Management of a watercourse (drainage ditch)

greenbee

Thanks @Davesnave. I’m hoping the hypericum gets about a bit more... there are only 2 or 3 bits at the moment. I’m hoping the dieramas do the same. 

Upstream have a certain amount of gunk on the surface of the water ... at least the water parsnip filters that out!

Farway

OT, I've always wanted a garden with a stream or similar, visions of communing with large cool drink & nature as kingfishers & swallow dart over the water

Reading this thread I realise I probably dodged a bullet by never finding my idle dream

DiggerUK

As it is a land drainage channel it would at one time have  been the responsibility of the rivers authority or local water company. Those responsibilities are now carried out by the Environment Agency.
Get in touch with them and 'complain' 😉 saying it looks very overgrown and say you are 'worried' about not getting property insurance if it is not properly looked after. After they have inspected they won't come back for fifty years, plenty of time for you to do your bit for the 'environment'.......know what I mean, say no more, nods as good as a wink..._

Davesnave

Farway said:

OT, I've always wanted a garden with a stream or similar, visions of communing with large cool drink & nature as kingfishers & swallow dart over the water

Found a few like that, but with the ones I considered there was always a concern that the watercourse might very occasionally pass through one's living room. I can have the kingfishers, dippers, herons, egrets and otters quite easily without that possibility, but when I see some of them I usually have a rod in my hand and mixed feelings in my head!

As for inviting the Environment Agency to look at our little stream, I think the last time they did that everyone had to upgrade their septic tank arrangements.....so maybe not!

greenbee

Round here the environment agency leave everything down to our volunteer 'conservation group'. Who are more slash-and-burn than conservation. They rip everything out - but not properly (I've just looked at where they've cleared my neighbour's side of the boundary on the north, and they've pulled stuff up but left roots, so it will just grow back - however, I'm fed up with doing it and have other things to do, so that side is just going to have to be a mess, like the neighbour's land). I go through and weed selectively, keeping the plants I want to encourage and finding new homes for them if necessary. The water parsnip needs to come out, but the water mint, marsh woundwort and crowfoot need to be left or moved. So I don't let them near the place - I've had to remind them about the boundary several times. 

greenbee

I've hauled out another bucket of weed onto the compost heap, added lots of cardboard and stirred it. I've also cut a channel through quite a bit of the weed I'd cut down but won't have time to clear for a while. TBH the water was flowing fine anyway, but it was good to remind myself where the channel is ready for any structural changes or planting!