Alconbury Brook Flood Group Bulletin September 2024

This is a quick update of work done in the last two weeks since our last bulletin. 

Maintenance momentum:

20+ volunteers have done brilliant work over the last couple of week-ends clearing those hard to maintain sections of the brook bank that the idb can’t reach with the tractor flail mower.We have also sprayed reeds over a 300m section of the brook near the A1 flyover.Our next volunteer events will be on October 12th and 19th at Alconbury Weston and 700m downstream of the A1 flyover. If you would like to take part please contact Debbie at debbiehose@talk21.com . Reed spraying will continue for several weeks.

Nuns Bridge:

A generous farmer who farms adjacent to Nuns Bridge has agreed to take the spoil from the clearance. A spoil disposal exemption has been registered. We are also grateful for further offers of funding.

Hamerton Pond Project:

A basic design has now been agreed with landowner. An outline of the proposal is with Cambridgeshire Archaeology. Issues with access to the site are being investigated.

Flood Alleviation Scheme:

Reports on the potential impact of 4 of the options have been completed by the modelling consultants JBA. Reports on the upstream storage and downstream conveyance options are still awaited. The downstream conveyance report is due during the first week in October

Tanglewoood Pond:

Details are now with the diocesan owners of the site to get permission for the work to be undertaken. Thanks to the  EA who are in the process of applying for a grant for the work on our behalf.

Soil Projects:

Using Chicory as a test plant since it was plentiful  on the Allotment Herbal Ley experiment we were interested to find that some treatments did produce differences.The addition of mycorrhizal fungi increased plant weight, and root depth, volume and mass.The addition of Phosphite and PGA (thank you Unium Bioscience) also had the same effect, and increased the number of branches plants had. Although these are very preliminary findings, they are useful pointers for future experiments. Farm Walk: If you would like to attend our farm walk between 6pm and 7.30pm on October 9th when we will be talking about methods of measuring plant activity and yield, contact