Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
28 February 2010
19:1641593I don't think I have ever seen the Dour so high over a continuous period as it is at the moment.
With all this rain it can only be 7-8 inches from bursting along Barton Path. The weed beds by Morrisons are competely saturated, and the arches underneath the Bridge Street bridge almost obscured.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
19:2641595With more rain tocome over the next two days we might see some flooding then lets hope the EA dept are keeping a eye open just in case.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
28 February 2010
20:4841606never thought i would see the day we were worried about the dour breaking its banks.
on the plus side it must be nice for the brown trout to know that a chav would be unable to set his staff loose in the shallow waters.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
28 February 2010
21:0441615Another strange prediction from Vic, the forecasts from the Met Office say dry with some sunshine....
Been nice knowing you :)
28 February 2010
21:0841621I must say, those weed beds are a really striking feature. I don't know why Croc used to insist on keeping the river clear!!
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
21:3441635howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
28 February 2010
21:4141638maybe you are still getting michael fish on the weather forecast vic.
the one that told us that there would be no storms ripping our houses apart?
have you looked at the guarantee closely?
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
21:4841642I will see first what it is like in the morning, if the sun is out then I will look at the guarantee,but it will be raining.
Guest 686- Registered: 5 May 2009
- Posts: 556
It's somewhat amusing to see that PhilE has taken almost identical pictures to some I took on my phone camera earlier in the week. It was still somewhat disheartening to see the rubbish in the river at Charlton Green though.
http://picasaweb.google.com/p.j.west/PhonePics#5442712591872478290
As Phil said the Dour came close to broaching the Barton Path this morning but by mid-afternoon it had dropped by nearly a foot.
I was out at Crabble Corn Mill this morning and high water levels were very evident. The sound of the water rushing over the W-shaped weir at the rear of the mill was quite awsome.
Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!!
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Well my TV is going back,Sun is out and not raining.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
The weeds don't look too bad now Sid, but in the summer of last year, the river, especially along the Barton Path area, were very overgrown and everything from tin cans to puke were just laying on top of the weeds and not moving.
It needed thinning out, not taking out and from the photos, it does look like less weeds.
Roger
Roger, it looks a mess, a real eyesore, end of. If this is what gaining main river status has delivered to our town then someone should be taken outside and shot!
Even a fool would know that growing weeds in this location is tantamount to sticking up a huge advert saying, "dump your rubbish here because we obviously don't care".
I dare say there are loads of fish related reasons to make our river look like a dump,so we have to decide. Do we want the occasional trout to stick it's nose into our river, or do we want a river that at least looks attractive? I know which I'd prefer, but not entirely sure they are mutually exclusive.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I put that to the Environment Agency at a meeting last year, saying there should be a balance between aesthetics and biodiversity, but they didn't listen and just went for biodiversity.
The Dour is not a river that flows through open countryside (as we all know), but an urban river, so it's practicality, attractiveness and biodiversity need to be in balance, but I don't believe it is.
Ask Ian about the river, his back garden backs on to it and what Ian doesn't know about the river, isn't worth knowing.
Being given Main River status, was the worst thing to have happened to the Dour.
Roger
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
Well put Sid and Roger.
Oh God here we go again.
The River Dour has turned into the same as everything alse in Dover, Talk Talk Talk.
When the idea of main River Status came about by Mike webb ( best intentions ) the idea was for the E.A to help the locals, they took over everything along with the W.C.C.P.
The E.A made some fantastic statements about stocking the river and also re-introducing White clawed Crayfish.
Then they said our river was so abundant with Trout they would take some out to put in other rivers.
I had draws full of paper work from years back of all the woderful things that would be happening to the Dour, none of it has and the paper work all got shredded last year.
As Roger pointed out it runs through the heart of our town and should be treated like a well looked after back garden.
Reed beds are Good providing they are looked after and not allowed to get out of hand. The river bed plants have now taken hold and you WILL notice this year that they will grow even more and choking most of the river also collecting more and more rubbish.
The Chevrons that where put in place on the lower stretches have not worked as intended, they have admited that but what a waste of money. also the reshaping of the river in parts to wash away the silt has not worked. the growth of the river bed plants over the summer holds all of the silt in place and I was told as the
plants die off the silt will wash away, It doesn't.
This subject like the Town will be going on for many years to come I think and since the days of River Watch finished I don't think I've heard one good thing said about the Dour, only bad things.
What a fantastic asset we are wasting.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
spot on ian.
since the environment agency have been involved the river seems to look worse.
i have seen no sign of new wildlife being attracted to it.
it would be even worse if the white cliffs people did not do their clean ups.
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
You know me to well Howard, Sids already tried to wind me up,
I'm not biting.
I could go on and on but whats the point, It's all out of our hands now.
My passion for what used to be has now long gone and the river is the furthest thing from my mind.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Ian
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
Thank you Sid, will I see you at the White Horse on Friday?
It doesn't take rocket science to look after our river but we have more degrees in Biodiversity walking along it at times it makes me wonder if they know what they are doing.
And when I say walking along it, has anyone seen them lately?
Or should we wait till the warmer weather turns up and they come out of hibernation, but then they will say you can't do anything in the spawning season and after that its the nesting season and after that we have to be elsewhere.
Now don't forget all you nice forumites, use the hotline phone numbers you got given a while back for illegal fishing and fly tipping, you should get a response within a week telling you no one could attend.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
lost me on that one ian, i wasn't trying to wind you up.
have been known to, i must admit.
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
Gotchya Howard.
I thought I would get my own back.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
