Business as usual at Brockholes Nature Reserve despite the floods

The popular Lancashire Wildlife Trust visitor attraction at Samlesbury, near Preston was completely closed from February 9 -11. The visitor village remained closed from February 12 - 15 and the site closed early last Thursday and was closed again on Saturday.

Operations Manager Karen Williams said: "We opened yesterday. On Monday and Tuesday in winter the Visitor Village is closed to the public but the reserve itself is open. At the moment everything is looking fine. We've got conferences in, but we're just monitoring the river level."

She said that the main visitor village, designed as a "floating village" which can rise by up to two metres as waters rise, had remained flood free in the past few weeks, but at times the centre's main entrance road, which runs near to the River Ribble, had flooded and the pedestrian boardwalks and bridge at the entrance to the village can also flood.

Alan Wright, Communications Manager for The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside said: "The actual building rises and falls with the water levels. It's a flood plain. That was the idea of the reserve in the first place. The flood plain captures water when the Ribble overflows. That was why the visitor village was built to float."

* The Government's flood information service notes that when water levels reaches 4.83m at Samlesbury minor flooding is possible. The highest level on record was 6.56m on December 26, 2015.