This year has offered proof after proof that the times they are a changin’. Here, harvesting was started in mid-July, and was all done and dusted for early August. Yet schools and churches will probably continue to hold their traditional Harvest Festivals in late September, early October. Blackberries have withered a whole month early, so the Devil must have been along and spat on them. Autumn-ripening apples are already at their best. And, most worryingly of all, the reservoirs are drying up. Here are some shots of Scar House Reservoir in North Yorkshire. The header photo, and the last one of all were taken two years ago. The rest, only last week.







The times they are indeed a changin’, and worryingly so
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😦
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Thanks for your excellent photographs showing the really depressing effects of climate change. With our new prime minister we can but hope.
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You think so, Susan? You’re more prepared to be charitable than I am.
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Not looking good, Margaret, but I don’t doubt that you’ll be complaining about the rain in the not too distant future. I haven’t been up to ours since we got back but that will be equally worrying. Meanwhile, she says flippantly, I’m off to the beach. Drowning my sorrows!
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Actually Jo, I don’t think I’ll complain about rain any time soon. It’s sorely needed.
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Same here, hon.
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That’s a big wow Margaret. Not looking good. Has there been any discoveries like in other places. Lake Mead in the US turned up a few bodies. Other places drowned towns when dams were built.
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This reservoir is out in the sticks, so no villages, no churches were drowned. Just the odd building – now ruined – and lots of dry stone walls. Nope, not looking good at all.
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A stark reminder that it’s going to take more than a few day’s rain to balance out this year’s deficit.
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Quite. And we’ve had it better than the south. Seeing desiccated London a couple of weeks ago was a stark shock.
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A graphic illustration of climate change, it seems to me. We’re promised rain here in the west most days now but it seems to bypass us.
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Same here. The occasional heavy shower, but nothing significant.
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And we thought all of the dystopian novels were just fiction!
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Quite. Reality turns out to be just as shocking.
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Yes, our reservoirs look depressingly like yours. It’s worrying …
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I suspect yours are worse …
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Possibly. As Jude has mentioned, it’s pouring now and seems likely to continue pouring for some days to come. It might help a bit.
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Wow! Your photos are startling! America has the same issue. Most places are blazing hot.
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We’ve only had odd days of startling heat, but the dry days just go on and on and …
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Same here in Michigan. The rain is far and few between. We get humidity, clouds, but no rain.
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Whoever thought we’d long for rain?
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LOL! Yes! I lived in the UK years ago and could not believe all of the rain. Now, it’s simply disappeared!
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…. * sigh*
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Pouring right now, if it continues like this the reservoirs will be full!
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Lucky you. We have now had rain, but it’s not significant.
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Two very heavy thunderstorms today and very windy, autumn has arrived.
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Whereas it suddenly went up to 24 here today!
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Very graphically illustrated and very daunting to see.
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It is. But weren’t you startled at how relatively green it still is here, compared with London?
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Yes, there was a very noticeable difference between Yorkshire and London.
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That’s very worrying, Margaret, especially as you live in a country that does not have massive water storage.
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I think you might have to say ”a country that did not used to have massive water shortages’
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And hence no massive dams which as we know dry out too during droughts. They also encourage overuse of water.
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Worrisome, indeed. It happens in many parts of US. It’s a serious problem!
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It truly is. And we could have left it too late …
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and we are continually drenched in rain…Yep, times are a’changin’.
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And unlikely to be for the better …
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So sad to see visual evidence of drying lakes, and hear from blogging friends about the heat waves in The UK. It is happening at a horrifying pace all over the world. It is like time lapse photography, at surreal speed. As I type this, The Holler had it’s hottest day on record yesterday, and California’s multi-year drought is creating fires across the state.
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You are certainly having it worse than us. And no chance any more that this is just one of those freak years. This is the future.
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My vegetable patch is cleared out already. Rather earlier than usual. Raining now.
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Yup. But probably not enough. Until the – now annual – floods start.
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I like it when it rains at night, Doesn’t interfere with day time golf.
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Yup. It should be a rule, Rain between 8 and 8.
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This is SO sad… and it was preventable, if we had only listened to the scientists and ecologists…
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Indeed. Especially those with the power to make institutional change.
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Oh I so hope you get a lot of rain this winter to help repair the land. I’ll do a rain dance for you. Your photos are sadly spectacular and tells your story well.
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Well, your rain dance worked! Thank you. But we need so much more, so keep dancing )
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I will keep dancing for you. 😀
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🙂 Thanks!
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Oh Margaret, this is indeed troubling. I am reminded by Rachel Carson’s thought: “But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”
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Yep, Rebecca. Tell that to our decision makers … in this country at least.
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It is worrying for sure
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Sure is. I wonder how things are with you, in your famously rainy corner of the planet?
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Here in the west of Ireland it was bit drier that usual summer, though getting wetter again. There are definitely changes in the weather
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I think so. None of us will escape.
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Such a vivid and stark illustration, Margaret.
As others have said – worrying times.
Let’s hope for rain, and try and be mindful about our own behaviour, & how it impacts on the world. Ex.
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The trouble is, however many of us seek to be careful and mindful – and of course this is important – we’re but a drop in the ocean (pun not intended) and real action needs to come from higher up the food chain. Judging by the UK, this isn’t really happening.
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Stunning photos of what is a shocking situation. I have no hope that the current crop of lightweights in charge of the country are remotely up to the challenges that face us. I despair.
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You despair, I despair. I’d like to be totally wrong about the new ship that’s set sail with its new captain. Any chances?
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A miracle is required I think.
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😦
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A shame about the blackberries! It’s not been a great year for them. Apple trees down here are groaning, but the fruit I’ve had so far is quite dry. The rainfall situation is worrying, I feel quite helpless in the face of it all. Suppose we’ll all just do our little bit and hope it adds up to something.
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I hope so. It feels a little – er – too little too late. I’ve just found a cache of juicy blackberries however!
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wow! I was also shocked last time I crossed the mighty Mississippi. Much narrower than normal
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That must have been a shock indeed.
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Scares me so much
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Me too. I hope it’s a tiny bit fuller now.
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Hope so. Still under a hosepipe ban in my area, and yet few seem to be discussing the long term
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Exactly. We’re using grey water for watering, but it’s not exactly a nationwide sustainable game plan.
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Scary pictures. South Eastern Australia has been getting more rain than the ground can handle. If only we could share it around.
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Indeed. For the world at large, it seems to have been Feast or Famine.
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