When I visited then, this field was in a sorry state, having taken a pounding in the recent wet years. It is surrounded on three sides by higher fields and these are sending rainwater — at subsoil level — down to the lower field, where it appears as waterlogging and springs.

In November, Dessie Taaffe of Eagle Plant Hire put in three stoned pipe drains to lower the water table. Last week, he applied the finishing touches. He ploughed in stone drains, across and intercepting the pipe drains, to let surface water get down more easily.

Before

This was the field in November and we can see it was well waterlogged. Dessie Taaffe put in three main pipe drains running away from the camera and emptying into the watercourse at the lower, far end of the field. He put in one lateral piped drain.

The drains were four and six-inch corrugated pipe covered with 20 inches of drainage pebble.

After

This was the field last week. We can see it has dried up very well. The pipe drains are backfilled and the soil over them levelled. The ground is now dry enough to be ploughed and reseeded.