Maddened by the floods? Get mad about moss.
Flooded fields between Annacloy and Ballynahinch, County Down, Northern Ireland Photo credit Ardfern Having spent many years of my childhood on the now disastrously flooded Somerset Levels, and still full of memories of my research last year into 19th century Budleigh Salterton spongiologist Henry Carter FRS, I read with interest Simon Barnes’ article in yesterday’s Times newspaper. ‘Dredging up old ideas won’t save the Levels’ was its title. No, believes the author. What is needed is in his words “a bloody great sponge” placed upstream to soak up water and then release it slowly. “Such sponges are known as upland bogs, moors, woodlands, wetlands and species-rich grasslands.” The picture says it all: an overwhelmed flood sign Photo credit Bob Embleton And maybe he should have added mosslands. For in our hillside cottage here in Budleigh Salterton we’re only too aware of the ...