ONCE upon a time, and not a very long time ago either, rainfall like last night’s would have gone unnoticed on the mosslands, which would have been very wet already.
But a look at the Downholland Brook just by the Stephenson Way industrial estate showed just how much water had come down overnight.
The Brook had risen by a foot or two, not within danger of breaching the bank but certainly enough to impress.
Before the mosslands round Formby and Martin Mere in West Lancashire were drained, the land would have been a morass of bogs criss-crossed by roads and paths using what firm ground there was between the damp bits – hence the switchback corners on some of the roads nowadays.
And you only have to look at the level of the road compared to the fields around them, too. Peat shrinks when it is drained, and the fields have done just that. Add to it the metalling of the road in recent years and you can see why it is advisable to keep on the road and not veer off.
Mind you, the overnight rain has caused a large amount of lodging on the fields, as farmers term the creating of little ponds in the bumps and dips of the fields where the rainwater collects. If it drains away fairly quickly no harm is done but if it is prolonged then it drowns whatever seed is growing and farmers are left with bare patches come harvest unless they do some resowing.
On some of the black soil the lodged water sparkles silver, sometimes like shiny canals if it follows the tractor tracks into the distance. On other fields, where the soil has more clay, it can just be a brown colour. And all within a few feet of each other, too.
There was a lot of water lying in Great Altcar, particularly around the electricity substation. Luckily one current kept away from the other!
And music on the moss: America's Choice by Hot Tuna - Jorma and Jack's goodtime rocknbluze.
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