Swale

Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England and is bounded by Medway to the west, Canterbury to the east, Ashford to the south and Maidstone to the south west. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The district is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the district.

The Roman Watling Street passed through the area, as witness the straightness of the A2 main road, now by-passed by the M2 motorway. Apart from the northern coast of the Isle of Sheppey, and the town of Sittingbourne, it is a mainly rural borough, containing a high proportion of the UK's apple, pear, cherry and plum orchards (the North Kent Fruit Belt), as well as many of its remaining hop gardens. Most of the southern half of the Borough lies within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, whilst Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey forms the concluding part of the Thames Gateway growth area.

Swale (horse)

Swale (April 21, 1981 – June 17, 1984) was an American thoroughbred racehorse. He is best known for winning the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1984. He died eight days after his win in the latter race.

Background

A son of the 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, Swale was trained by Woody Stephens and ridden by Laffit Pincay, Jr., both now members of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Swale's dam, the stakes winning mare Tuerta, was born with one eye. Her name means "one-eyed" in Spanish.

Racing career

1983: two-year-old season

At 2, Swale broke his maiden at Belmont Park on July 21, 1983. Next out, he was entered in the Saratoga Special Stakes, and in the muddy going at Saratoga Race Course, won the race with jockey Eddie Maple. After finishing third in the Hopeful Stakes at Sarartoga, Swale went undefeated the remainder of his two-year-old campaign, with wins in the Belmont Futurity Stakes, Breeders' Futurity Stakes, and Young America Stakes.

1984: three-year-old season

Swale (landform)

A swale is a low tract of land, especially one that is moist or marshy. The term can refer to a natural landscape feature or a human-created one. Artificial swales are often designed to manage water runoff, filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration.

The swale concept has also been popularized as a rainwater harvesting and soil conservation strategy by Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton and other advocates of permaculture. In this context it usually refers to a water-harvesting ditch on contour. Another term used is contour bund.

Swales as used in permaculture are designed to slow and capture runoff by spreading it horizontally across the landscape (along an elevation contour line), facilitating runoff infiltration into the soil. This type of swale is created by digging a ditch on contour and piling the dirt on the downhill side of the ditch to create a berm. In arid climates, vegetation (existing or planted) along the swale can benefit from the concentration of runoff. Trees and shrubs along the swale can provide shade which decreases water evaporation, however, they increase transpiration, so their net effect on the hydrologic cycle is probably to reduce infiltration.