Shade pleasant as it felt warm and sticky in the sun. Continued along NDW to St. Barnabas Church, Ranmore, spire seen further back.

Grapes ripening on the vines, Denbies

Took the bridleway opposite the church north across the Ranmore Common wood. Came out into the combe near Bagden Farm. Sign pointing left to youth hostel about 3/4 mile west at Tanner's Hatch.

St. Barnabas Church, Ranmore

Crossed Chapel Lane, continuing north through Chapel Wood, past Phoenice Farm behind hedge on left - guard dog warnings - into Bookham Wood and the march larger woodland area of Norbury Park. Lunch in the clearing a bit further up the hill from the crossroad of the main paths near the western end.

Following the paths down towards, Norbury House, passed the sawmill. A pair of sculpted tree stumps outside the gates. One had finger / toe like digits, a bit like the tree on the riverbank near Box Hill. The other looked like the head of a pig - or maybe a wild boar (or bore after my trip to the Severn last week). From another angle (like in the pic below) it could have been a fish.  Viewed facing, though, it looked more distressed and gargoyle like than it came across in my drawing.

Lunch stop in Norbury Park

Wood sculpture outside Norbury Park Sawmill

From there, I followed the road down the hill and joined a path off to the left which crossed the railway tunnel and came out of the woods at Icehouse Copse. Then took the path on the west under the A246. The graffiti art enhanced the otherwise barren, boring concrete, though the Flow River arrow in metal was pointing upstream rather than towards the Thames.

Graffiti gracing the Leatherhead bypass bridge

At Thorncroft House I turned right to the footbridge. Between there and the redbrick multi-arched town bridge, the river flowed between islets. Stopped to sketch at bench facing the flint stone bridge between two of these on the far side. A large oyster like shell over the archway. Then carried on crossing the road at Town Bridge, under the concrete B'road bridge and two viaducts into the open area of the Common Meadow.

The Mole near Norbury Park

Thorncroft bridge, Leatherhead

There were scenes around Leatherhead, I recognised from You Tube footage of last winter's flooding. such as the Thorncroft footbridge with the 10mph speed limit sign, where on Christmas Eve I wondered if the river was so fast and furious that it achieved that. Here, too, at the beginning of February, on the day I saw the double whammy fluvial-tidal spillages on the Arun, a lady videoed her trudge through the over flowing River Mole, probably ruining her walking boots.  A forgottten Deep Flood Water sign by a now dry ditch near leisure centre.

The Shell bridge

Leatherhead Town Bridge

Leatherhead Common Meadow

What a contrast with what I saw now:  River levels were very low throughout. I wasn't surprised: the Mole is like that.

A note on local geology and water levels

At Leatherhead, the Mole leaves the Chalk of the North Downs for the London Clay of the London Basin (BGS online geo maps).

Low water levels - Common Meadow,

There is a superficial cover of alluvium all along the floodplain. Beneath this at the southern railway viaduct - Lewes Chalk (later Cretaceous); Thanet Beds (Palaeogene) - sand and silt at the northern viaduct; and London Clay (Eocene) beneath the Common Meadow. If the low water level I saw today was due to alleged swallow holes in the Chalk, I'd have expected water levels through the Common Meadow to have been better than they were upstream. They weren't. Therefore, must be due to the currently very low rates of run-off in the catchment.

The Environment Agency A and CEH say rainfall in England and Wales was above the long term average throughout August, with soil moisture increasing, river and groundwater levels within the normal range for August. Rainfall was well above average over much of Scotland, with flooding in some areas, including the River Lossie near Elgin. EA flow gauge data this week (10th - 16th September) shows the Thames (Kingston) and groundwater dominated rivers such as chalk streams comfortably normal. However, this September so far has been very dry throughout the UK (data from the Met. Office, via this report). As of 16^th September, overall rainfall across England has been just 15% of the long term average. In SE England, just 2mm of rain has fallen during the first half of September. The EA say most of their indicator rivers are still flowing within their normal range for the time of year, though rivers in northern and western England, in generally impermeable catchments are running a bit below normal.

Environment Agency - weekly and monthly water reports for England

Environment Agency - River and Sea Levels for England and Wales

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology - National River Flow Archive - monthly hydrological summaries for the UK and flow gauge data

On the Mole, things must be better than they were around this time in 1976: compare water levels beneath the A246 bridge today with the photo of from summer 1976 with the completely dry river bed, Surrey Weather Book (Currie et al, 1990) which I'm pretty sure was taken here.

Though we may not have had the hottest or driest of summers, I reckon the past six months have been particularly hard on the Mole and rivers in impermeable catchments generally, especially in SE England where rainfall is lower. Even in March, barely a month after the flooding, the CEH said that it was notably low. Spring was early, dry and very mild. Plants growth has been prolific throughout, sucking up moisture from the ground. Even with the wetter August, I noted from the EA's website that the Mole was below normal during the second half of the month. The soggy August Bank Holiday revived it briefly, though only briefly as it soon all ran away. See my musings along and near the Mole near Box Hill earlier this year:

Christmas 2013 storms and floods

Plenty of water and art, 10th February 2014

Notes from the Surrey Hills - Peace returns to the Mole with the arrival of Spring

Trees along the Mole / water levels falling with warm spring weather and vigorous plant growth

Wey and Godalming Navigations, Guildford  - Tuesday 16th September

Water meadows - St.Catherine's

A late start before heading into Guildford on the train around midday. There, a leisurely walk along the Wey to Shalford, cuppa overlooking the river in Debenhams, then another stroll up to Dapdune Wharf and the Woodbridge Meadow tree / train sculptures. Didn’t rush as, once early cloud / drizzle had cleared and sun came out, it felt warm and sticky. Still very much that into the evening.

Mooring by Shalford bridge

Along the Wey, I did a sketch of tree reflections on the bend near St. Catherine’s Lock. Enjoyed flowers growing in the meadow / more marshy land inside the bend.

Signs up at various intervals along the towpath with photographs – 250 years of the Wey and Godalming Navigations – thought it was 360 years last year, but never mind. Near St. Catherine’s Lock, a photo of the drownded lock and meadow at the height of the 1968 floods. That was the big exception the usual back-to-school-back to-better-weather / rivers low and tired after the summer rule. Took a photo now to show what it usually all looks like, looking upstream towards Godalming.

St. Catherine's Lock today

St.Catherine's Lock in aftermath of 1968 mega-sog

Reflections beneath railway bridge I’d crossed on the way to Dorking yesterday. A temporary pontoon, scaffolding etc across the river, work being done on the pipe which crosses here.

Opposite Dapdune Wharf later a bit about the Wey barges, constructed here and launched here, from the side shed nearest the railway viaduct, side off the wall.

Relections at Dapdune Wharf

Further to yesterday, the Wey didn’t look nearly as low as the Mole, though a lot lower than it did in the spring, particularly noticeable at Millmead. Think the canalisation of the river, with more ability to direct flows, must help. Along with perhaps a more permeable catchment, though by now the upper reaches of the North Branch in Farnham can look overgrown and anaemic.

Fish eat fish eat fish, Woodbridge Meadow

Tree creature and phone guy in Woodbridge Meadow

My blogs along the Wey 2013 - 2014

Along the Wey during heatwaves past - July 2013

Walk along the Wey and Godalming Navigations, July 2013 (heatwave)

Guildford after the [Christmas 2013] flood - 11/01/14

The Wey Rises Again - around Godalming - 19/01/14

Plenty of water and art, including Guildford floods, February 2014

Spring on the Wey - March 2014

The Thames Barrier, Greenwich and the Tower of London - Wednesday 17th September

Arriving in London about 11:00am, I took a train from Waterloo East to Charlton and walked down to the Thames Barrier. It was still foggy and rather gloomy. After the highs on the Severn last week with the spring tides, the Thames was subdued on the neap. All a fitting vibe perhaps for my thoughts of the wider world situation. See above and hints scribbled beneath the water in my sketches, along with notes on flooding and the Barrier's role in protecting London, as witnessed last winter. Not that the is likely bothered about petty human affairs to do with referendums, being probably upwards of two million years old. Even so, I write this on the way home, the long way round from Victoria, just crossed Grosvenor railway bridge, view upriver to the Albert Bridge outline lit up against the fading evening twilight. I wondered to the longest river in England what we'd wake up to on Friday morning.

The sun partially broke through the fog from about early afternoon, shining some light on the Barrier and the river, though the persistence of the fog took the edge of the threatened heatwave. Essentially a re-run of late September 2011. The autumn and winter went on persistently dry threatening drought, numerous rivers dwidling visibly by the year's end. Hope no re-run of that, but the freebie paper I picked up on the train this morning speaks of a "blowtorch" heatwave, with temperatures as high as 27C tomorrow. Presume that's London and hope it's a bit cooler back home, though I get the impression it's foggier to the east. Come October, I could use a bit of autumn, with fresher weather to knuckle down. Don't know what the pollution levels were in London, today, but anywhere near busy roads, eg Tower Bridge early this evening, wasn't pleasant. As in the summer heatwave, the heat builds later in the day, too.

Sketched near play area and cafe in front of floodbank just below the most southerly gate of the Barrier (gate 9) and control tower. In due course, a party of school children turned up for a lunch stop and slide on the slide. The City of Westminster marine aggregate boat passed through the Barrier on the nearside. It had probably come from the works just upstream of the Barrier and Charlton. I had my sandwiches and did another sketch, this time looking between gates 7 and 8  towards the O2 arena (before then the Millennium Dome) and the multiplying Canary Wharf Towers.

Profile of the River Thames beneath the covered walkway near the Barrier

 I then went under the covered walkway marking the eastern end of the 184 mile Thames Path. On the concrete wall on my left, a profile of the River Thames from sea to source. At the eastern seaward end, a mark marking the high tides on 11th January 1993 (the higher one) and Christmas Eve 1988. Below these, near the base of the wall , a line marking the profile of the Thames with height in metres relative to Ordnance Datum, Newlyn, the line rising moving towards the source, most steeply nearer the source at Thames Head near Cricklade, Gloucestershire, about 105m AOD. Along the way, landmarks, major towns and cities such as Oxford, the inflows of tributaries, including the Wey, the Mole (aka Ember nearing Hampton Court), the Hogsmill, Cherwell etc.

From there, I followed the Thames Path and Jubilee Greenway around the Greenwich Peninsula, where the river loops round Blackwall Point, and the O2. on the far side of the Thames the outlet of Bow Creek, where the River Lee / Lea comes out. Went under the chutes / passed the gravelly stockpiles of the Angerstein and Murphy's aggregate works, later under the new chairlift / gondola ride passing high over the river - Emirites something or other. As with the O2, everything round here being named more by brand - usually foreign - than a landmark with any direct connection to the Thames or London. Seeing the chairlift, with it's relatively big ticket to ride, had this surreal idea of suited executives riding the chutes etc of the aggregate workings once they run out of aggregate to dredge out of the North Sea.

Around the O2 - seemingly more successful as a gig arena than its relatively short incarnation as the Millennium Dome through the year 2000. A Monty Python reunion and Kate Bush's first live stage gig for 35 years taking place here recently. Rounding Blackwall Point, a gathering of gulls and comorants on the sand accumulated on the inner bend. View across to the Isle of Dogs with the Canary Wharf Towers. The Blackwall Tunnel passes under the Thames here.

Towers of London

More or less right round the bend from the O2 to the old power station at Greenwich, a building site, with lots of new blocks going up, a luxury cruise ship stop in the making, preparation for a Tall Ships event somewhere here this year. All looked very corporate, big biz, like much of the rest of London's becoming. I sympathise with Scots not wanting be ruled by faraway London, but the dominance of the City, rich foreigners buying up the property pricing everyone else out is making many people living much closer to it feel cut off from the Capital. Building sites at least honoured the route of the Thames Path and cycleways, so I got round to Maritime Greenwich without any obstacles or detours. Another historic high tide mark, this one on a wall in by the Trinity Hospital, for the highest tide of the first half of the twentieth century. 

Approaching Maritime Greenwich

The Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark

Busy around Greenwich, the National Maritime Museum and Cutty Sark. Didn't go up into the Park as time  was getting on. Had a cuppa in Costa and looked round the Cutty Sark area. Cutty Sark, where it always was, with the masts prominent from the river, the base of the hull now undercover, in the new museum. The restoration, of course, the subject of my father's paintings, wood engravings and the big five block linocut.

Left Greenwich via the subway under the Thames to Island Gardens - unlike the Tube / Docklands, refreshingly cool beneath the river. There, I took the Docklands light railway to Bank. Got a bit lost there trying to get out of the station. Inevitably for this time of a weekday (half-five ish), streets strewn with suits. Big crowds streaming across London Bridge. I crossed Tower Bridge, passing the Tower of London, the moat area in front of the outer walls strewn with poppies. The carpet of red growing August 4th - 11th November, remembering the fallen on the centenary of the start of WW1.

My blogs about the London Thames during 2014

Plenty of water and art, including central London, February 2014

Carl's Ramble through London, May 2014