Aficionados of the Tilshead borehole will appreciate that a week of what seemed to be pretty consistent rain might not be all that it appeared. That is indeed the case and the water level in the aquifer levelled-off at 98.64 metres AOD during the early part of the week and has been falling steadily since Thursday. I don’t believe that last week’s rainfall was as heavy or as persistent as it first might have seemed. Whilst water levels in the River Till might have risen slightly (I’m sure Peter S will advise), that has come from local run-off rather than a rise in the aquifer. Once again, the Environment Agency got their prediction of rising levels, wrong. Then again, they are looking at things nationally and the foibles of one water-table is a level of detail into which they are unlikely to get. Nevertheless, the Flood Alert remains in force for groundwater flooding in the village.
As I write this piece, I can see buds on the trees already swelling, so Spring is already well underway and we have the annual battle of plants starting to take up water and rain continuing to fall. The plants will eventually win the war, but is the current drop in water level this year’s victory, or just another battle along the way? I’m still not too sure. We are going to have a very miserable wet day today and next week looks very much like a repeat of last week, with intermittent rain and drizzle. There will be much more rain to our West and it is a matter of how much is blown our way on strengthening winds. The following week and into the start of March is likely to be drier. Beyond that and out towards the end of March, we are likely to see a procession of south-westerlies bringing more rain. Don’t put your waterproofs away just yet!