Needless to say the flooding around Gloucester and throughout the Severn Valley is having its effects on people and the infrastructure as it usually does. Similarly, there are effects on wildlife with Swans and Ducks particularly showing up in places where there is normally no water for them to utilise.
One of the more tragic effects is that of terrestrial animals being forced out of their normal haunts in search of dry ground and food; on the morning of Saturday 15th February on the Gloucester Northern by-pass, Mike Smart and Andrew Bluett discovered the body of an Otter (Lutra lutra) that had fallen victim to a collision with a vehicle whilst crossing from one flooded area to another.