Overflowing lake and a daft duck

This morning when I went to let out the ducks and chickens I noticed a strange noise coming from the lake overflow. It has been very wet lately and the water level is quite high which makes a gloop gloop sound as so much water is trying to get down the vertical overflow hole. However this morning after yet another really wet night with 23.5mm rainfall (nearly an inch), the water level was up so high that the main overflow and its concrete surround had completely disappeared. Water was 2/3rds of the way up the secondary (horizontal) overflow pipe and water was all over the lake bank on the lowest side! From there it just flows straight under the conifer hedge, down the slope into the ditch where it meets up with the stream again.

This is only the third time this has happened in our eight years here - it wasn't as high as I've seen it before but this was the first time I've taken any photos.

Suffice to say the ducks are never bothered by this - quite the contrary - they have more lake to play in!

The stream in the field behind the lake was twice the size it normally is when flowing in winter.

On the garden side the water was right up to the edge!

On the road side the pathway was disappearing. However it wasn't very deep as you can see from my OH standing in it.

The 'moorhen tree' was really low in the water.

Unrelated, but maybe because the ground is so wet and soggy, our very old but not long dead apple tree had fallen over. It wasn't particularly windy but it's a shame because there were plenty of nesting holes in the tree pecked out by the birds and we had planned to leave it in place for the time being for the benefit of the wildlife.

Outside our gates by the road you can clearly see here where the ditch is met by the two overflows from the lake, turning the normally calm little stream into a bit of a raging torrent.

The secondary overflow is up here hidden by an overgrown mass of brambles (note the cardboard rubbish - not something we normally see much of, I'm happy to say, and for now it can stay there....)

This is the other side of the lane where the stream runs beside our orchard. The ditch is on the left, the stream on the right. Normally the water is about one metre lower!

Thankfully it didn't last long and after a few hours the water receded and the familiar gloop gloop sound returned to the overflow. Not before a daft duck decided to investigate the coypu trap though. I had been a bit worried as this was originally half submerged in water so I kept an eye on it in case a coypu got trapped - they will get shot but that's humane whereas a slow death by drowning is not something I would like to see happen.

Rachel is lucky that I was outside with my camera so I was able to check just what that brown thing was inside the cage!