In modern times, as an artificial flood relief channel, much of the flow of the River Derwent (which drains a large area of the North York Moors into the Vale of Pickering) has been diverted, (about 6 miles upstream of West Ayton and before it reaches the plain of the Vale of Pickering), into a new channel called the Sea Cut which runs east along a previously dry side valley (probably a glacial overflow channel) and into the existing Scalby Beck.