Winter Flood & Wader Meadow
The Winter Flood and Wader Meadow border the lake. Thousands of wildfowl feed here in winter, whilst waders such as Redshank and Lapwing breed here in summer.
Water levels on the winter flood rise in the autumn and remain high throughout the winter. This provides a vital overwintering ground for many species and an early season food source for waders. Spring drawdown exposes the largest concentration of Water Germander on the site.
The wader meadow, improved during 2004 with the addition of some gravel islands and a bunded pool, attracts breeding Avocets and Little Ringed Plover. Water levels rise early spring and are maintained until the wader chicks have fledged in June or July. Lapwings and Redshank breed on the gravel islands, Bittern and heron can be seen feeding in the pools and ditches. The standing water found here provides the best food source for wader chicks. However, as there is no guaranteed water supply to the meadow at this time, maintenance of the levels is assisted by the use of solar-powered pumps.
Water levels on the winter flood rise in the autumn and remain high throughout the winter. This provides a vital overwintering ground for many species and an early season food source for waders. Spring drawdown exposes the largest concentration of Water Germander on the site.
The wader meadow, improved during 2004 with the addition of some gravel islands and a bunded pool, attracts breeding Avocets and Little Ringed Plover. Water levels rise early spring and are maintained until the wader chicks have fledged in June or July. Lapwings and Redshank breed on the gravel islands, Bittern and heron can be seen feeding in the pools and ditches. The standing water found here provides the best food source for wader chicks. However, as there is no guaranteed water supply to the meadow at this time, maintenance of the levels is assisted by the use of solar-powered pumps.
The solar powered system pumps water from the lake to the meadow. The solar panels produce electricity which runs a low voltage submersible pump. Any extra electricity used to charge an attached set of batteries. When there is too little sun to run the pump, stored energy in the batteries is used to keep the pump running every day.
The greatest water losses (through evaporation and transpiration) are during hot sunny weather - just when the most power is available from the solar panels.
The greatest water losses (through evaporation and transpiration) are during hot sunny weather - just when the most power is available from the solar panels.