Essex Rivers Hub

The surounding land is arable fields with some shading from trees but the channel is mainly open. There are buffer strips of vegetaion on both banks separating the channel from the arable land. There was also some in channel vegetation at the time of the survey

The channel has been straightened and reprofiled in the past.

The area (land use)

The dominant land use for this stretch of river is arable.

No livestock were recorded.

Channel characteristics

The river channel consists of mainly silt, and riffles are present in the downstream section only.

At the time of recording the flow of water was sluggish and the channel was 2-5m wide and 0.5-1m in depth.

For most of this stretch the channel profile is steep.

Bankside trees were abundant, marginal plants and in-channel plants are abundant. Woody debris was noted to be rare.

Engineering

The channel has been straightened and man-made enhancements are absent along this stretch of river.

Field drains were recorded as present and barriers / culverts are present.

Condition

Areas of trampling / poaching were absent and areas of erosion were absent at the time of the survey.

 Wildlife

Mallards seen during survey

• < River Mardyke walkover map
• < River Mardyke walkover list

RBD/catchment/river/tributary

River Mardyke

Date completed

May-13

Upstream Grid ref

TQ6200783582

Downstream Grid ref

TQ6170682204