2016

SE9621 : Low tide on Read's Island: aerial 2016

taken 8 years ago, near to Ferriby Sluice, North Lincolnshire, England

Low tide on Read's Island: aerial 2016
Low tide on Read's Island: aerial 2016
The island has a long and fascinating history: see LinkExternal link

The Island became known locally as Read's Island because of the Read Brothers of Burton Stather who worked the island. As well as farming the island they set about reclaiming more land by the system called warping. This entails building a low wall over which the water flows as it rises with the tide. The water is then held back as the tide recedes and the water is released only after it has deposited its mud and silt. Over a period this deposit builds up and eventually becomes solid.

It wasn't until around 1850 that the island appeared on the OS maps. The first people to inhabit the island were shepherds (employed by the Read brothers) who lived in huts.

The first recorded sale of the island was in 1871, when Humber Conservancy bought the island from the Crown for the sum of £9,000. The land was rented out by the Humber Conservancy Board for farming and grazing, on the condition that the tenant maintained the embankments. Because of its isolation the island was used to develop new strains of sheep and cattle. Humber Conservation also noted its isolation and had a store of explosives on the island, which they used to blow up dangerous wrecks on the Humber.

It is now an RSPB Reserve.

See also SE9621 : Read's Island: aerial 2014, which has been taken when the water level was even lower. Perhaps the high rainfall accounts for higher water level in the above photo. In both photos however there appears to be very little water to the south of the island, though at one time this was the "deep water channel". As explained in the linked article "The deep-water channel in the River Humber is constantly changing position. In the 1970's the channel moved to the South side of the island, thus causing seagoing vessels to navigate the narrow strait between the island and the South bank of the river. As you stood on the main road to Scunthorpe, the A1077, you could shout to the crews of the boats as they worked on the deck. These boats were using the berths at Goole and other ports to the West of the river. This only lasted for a few years before the channel reverted back to the north side of the island".

However there is little space to the north of the island either: the sand bar at the bottom is the edge of Redcliff Middle Sand.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Chris and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · South Channel of the Humber [10] · Low Tide [6] · River Humber [5] · West [5] · Mud [4] · Water [3] · Scunthorpe [2] Other Photos: · Read's Island: aerial 2014 ·
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SE9621, 40 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Chris   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Thursday, 11 February, 2016   (more nearby)
Submitted
Friday, 12 February, 2016
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SE 967 218 [100m precision]
WGS84: 53:41.0498N 0:32.2206W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SE 985 225
View Direction
West-southwest (about 247 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Supplemental image
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