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0.11

Bitton

Boyd
Bristol Avon Little Avon Axe and North Somerset St catchment • Bitton • South Gloucestershire • ID: 53131 • Level
(31m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 131 views

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Current Level
0.110 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.111 m
24h Min
0.109 m
Typical Range
0.11 - 0.40
m
Highest Recorded
1.50 m
EA official record
1.27 in our data (since Feb 1987)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.110 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.109 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.110 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.110 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.109 m
23 Aug 18:15 0.109 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 3 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 3.7 km away).

13flood warnings 56flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026River Chew from Stanton Drew to the Bristol Avon at Keynsham

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 1 1
2025 2 4
2024 2 7
2023 2 5
2021 0 1
2020 2 3
2019 0 2
2018 0 2
2016 2 3
2015 0 1
2014 0 6
2013 1 3
2012 1 9
2011 0 2
2009 0 2
2008 0 4
2007 0 1

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Bitton flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Bitton
  • Watercourse: River Boyd
  • Nearest Town: Bitton
  • County: South Gloucestershire
  • Coordinates: 51°25'37"N 2°27'35"W (51.426965, -2.459703)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 5 Feb 1987
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 53131
  • EA Gauge ID: 53131-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Bristol Avon Little Avon Axe and North Somerset St
  • Typical Range: 0.108 – 0.399 m
  • Drainage Area: 202 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.11 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Catchment Character

🌊 Mixed response A balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.56
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,038 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.6%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
43.87 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
48.10 m³/s
30 Apr 2012
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.059.741.810.5825% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 8%Grassland 62%Arable 24%Urban 5%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply.

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Crump profile weir built in 1968 to replace previous rated section. In the winter of 2022/23 the existing Crump Weir was converted into a compound Crump weir with the installation of a section of lower weir crest and a divide wall. Compensation flow from Clatworthy and smaller Luxhay Reservoirs in the headwaters maintain low flows.

More detail

The catchment

Fairly responsive catchment draining from Brendon Hills, predominantly comprises sandstones in the upper- and clays in the lower-catchment. Land use is rural. No major catchment changes.

The station

Located upstream of Taunton, the station is important for flood warning. Opened in 1961 as a rated section with cableway and with an unstable bed, 50 m upstream of a road bridge. Crump profile weir built in 1968 (breadth 12.2m). In the winter of 2022/23, the existing Crump weir was converted into a compound Crump weir with the installation of a section of lower weir crest and a divide wall.

How it measures flow

Full range station. Out-of-bank flow first occurs below bankfull; during extreme events weir is drowned by backwater from downstream bridge, causing floodplain inundation. The original single crest weir installed in 1968 was converted into a 2 crested compound Crump weir in the winter of 2022/23. This was to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of the structure at low flows and to aid fish passage. The limbs for the structure are derived theoretically from the physical dimensions. The in-bank rating beyond the modular limit of the structure is derived by current meter gaugings. The top section for above bankfull flows was derived using a hydraulic model. Small gap in rating history between February and March 2023 during the construction phase, where temporary ratings were in place, however no Peak Flows affected during this period.

Flow regime

Minor surface water abstractions for public water supply; also abstraction for agriculture. Compensation flow from Clatworthy and smaller Luxhay Reservoirs in the headwaters maintain low flows but neither reservoir is large enough to influence the catchment's fairly rapid response to rainfall.

The flow record

As a velocity-area station up to 03/1968 flows were unreliable below 1.42 cumecs. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Crump weir
Operating since
1961
Station datum
16.6 mAOD
Flow record
1961–2024 · 63 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1961
Hydrometric area
52
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Boyd at Bitton flooding today?

The current level is 0.11m, which is within the typical range of 0.11 to 0.40m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Bitton?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Boyd at Bitton?

The typical range at this station is 0.11m to 0.40m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.40m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →