I talked to Scotty about flooding

I talked to Scotty – no not the Star Trek Scotty, but Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Ranger Scotty Dodd. [Yep I know, life's full of coincidences]. I met Scotty while walking alongside Folly Bog and Chobham Ridges last week, on the only sunny day. I was on foot, while he was in a Land Rover, and checking the condition of the ditches and the cattle grids.

Why did I stop Scotty, and talk with him? Well, I’d two burning questions.

Firstly, what was the small bird with the black cap, I’m always forgetting my small binoculars when nipping out for a walk – irritatingly, I don’t know why because we’ve a pair of small binoculars that reside in a small willow basket with all our house keys on our kitchen work top. Secondly, did the heavy rains cause flooding on Brentmoor Heath and West End Common.

Scotty’s answers were:

• The bird is a Stonechat
• Chobham Ridges has numerous springs and watercourses, so there’s always plenty of water on lower lying land on West End Common. Scotty did say that to aid flood prevention in West End, Surrey Wildlife Trust and Wayne Purdon - Surrey Heath Borough Council’s Drainage Engineer – have agreed with Natural England [previously English Nature] to install scrapes on the land to direct water run off towards more suitable locations.

Little by little, I’m picking up knowledge on local flooding and actions that can be taken to reduce it.