ALMOST exactly five years on from its first test, Slowing the Flow (STF) in Pickering has once more proved its efficacy and value for money. A couple of months with frequent pulses of heavy rain have left catchments across the whole North York Moors fully saturated, causing rainfall to run off rapidly into watercourses with virtually no infiltration. Against this backdrop, two days of persistent steady rain from Storm Cristoph on 19-20 January caused all the rivers to rise quickly to near record levels. The Natural Flood Management (NFM) and beaver dams in the upper catchment quietly did their job of slowing the flow by temporarily storing water and evening out the flows.