Exmoor river 'reset' aims to cut flood risk and bolster wildlife

Work begins on scheme that will encourage river to flow through multiple channels

Pioneering work to return a river to its natural path in an attempt to improve the diversity of flora and fauna and reduce the risk of flooding has been launched on Exmoor in Somerset.

The scheme, the first of its kind in the UK, has been inspired by projects in the north-west of the US, in which rivers and streams have been encouraged to flow through multiple channels, pools and shallow riffles as they would have done before mankind arrived and began moulding them into shapes to suit farming and settlement.