The flats of RSPB Loch Gruinart has a special history going back thousands of years. Once upon a time, the flats were under sea water, and Islay as we know it didn't exist. It was actually made up of two islands gradually pushed together over time. Going forward to a few hundred years ago, the flats was a large area of salt marsh and Islay was formed. Then, in the mid-1800's the Laird of Islay invited Dutch settlers to come and reclaim the land for agriculture in order to support Islay's growing population. A sea wall and hundreds of metres of drains later, the flats were dried out and the sea kept out. In 1984 when the RSPB bought the reserve they took on the flats, restored much of the drains, added further manipulation to allow flooding in certain areas for the benefit of ducks and waders.
And so: the rain fills the foot drains; these drains flow into the ditches; the ditches flow down to sluices which, depending on the time of year, allow a certain volume of water to go on to the sea wall, where specially designed 'gates' ensure fresh water flows out while salt water stays back. And that's how it all works. Usually. Very occasionally the system is put under pressure from heavy rain and high tides, meaning the water from the drains cannot flow out the sea gates. On Thursday last week 3 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours - this is the result.
The road was closed to most vehicles for days, you can just make out our landrover making it through.
As the tide fell, volunteer Tim Claye and I walked out to see the sea gates in action;
Salt marsh on Tims left.
It took until Sunday for the road to visitor centre to re-open.