This is the River Great Ouse near Milton Keynes.
The flood plain here has been transformed from grazing pasture to a something that we may have seen thousands of years ago - before humans modified the river.
Following gravel extraction at the site, which you can still see is happening here, the area was sculpted into a series of interconnected channels and ponds, which over time will develop into a floodplain forest.
Following gravel extraction at the site, which you can still see is happening here. The are was sculpted into a series of interconnected channels and ponds, which over time will develop into a floodplain forest.
Before the works, the land looked very much like this area just upstream– a single channel, straightened with very little bankside vegetation.
Now when the river rises it will flow much sooner out of its main channel and into the floodplain.
Some tree planting has already been carried out, but overtime there will will be a natural development of trees and vegetation.
Each time it floods, sediment will be moved around the floodplain.
Over time, a range of habitats will form, each at different stages of development, providing diverse and rich habitats, that will sustain so much more, than the pasture land that preceded it.
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