Oly Lowe

Fluvial Geomorph passionate about sustainable management of the environment. Views Are Mine, but pls borrow 😉 WQ + HydroMorph = 🐟

@olylowe.bsky.social 🦋

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

Great messages, conveyed brilliantly; SMNR, NFM, and the importance of restoration & geomorph as delivery mechanisms https://t.co/NiVrDnXpOO

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@EnvAgencyMids @EnvAgency We need to stop calling these manmade drains "rivers".

Trees strengthen (natural) river banks, but they can be a threat to manmade (impounding) embankments such as these.

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

"Crazy that innit" @BBCNews

Yes, its an "avulsion" which can occur when a high energy river is dredged. It's nature's (physics) way of dissipating excess energy caused by the shortening/straightening/steepening of a river and removing its mobile sediment

https://t.co/sf5v5hNGpP

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

📣📣Epic job alert: Specialist River Restoration Advisor £42k-£46k

Leading delivery of large scale, complex and/or sensitive river restoration projects across glorious Wales!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

https://t.co/8KeXTOHpub

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

Sorry, timber log weirs are not natural nor do they replicate natural processes... they replicate ecosystem disconnecting & damaging weirs.

Leaky, brashy, beaver analogue, structures do work brilliantly though. Like these...

https://t.co/TN2Xs2KKQY

#BrashIsBest

[Environment Agency @EnvAgency]

Natural Flood Management is one of the many ways we reduce flood risk.

It uses natural processes to slow or store water in a river basin, reducing flood risk downstream.

This project in Surrey used barriers to store and slow water flow, protecting local homes and businesses.

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@EnvAgency Sorry, timber log weirs are not natural nor do they replicate natural processes... they replicate ecosystem disconnecting & damaging weirs.

Leaky, brashy, beaver analogue, structures do work brilliantly though. Like these...

https://t.co/TN2Xs2KKQY

#BrashIsBest

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

More #NFM features installed on this watercourse...

Lots of brash + placed naturally (messy) + wired together &/or upstream of bankside trees = very stable

No timber logs or low flow notch = no excessive scour, but still good low flow, fish & sediment movement

#BrashIsBest

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@swaledalebirds_ @nationaltrust @BBCYorkshire @The_RRC More beaver analogues:

https://t.co/jhvX3IvIUs

To be clear; boulders historically removed should be put back in rivers to support natural geomorph processes and habitats. But walls have no place in a river & would likely need an impounded licence under the Water Resources Act.

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

On #InternationalBeaverDay please note that even if you haven't yet got beavers in your area, you too can create wonderful #NFM analogue beaver features such as my brilliant colleagues built on the Afon Merin

Details: https://t.co/ar0DRoxlzD

Site Visit: https://t.co/wzG7I531Hv

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

No! 🤦🏻

If it doesn't happen naturally it is NOT natural flood management! Please don't FURTHER physically modify our natural headwaters🙏

These barriers will disrupt natural sediment & ecological processes👎

@nationaltrust @BBCYorkshire @The_RRC

#BrashIsBest #ThinkLikeABeaver

[Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith🌳🧬 @AncestralEnq]

Traditional dry stone walling skills are being used in partnership between the National Trust & Yorkshire Water to build 3,500 dams in the South Pennines. 👇
BBC News - Dry stone wallers creating 'leaky dams' to reduce risk of flooding - BBC News
https://t.co/LztJjNQsuP

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@swaledalebirds_ @nationaltrust @BBCYorkshire @The_RRC Yes please. Beaver analogues is what they are called.

Examples are in this thread
https://t.co/J7PMrg4EFH

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

River restorers often worry about in-river #NFM woody debris dams blocking, esp wrt fish passage.

This @WaterNRW project site aggraded its bed from a 3ft deep incised channel, reconnected its floodplain & created this wonderful early stage wet woodland!

@The_RRC @AfonyddCymru

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

Provide funding for a nationwide, nature-rich river corridor network

https://t.co/pBTE14ufWg

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@HMRCcustomers Thanks but i can't get through on that number

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@HMRCcustomers Thanks but I've seen that already. The situation outlined doesn't comply as it IS normally kept at employees’ homes

But as a "shared" vehicle the tax bill would be split between 2000 other employees!

Hence the query. Plus is it different if it's a car not a van?

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@HMRCcustomers Feel free to ask any clarifying questions...there's only so much one can write in a Tweet!

[The Dee Trust / Cynefin Dyfrdwy @thedeetrust]

How do we monitor the success of our habitat restoration sites? 🐟

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

Recruiting: Senior Geomorphologist post to work on the rivers in stunning North & Mid Wales on offer from @NatResWales

Please share https://t.co/ABAfycWtbz

@BSG_Geomorph @EAGeomorphology @The_RRC @CIWEMRCG @CIWEM @theriverstrust @AfonyddCymru @ScottishEPA

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

@PracBrownLtd just in case you're tracking them...does this win the prize for furthest overlanded water bottle from @The_RRC conference 2025?

Arrived in the Lofoten islands, Norway inside the artic circle, by motorbike from the UK yesterday.

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

Brilliant video from @NatResWales

Why fish need boulders?/Pam mae angen clogwyni ar bysgod? Pedair Afon LIFE / Four Rivers for LIFE

[4RiversforLIFE @4AfonLIFE]

As you can see the theme for today is wood!!🪵

Here’s a video about our work on the River Tarell with @nationaltrust and @The_RRC

https://t.co/jKmZue9exO

A link to the press release can be seen in the comments

@NatResWales @LIFEprogramme

[Oly Lowe @olylowe]

Including a conviction after one man bulldozed a riverside woodland the size of half a football pitch

https://t.co/zVkoPUvBjD