Although the above view is of part of Goxhill ‘Marsh’ taken from the vantage point of the clay-bank flood defence it is a suitable image for the following comment.
Today, 9th April, went for walk along the concrete flood defence alongside the Humber Estuary from the mouth of East Halton Beck to Killingholme dock jetty. Although it is a long time since I did this walk I was surprised to see all the big fields immediately inland of the flood defence were not cropped, as use to be the case, and uncultivated, seemingly for some while. Apparently the land was all flooded and has not been tilled since.
If this is was a result of the surge of 5th December 2013 it shows-up two points. Firstly, that the nearer a point on the Estuary is to the sea the higher will be the tidal water’s salt content – although the rough grasses currently growing in the fields seem to be doing well. Secondly, the further inland along the Estuary the lower the salt content of the tidal waters. Indeed the arable land flooded south of South Ferriby on 5th December 2013 produced good crops the following year – as did my garden, although it looked a mess at the time.