Brearley Fields in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, is a wetland that currently isn't. On a hot, dry summer day, the reserve feels more like a parched field than a marsh, with fibrous grasses, thistles, and greater plantain growing waist-high. The only water present occupies a grey area between a small pond and a large puddle. Grasshoppers chirp in the scrub, and the landscape holds a precarious balance of green against yellow.
This transient wetland was created as part of flood mitigation efforts by the local volunteer group Slow The Flow. The Calder Valley has long faced the threat of flooding, most notably during the devastating Boxing Day floods of 2015. The conversion of the old Brearley playing fields into a wetland provides a natural way to accommodate floodwaters when the River Calder swells.
Currently, the river is low and agreeable, burbling past exposed shingle shores. But when the rains come, this baked soil will quickly turn soggy and drenched, giving the river room to breathe. The wetland is just one safety valve in a network of flood projects across the region, making a marginal but important difference.
Despite the dry conditions, signs of life persist. A garden warbler sings, rowan saplings display translucent new berries, and greater bird's-foot trefoil peeps out from the grass—a marsh plant that hints at the wetland's true nature yet to come.
