Every time bad weather is forecast Mandi de Burgh-Thomas starts to worry. “I get a bit neurotic whenever it rains,” she said. And with good reason. Two or three times a year flood waters seep into the bed and breakfast the 70-year-old runs with her husband Ivan in the Somerset village of Williton.
“We are at the lowest point of the village here,” she said. “The water forms a lake outside the front door.”
Williton, home to 2,600 people, sits in a picturesque valley sandwiched between the Quantock Hills to the east and Exmoor to the west. A mile to the north is the Somerset coast. This hilly terrain is marked by wooded combes, high heaths and undulating farmland.
When it rains, water flows off the steep hills and into the valley’s two rivers — the Doniford Stream and the Monksilver — which meet just outside Williton.
“When there is heavy rainfall both rivers start reacting quite quickly,” said Tim McGrath, head of project development at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT). “The Monksilver has nowhere to discharge and bursts its banks.”
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Four miles up the valley, Hetty Pye is attempting to stop this happening. Pye and her family own Poundisford Farm, which overlooks the Doniford Stream.
“My parents bought the farm in 1970,” said Pye, 46. “Flooding on the land has been a perennial problem.”
This year, rather than trying to constantly drain the farm, the family decided to hold the water back.“We’re basically giving nature a chance,” she said.
With the assistance of the WWT, Pye and her husband Nick, 46, have created a wetland at the bottom of their farm. This centres on a large pond. As water runs down the hill it fills the pond, slowing its progression into the stream.
This is just one of the many projects the WWT has overseen in the valley since 2018. In that time 20 new wetlands have been created, 192 woody dams built and nearly 3,700 hardwood trees planted.
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What will this do to protect Williton? “If you can reduce the amount of water in the system by storing it in the catchment, you can help increase the capacity of the Doniford to absorb water discharged from the Monksilver,” McGrath said.
Bryony Wilde, project manager at the WWT, stresses that these ponds and dams cannot form the nation’s flood defences alone.
However, she believes a multitude of small projects might help alleviate the problem. “We’re saying let’s deliver lots of smaller, more affordable natural flood management measures, and see what the impact is.”
The programmes have other benefits beyond flood alleviation. “We’ve turned it into a mecca for wildlife,” Pye said.
Dug in August, the pond has become home to damselflies, dragonflies, pied wagtails, frogs, toads and the rare fen raft spider. Her daughter Bee, 9, and son Charlie, 13, are now obsessed with wildlife spotting.
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The WWT charity, which is supported by this year’s The Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal, is working on similar projects across the country and overseas. Over 75 years it has restored thousands of hectares of wetlands across Britain.
With donations from Times readers, the WWT plans to restore 100,000 hectares of new wetland across the UK. More than £800,000 has been pledged to the Christmas Appeal so far. Readers have pledged £70,000 to the WWT, £149,000 to the Refugee Councils of Britain, and £74,000 to Outward Bound. Donations to the WWT will be further boosted by £115,000, through £90,000 from an anonymous philanthropist and £25,000 from Moto in the Community.
To donate to The Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal visit thetimes.co.uk/christmasappeal or call 0151 284 2336.
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