Today, we are back at Kirkleatham Owl Centre, giving you a behind the scenes view, meeting the birds and getting up close and personal with the favourite meerkat families. This week the centre is mopping up after the rains
So, as 2021 arrived we were glad, like everyone, to see the back of 2020, but the new year has got off to a wet and a difficult start.
It has rained almost constantly since New Year's Eve, then we had the sleet and snow and then heavy snow, then a quick thaw followed by torrential rain.
And the water poured in. We have been flooded in the past – in 2013 we suffered a devastating flood when the waters reached 4ft – so we are always nervous during periods of rain like this.
A small beck runs alongside us and by noon on Saturday it was fully swollen and a raging torrent, the village road then started to flood as water poured down off the surrounding hills and fields, and as we are the lowest point on the Kirkleatham site all this water flowed towards us.
We seemed to spend all of Saturday sweeping the gathering water away – towards our display lawn where the public enjoy watching the birds in action – and by Saturday evening it was more lake than lawn.
It was the water pouring off the flooded village road which worried us most though – it was a couple of feet deep across the road and was getting deeper by the minute.
We quickly set about digging a trench through the small chunk of woodland between the water and the beck, hoping to divert the torrent, and it worked, with the flood water pouring into the beck. The trench quickly became overwhelmed and a second one had to be dug, this was all going on till about 3am.
Disaster was averted though and by Sunday morning the water was still flowing along our two makeshift trenches, which in the light of day would have given the Panama Canal a run for its money.
Everyone was exhausted, but all animals and the centre were fine, just some rather soggy owls who got caught in the rain, but it could have been a serious disaster. Surely 2021 has to be a better year - we are hopeful, wet but hopeful.
To support the work of Kirkleatham Owl Centre, visit https://www.kirkleathamowl
centre.co.uk/
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