arunwild

The river is high this morning. The dog wades across a section of bank she normally walks, nosing curiously through waterlogged reeds festooned with plastic and fragments of wood, detritus abandoned by the passing water. It is an uneasy passage. With each rising tide, the runoff from heavy rains over the valley and downs is penned back. The banks here are too high for the water to spill out, but its level is rising and other areas of the valley are already well flooded. This is for now an ordered outcome, the water levels set to stabilise and then recede as the rains subside. The meeting point of the flood water and tidal flow also appears orderly, with little surface movement. But this is one of the country’s fastest-flowing rivers, and appearances can be deceptive. The rise in water levels can be insidious. At lunchtime two weeks back the path over the bridge connecting Pulborough to the RSPB reserve was dry. Returning in the afternoon, after successfully twitching the vall