The Fairburn Ings site flooded on Sunday evening. Since then, we've had lots of enquiries about why the site has flooded, how it happened and why it's such a large flood here when surrounding urban areas are seemingly left unscathed. So here is the tale of flooding at Fairburn Ings:
Fairburn is a washland, designated by the Environment Agency, to protect the surrounding urban areas, such as Castleford, from flooding themselves. The River Aire runs alongside the reserve, and there is a spillway just upstream at Allerton Bywater. This spillway is slightly lower than the surrounding river bank and when the river level reaches that height, it cascades over the spillway and onto the adjacent land. This means that Castleford, and other settlements downstream, are protected from extensive flooding, and houses and businesses not as affected.
This photo is from a previous flood event on the reserve (we're currently unable to access areas of the reserve to get a photo of the full extent of the floods at this time)
The flood water moves through the landscape from the spillway, and into Fairburn Ings. It runs into the reserve at the Lin Dike end, and continues up the flashes, funneling through the Discovery Trail, past the visitor centre and car park, and into Main Bay.
The wildlife garden beside the visitor centre, under water.
The flood water that moves through the landscape can be unpredictable and, at times, fast flowing. The following link takes you to the video of the water running through the car park and into Newton Lane as it moves towards Main Bay:
https://vimeo.com/145856711
At the other end of the lake, at Cut Lane, there is a sluice gate. This sluice will only open to let water back out of the reserve, into the River Aire, when the Aire is low enough to take the extra water again. In the meantime, the water will continue to fill Fairburn Ings.
The duck feeding platform can be seen here virtually under water, as the flood water fills the Main Lake.
So Fairburn has experienced more extensive flooding than surrounding areas, because we have taken the excess water, protecting the homes and businesses in those surrounding areas.