River Exe - United Kingdom

This site at Thorverton weir on the River Exe drains the Exmoor National Park and is situated above the City of Exeter and the more industrialised sub-catchment of the River Culm. Most of the catchment is populated by isolated farmsteads, hamlets, villages and small towns. The only major urban area upstream of this site is Tiverton. The River Exe rises at a level of 450 m AOD in the wet moorland of Exmoor, then passes through steep-sided valleys with extensive broad-leaved woodland. Further east, tributaries run off the Brendon Hills with the River Haddeo drained to form the major water resource of Wimbleball Reservoir. Further south of these tributaries down towards Tiverton the floodplain opens out and rolling farmland replaces woodland. The farmland in the catchment of Thorverton weir includes sheep, cattle and dairy farming. The average rainfall for the Exe catchment as a whole 1097 mm, with a maximum of 2018 mm on Exmoor. The Exe has a relatively flashy flow regime compared to the rest of England.