New pumps to protect the Fens

This picture shows the incredible size of the biggest pumping station ever built in Britain - that's a skip in the bottom left of the image.

It's being built on the Middle Level Drain at St Germans, near King's Lynn, to protect half the Fens from rising sea levels and increasingly-frequent storm surges.

When it becomes operational next February, it will be able to shift 1000 tonnes of water a minute.

The Middle Level Drain is fed by a system of drains stretching miles inland, including the Sixteen Foot, Forty Foot, Old Nene and Popham's Eau.

It protects tens of thousands of homes and thousands of hectares of low-lying farmland, much of it below sea level, from flooding.

When the drainers reclaimed the Fens, they created mile upon mile of waterways which centuries later have become a Mecca for pike anglers.

But they didn't realise the peaty soil would shrink as it dried out. And parts of the area are now 20ft below mean high tide levels.

BBC reports on Fen flood barrier

Ten days after the PAC revealed an entrepreneur's proposals to build a barrage across The Wash to protect the Fens from flooding, the BBC reports on the story. Conservation groups claim the plan to protect thousands of low-lying homes from rising sea levels is a non-starter. Click here for more.

Click here for our original report revealing details of the plan.

Barrier proposed to protect the Fens

A barrage could be built across The Wash to protect the Fens from flooding, it emerged today.

The Wash Tidal Barrier Corporation is bidding to build a new sea defence barrier between Hunstanton, in Nofolk and Skegness, in Lincolnshire, in a bid to protect low-lying areas from the growing threat of storm surges.

The announcement came as Norfolk County Council pledged to fight for Government funding to protect the Upper Thurne and its broads.

Much of the Fens between King's Lynn and Ely are lower than sea level. Hundreds of thousands of homes are protcted by a network of man-made drains and rivers, many of them higher than the surrounding land.

A new pumping station is being built on the Middle Level Drain at St Germans to cope with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns.

Today the Barrier Corporation said: "Sea level rise and climate change are major threats to the Wash coast and fenland environment.

"Sea level is predicted to rise by at least one metre by 2100 and sea temperatures, already 1°C higher, are increasing by 0.4°C each decade. Storm surges sufficient to overwhelm the Wash coastal defences are becoming ever more likely.

"Raising the height of existing coastal defences would not only be prohibitively expensive, but also have a major impact on marginal habitats such as salt marsh, inter-tidal mudflats and sandbanks.

"A tidal barrier across the Wash will provide us with the opportunity to manage the tide height and range within the Wash. The Barrier also offers a number of additional benefits – in particular, the generation of a large and reliable amount of green electricity and flood protection for more than 500,000 people, 300,000 hectares of grade 1 agricultural land and billions of pounds’ worth of assets."

For more on the Wash barrier proposals, click here.

Flooding will become common - claim

Floods like those which have devastated parts of the Midlands, Thames Valley, Yorkshire and Humberside over the last two weeks will become more common, claims a hard-hitting newspaper report.

"Climate scientists predict that by the end of the century storms like those that have swept across England this summer will hit Britain far more frequently," the Daily Telegraph reports.

"National average rainfall will increase by around 20 per cent, and much of that will fall in extreme, torrential downpours bringing a month's worth of rain in a single day."

Click here to read it in full.

Scientists study muskie spawning habitats

Environmental bodies in some states of America are streets ahead of us when it comes to fish conservation.

They've realised climate change could be impacting on spawning success of muskie and pike, so studies are being launched now to find out where fish spawn and how these areas can be best protected.

Should we be campaigning for similar research to be carried out in areas of the UK where pike populations appear in decline, or exhibit missing year classes..?

Click here for story.

Broads should recover from salt tides - EA

Norfolk's pike fishing mecca does not appear to have been harmed by last winter's storm surges, the Environment Agency said today.

Anglers feared the worst as gales lashed the East Coast last November, driving salt tides higher than normal up the rivers Yare and Thurne.

But a report in Angle - the EA's magazine for anglers in East Anglia - says: "The tidal flooding of the Broads last November should have little effect on fish stocks, and anglers can look forward to a good season's sport."

The EA adds the storm surge, on November 1, was the highest since the 1953 floods, which killed more than 40 people as the sea broke through defences.

"It was one of the worst incidents of fish deaths from natural causes in the Norfolk Broads in the last 15 years. Thousands of fish died."

But hundreds of thousands more were saved by flood barriers at Potter Heigham boatyards, which were packed with juvenile silver fish.

Mortality was worst on the Yare, where dead fish were seen upstream of Brundall. While it is difficult to assess how badly pike were affected, few were seen amid the large numbers of silver fish.

The EA's Graham Gamble said: "It was mainly the young fish which were lost and the numbers will be replenished naturally. I don't think anyone will notice any big difference this coming year."

But while a once in 50 year storm tide is not the end of fishing, such tides are predicted to become more common as sea levels rise and our climate changes.

There is already controversy over the way Broadland rivers are managed to contain water, rather than allow it to flood onto marshland as it has for centuries.

Warmest winter ever, US boffins say

Scientists in America say the winter of 2006/07 was the warmest-ever and 2007 could be the hottest year since records began.

But put away the lawnmower, because we're heading for a cold snap with blizzards possible by Sunday night in some northern areas.

Fens are most at risk from climate change

Low-lying areas of the Fens are among the most vulnerable areas of the country to the effects of climate change. More here.

Mild weather hits US ice fishing

So mild there isn't enough ice over there for the first time in living memory. You do wonder how climate change is ultimately going to affect our pike fishing.

Anyone remember the last frost..?

Click here for story.