River Peck

[Nigello]

It is really flowing much faster. I know that the recent heavyish rain will be behind this mainly, but the banks have been cleared of lots of vegetation and generally cleared out. It actually looks like a stream (not a river, though).

[redjam]

The whole of Peckham Rye seems really waterlogged at the moment, as are parts of Dulwich Park. Don't really understand why - I know it's been a bit rainy recently but not THAT rainy! Maybe I don't normally go to the parks so much in the depths of winter so I just haven't noticed it before. Makes it hard to keep your distance when everyone is crammed onto the path trying to navigate huge puddles.

Quite nice to see the Peck free-flowing though - it's normally such a dispiriting little trickle. Wonder what the rationale is for clearing out all the vegetation. Hopefully it will discourage the rat problem round there!

[nivag]

Even the water is keeping it local during lockdown

[SpringTime]

Wimbledon Common really bad apparently. All the streams have gone underground, overground.

[Nigello]

The snow melt adds to the problem. Parts of Dulwich Park are locally flooded but the huge puddle opposite the horse track near to the Court Lane entrance is much smaller. Maybe my reporting it to the park manager had an effect or maybe it is just a coincidence? Is it because we are on clay and it just can absorb only so much water?

[SpringTime]

How did the park manager receive your puddle report, Nigello?

[Nigello]

I emailed the address on the board in the park and attached a picture. IDNK the exact name or title but I got a response, also from the councillor I CCd, which was good.

[Sally Eva]

The Peck flows through the grounds of what was Waverley School, under Homestall Road road and into the park. I believe the council has lost its path through the park. Clearing the brambles off the banks near the pond allows it to flow and has revealed the wild iris on the banks.

The patch of wild flowers near the junction of Strakers Road and Peckham Rye East is on the site of the old paddling pool. This was contaminated by a spring underneath it which couldn't be stopped from entering the paddling pool water and led to the pool being closed.

The land below this patch of wild flowers (between the dirt path and the road), is very marshy and I guess the underground spring continues to flow.

[Sue]

redjam Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Wonder what the rationale is for clearing out all

> the vegetation.

I imagine it's so that the water can run away more easily, and not be left to make the surrounding ground waterlogged.

We have work parties twice a year on our allotment site, and among the things done are clearing any vegetation blocking the ditches/drains which take away water.

Like everywhere else the site is very waterlogged in places at the moment though.

One of the oldest plotholders says it's the wettest winter he can remember, and he thinks it's due to climate change 😥

[malumbu]

The Rye, Dulwich Park and the sports fields off Burbage are usually waterlogged at this time of year - something we experienced in several years of kids' football. As much to do with drainage and the heavy clay soil. Hats off to the family that brought a rubber boat to Nunhead Cemetery yesterday

[katesonic]

Any local geologists amatuer or otherwise can explain the link or proximity to gas/shale oil and aquifers like the source of the river Peck?

Been a lot of deep bore excavations recently...by The Gardens, Rye Hill Park etc.

Am I sitting on a gold mine and do I need to extend my lease to 990 years (should the govt legislate for leasehold reform)?.

K. :).

[RichH]

I'm not a geologist, amateur or otherwise, but from what I read a few years ago when Cuadrilla and fracking were very much the news items of the day, it's basically all about the rock. In the case of Shale rock, it's made of sedimentary silts through which water flows, so there's your aquifer. It's also very good at trapping pockets of gas and contains compounds that can be converted into shale oil. Thus aquifers, shale gas/oil might well be found in proximity.

Can't comment on your hopes for there being Gold in these here hills though :)

[slarti b]

I think the Peck is, like the Effra, one of the rivers\streams that starts on the Crystal Palace\Norwood Ridge. The ridge is capped by a harder layer of sand and gravel which is permeable, but when the water reaches the underlying impermeable London clay it creates springs. You can see this in Dulwich woods.

If correct, the aquifer is above you rather than below you :-)

[rjsmall]

A couple of interesting links about the River Peck here:

https://www.londonslostrivers.com/river-peck.html

https://pastinthepresent.net/2018/03/01/tracing-the-river-pecks-course-from-royal-tree-to-the-thames/#:~:text=Although%20the%20precise%20location%20can%E2%80%99t%20be%20seen%2C%20the,at%20its%20peak%20stretched%20as%20far%20as%20Croydon.

It appears that it starts up on One Tree Hill.