Bratley Water is one of the upper tributaries of the Lymington River, here at Bratley Arch it's still young having only formed a mile or so north in Slufters Bottom. The Slufters Bottom catchment area is a finger of broad valley sticking into Ocknell Plain, and when it rains heavily the run off causes the the valley bottom flood and the waters surge. Through Bratley Bottom these surges create multiple narrow competing channels through the trees and carr, each cutting through the underlying clays and exposing the tangled roots of trees as they go. As the waters recede first two then one channel will survive, the others will wait their time to be or their time has been and they'll begin to fill. The valley bottom is scared all over by centuries of these transient waterways.
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