Washland or washes are areas of land adjacent to rivers which are deliberately flooded at times when the rivers are high, to avoid flooding in residential or important agricultural areas.[1][2][3] They often provide for overwintering wildfowl, and several include important nature reserves.[4][5]
Examples of washlands include:
- The Ouse Washes of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk
- The Nene Washes of Cambridgeshire
- ^ "Collaborative Landforms Gallery". The Geograph Project. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ^ Wheeler, William Henry (1896). A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire. 2nd Edition (facsimile edition, 1990 ed.). Stamford: Paul Watkins. ISBN 1-871615-19-4.
- ^ "The River Ouse project". The River Ouse project. University of Sussex.
Such areas are known as 'washlands'
- ^ "About Ouse Washes". RSPB. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ^ "Trent Valley Washlands". National Character Areas. Natural England. Retrieved 20 June 2014.