Almost a week on from the deluge that affected both people and property across the county, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, the county’s largest locally based environmental charity, is still calculating the cost of flooding caused by Storm Babet.  

With many of the Trust’s nature reserves, especially its large wetland sites, being in areas prone to flooding and managed through nature-based grazing, Trust staff and volunteers had to urgently move the charity’s sheep and cattle to safe ground in challenging conditions. 

Major flooding on the River Trent & River Erewash at Attenborough, south of Nottingham, and on the River Idle at Retford, resulted in the closure of the Trust’s visitor centres and cafes at its flagship Attenborough & Idle Valley Nature Reserves. This has led to the loss of income needed to maintain and improve its reserves for nature and people and its wider work across the county. Whilst the centre at Idle Valley Nature Reserve reopened on Tuesday 24th, the impact of flooded paths and cancelled walks meant visitor numbers have been significantly down and the centre at Attenborough is not due to reopen until Friday or Saturday. The full impact of damage to property including paths and loss of catering stock will not be known until the flood waters fully recede.  
 
Just as the impact on income and infrastructure at the affected sites is difficult to quantify, so is the impact on wildlife. Species such as water voles and water shrews will have had burrows washed out due to the exceptionally high water levels, fish may be left stranded as water subsides and nutrient rich sediment and pesticides, washed from farmland, may have a damaging impact on invertebrates and fish populations. The huge inundations of water may also damage important shallow wetland habitats such as reedbed, marsh and fen – with loss of invertebrates and small mammals and impacts on the balance of plant species. Other impacts could be damage to or loss of feeding and over-wintering habitat for birds such as wader species.  

Speaking about the impacts of the flooding, Head of Communications Erin McDaid said: “Like many others across the county, we’ve been impacted by the scale and speed of the flooding. Some of our staff have been directly affected and others have had to go above and beyond to ensure our facilities were safe and that our livestock out on nature reserves were moved to safe ground. We know many homes and businesses have been affected, but having to close both our centres was a real blow. As a charity with no central funding our café’s, shops and car parks raise vital funds to care for our nature reserves and support our work protecting wildlife across the county.” 

As floodwaters continue to recede, the charity is keeping its fingers crossed that there are no significant impacts such as structural damage to paths or large-scale plastic pollution. Previous floods at Idle Valley Nature Reserve severely damaged a section of access path adjacent to the River Idle and in February 2020 flood water deposited a layer of micro-plastics across large areas of Attenborough Nature Reserve.  

Erin added: “The true impact of previous flooding didn’t become clear until the flood water drained away. We are very much hoping that there are no hidden surprises in store this time around.” 

Given the scale of the flooding and the apparent increasing frequency of such events, the Trust is calling on the Government to ensure that all future development is safe, sustainable and doesn’t lead to increased flood risk.  

Erin explained: “Storm Babet has wreaked havoc across our county, with dozens of road closures and hundreds of homes flooded. With deluges such as the one we experienced last week seemingly more common, it is vital that planners avoid developments in floodplains wherever possible. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clearly that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided – and where development is necessary in such areas, it must be designed to be safe and not increase flooding elsewhere. The Wildlife Trusts believe that new homes and communities must be built to withstand a significantly changing climate. It is also essential that new development incorporates sustainable urban drainage and features such as swales and rain gardens to reduce surface water flooding and to provide additional wildlife habitat.”