Water, Water: Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives

This week, for the Lens-Artists Challenge, our host John invites us to share waterscapes: scenes where water has changed the landscape, perhaps changed lives. In six images or fewer. Well. That IS a challenge.

Here’s the beginning of the story for so many of the world’s great waterways: a small insignificant waterfall, tumbling downwards, eventually to become a brook, a stream, a tributary, a mighty river, coursing its way towards the sea. This one’s in Cantabria in Spain.

One of the many waterfalls in the Cordillera Cantábrica, Spain.

Soon, these little watercourses gather strength and character. Here’s stage two, in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales.

As it journeys on, the river becomes slower, deeper, lazier. It ploughs a straighter furrow and may even threaten to overflow its banks unless contained. The Thames in London was tidied up and forced to conform in the 1860s and 70s, under a scheme devised by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. But that wasn’t enough. The sea caused problems from the other end, surging and flooding, often every winter. So eventually the Thames Barrier was built, about a hundred years after Bazalgette’s efforts upstream. Here it is.

TheThames Barrier at Woolwich

Of course some rivers do have coastal flood plains. The Júcar and Turia rivers, near Valencia together form a deltaic flood plain which is a wildlife haven, a fishing ground, an important rice growing area … But I’ve decided to make this shot my featured photo. Look at the top of the post!

Which leaves me with two more shots. Round here, gravel extraction is an important local industry. As each seam is exhausted, the company reponsible does a pretty decent job of allowing the area to flood to become a nature reserve. Here are two grateful local residents.

An egret and a heron at Nosterfield Nature Reserve ignoring one another.

Finally – human intervention again. Not too far from here is an immense reservoir, built early last century to provide water for the fast-growing city of Bradford. Scar House changed from being hilly moorland to becoming hilly moorland surrounding a huge lake. I haven’t been there this year, but we were there at the end of the last summer when drought had hit the area, and hit it hard. I can’t imagine what it looked like this year, which was even hotter, even drier, for even longer.

A drought-stricken Scar House Reservoir, Nidderdale.

A brief tour indeed. I’ve shown you no ponds, no canals, no seas, no oceans. No boats and ships. No fisherfolk, sailors, or other workers-round-water. No pleasure-seekers or holiday makers either. But only six photos? If that’s the limit, you have to trim your sails; limit your horizons; keep your feet on the ground; lower your sights, and other relevant clichés.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

44 thoughts on “Water, Water: Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives”

  2. Beautiful header shot, a contrast with the Thames barrier, also beautiful in a very different way. Your reservoir photo reminds me of my shock at seeing something similar last year in June heading towards Holmfirth before the 2025 heatwaves began.

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  3. I enjoyed the photos, I like that you brought this to the mix TheThames Barrier at Woolwich, a good thing to bring up, I think the shot is great. I do not like drought, but the drought-stricken Scar House Reservoir made for great photo opportunity and this shot delivers. And with waterfall you cannot go wrong. Great post

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  8. Dear Margaret
    Thanks for sharing this fine pictures.
    We enjoy that you show six photos only. If there are more pictures we don’t really look at them.
    Happy weekend
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  11. A great idea to follow the course of a river like that, and of course I was pleased to see Swaledale make an appearance. And I enjoyed your closing ‘relevant clichés’ which resonated with my struggles to limit the number of images I share!

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    2. Yes, I thought so too.

      I’m especially impressed by the photos of the Thames Barrier… from here in Australia, it’s surprising how often it’s mentioned without anybody showing us what it looks like.

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      2. I don’t think many visitors to London go that far east, unless they take one of the river cruises (and not all of them go that far), so it’s not so often photographed compared to more central sights

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  12. Wow, Margaret, what an amazing response to this challenge. I like how you wove the narrative into a story following the water from the falls into the lake and ocean barrier. And your photos are beautiful.

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  13. You had me with your header photo, Margaret. What a stunning image! After that, it only got better image after image. What a beautiful post you created! It is incomprehensible that some people still do not believe in climate change. The reservoir photo you posted is similar to several others across the world. Our water supply is diminishing fast.

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  14. Those Thames barrier are something else. I didn’t know about them until a wordpresser posted a photo a few years ago. They look so massive and in weird way old fashioned and sci-fi at the same time. I think I mentioned it before they remind me of some of the aliens from Dr Who.

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