The Wherry Breaks.

 

Older residents in the village will remember the excitements of ‘the Wherry breaking’ each Autumn as the South Winterborne suddenly resumed its flow after weeks of being perfectly dry. In recent years this pattern of behavior has been interrupted by the activities of Wessex Water, but this year the classic flow pattern has been evident. It is well known that the flow in the stream is controlled by the annual rise and fall of the aquifer, the ground water level being easily available online for the borehole at Ashton. After falling at around 5cm per day throughout the summer months the rate dropped in August to 2cm per day and the stream dried up at Ashton, though there was still a small flow through the main channel in Martinstown. The ground water fall of 1cmpd then continued until the 21^st October, with the stream bed being dry. On the 22^nd of October the ground water movement reversed direction suddenly with a rise of 5cm. And low and behold, there was again a small but steady flow through the village, The Wherry had broken.

 

                                                                                                     video.  John M Elliott