• Home
  • PICKERINGS PASTURE LNR
    • Latest News 2019
    • Things to look out for in Winter
    • Work Parties 2019 >
      • Pickerings Pasture Volunteers
    • The Bats of Pickerings Pasture LNR
    • The Kingfisher
    • What is a Scrape?
    • National Mammal Week
    • The Tidal Bore on the River Mersey
    • WeBS Counts
    • The Peregrine Falcon
    • Canada Geese
    • Black-tailed godwits
    • Dunlins
    • Tree Clearance
    • Top tips for your tubs
    • Pickerings Pasture Leaflet.
  • The Wildlife Garden
    • Plant List
    • Making a Wildlife Garden
    • Info on wildlife-friendly gardening
  • HALE DUCK DECOY
    • Hale Duck Decoy - Recent Events
    • Hale Duck Decoy - AT RISK
    • First Impressions
    • The History of Hale Duck Decoy >
      • Restoration
      • The Flood 1990
      • Dredging the Pond and Moat.
      • Tidal Surge & Flooding 2013
      • The Freemen of Hale
    • Booking a Decoy Guided Walk
    • Wildlife - Past and Present - on Hale Duck Decoy
    • Wildlife photographs from Hale Duck Decoy
  • Photo Gallery
    • The Insects at Pickerings Pasture
    • WILDLIFE Gallery
    • Little Owls
    • The Meadows at Pickerings Pasture
    • Fungus
    • Halebank Park
    • Old slides of Hale Duck Decoy
  • Archived Information- A Guide
    • Latest News
    • Latest News
    • A brilliant display
    • A ringing recovery
    • A Walk in Arctic Woodland
    • BBC Wildlife Magazine promotes Pickerings Pasture.
    • Canada Goose Nest 2015
    • Childe of Hale
    • Cleaning Up Pickerings Pasture
    • Great White Egret
    • Harbour Porpoise (Updated)
    • The Cornfield Meadow
    • The Kingfisher Returns
    • The Pathways Work
    • Visit by Botanical Society from Nantes, in France
    • Windblown Waif
    • Young Nature Conservationists
    • Incident down at Pickerings
    • ​The Peoples’ March for Wildlife, London
    • Rock On Barney
    • The Ibis Pool
  • LINKS
  • COMMENTS PAGE
  The Friends of Pickerings Pasture - Wildlife Sightings

The Flood

While looking at the Decoy log books to check on dates for the Restoration article, we came across the following entries for February - April 1990.
We hope you find them as interesting as we did:
***
Monday             26/2/90              DISASTER             
Tuesday             27/2/90                          
Wednesday       28/2/90

The high tides at mid-day should have been 10m
but with the strong north-westerly gale at
least 1–1½ m was added to the tide.
The tide rose higher than the moat bank in compartments A/E in particular and the whole area of the Decoy was flooded with salt water to the height of 1 metre or more. Water reached just below the cottage window sills and the area looked like a reservoir inside the moat banks. With the high water large amounts of rubbish, plastic, timber was scattered all over the Decoy. In the gale two large dead trees came down, one blocking path B. One screen A/E was completely demolished and another B/C was partly damaged.
FRIDAY 9TH MARCH 1990 – SUNDAY 11TH MARCH 1990 PM 
3 Pumps (3” diameter, kindly loaned by Weaver Hire, Runcorn were put into operation on Friday evening and were kept running until Sunday pm. It was estimated that a minimum of 250,000 - 300,000 galls of water was pumped out and the water had dropped by 3”only. After submerging in about 1 metre of water we managed to clear the excess water drain of rubbish, which should allow water to drain off more quickly. What damage has been done to our populations of small mammals, amphibians, dragonflies and butterfly larvae etc. only time will tell.   Large numbers of eels present!!


SUNDAY 18/3/90
0930 - 1100     RPC     MUTE SWAN    *** 
1(1Y) on pond – New record!!
Water still very high about 2/3 metre.


SUNDAY 25/3/90
0930 - 1300        LM RPC        
Water still about  1/3 metre high all paths still under water. High tides again due in next few days and again very windy. Filled 15 sacks with earth to make dam by entrance steps. Many eels appear to be dying?

TUESDAY 27/3/90
1200 – 1400     RPC                
(10 metre tide but no wind !!)


TUESDAY 17/4/90
0930               RPC MW 
Large pump arrived 6” diameter, pumping commenced and continued until Friday AM. Estimated 1½ million gallons pumped out. Water now down to ditch level.
Picture
Views of the flood.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Flooded Decoy
The cottage - note the tide-mark!
Picture
The pumps.
Picture
An eel
More >>>                                                                                                                                                                                                                C. and R. Cockbain
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.