A Field Guide to British Rivers. George Heritage
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A Field Guide to British Rivers
George Heritage
Salford University, Salford, UK
Andy Large
University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
David Milan
University of Hull, Hull, UK
This edition first published 2022
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
[ISBN 9781118487983]
Cover image:
Cover design by
In memory of Martin Charlton (1957–2021)
An unassuming academic with a brilliant mind, indubitable character and unbounded enthusiasm for his work and students. Martin will be missed by all who knew him. His influence will live on well beyond his short life.
Foreword
Temperate rivers are influenced by many factors including geology, climate, soils, sediment type, flow and human activity. The complex interactions of the non‐anthropogenic controlling factors have led to a wonderful variety of river form in the British Isles. Sadly, however, almost all temperate rivers in the United Kingdom have suffered significant and long‐lasting modification and management that has all but destroyed this variety, instead creating simplified conduits for water and sediment designed primarily to drain the land and reduce flood risk. This book is intended to illustrate this variety, highlighting the many forms that temperate river systems take in the United Kingdom. In this volume, we cover upland and lowland channel types and include the full range of substrate conditions from bedrock through boulder, cobble and gravel through to silt‐dominated systems. In doing this, we describe examples gathered from over 30 years each of research and practical experience working with rivers and set these in the context of the current scientific knowledge to illustrate the natural functioning of temperate river types. We hope this will act as a practical, context‐sensitive and more sustainable template for the restoration and re‐naturalisation of degraded channels in the United Kingdom and as a working set of guidelines for those interested in understanding more about the rich variety of temperate river types. In doing this, we know other examples exist (e.g. the practical guides from the UK River Restoration Centre), and so we intend this volume with its balance between science and practicalities of river management to compliment these other approaches but essentially to act as a stand‐alone guide.
It is interesting to reflect on the reasons behind the present degraded state of temperate rivers and the common acceptance that this current state is “how a river should be.” Significant, almost wholesale, channel and floodplain modification occurred throughout the agricultural and industrial revolution as valley bottomlands were exploited for food production and industrialists sought to utilise the power of rivers for energy for manufacturing activities. River channels were moved, straightened, embanked, and deepened, and the new channels had their banks protected with wood and stone.