Winter sunshine, with a light dusting of snow, casts a golden hue over an abandoned meander of the River Leven near Woodhouse Farm in Easby.

A meander is caused by erosion of the concave outer bank and deposition of sediment onto the convex inner bank.

This often results in a narrow neck being formed which is prone to being broken through by floodwaters to create an ox-bow lake.

Eventually, over time, the lake will silt up with fine-grained, organic-rich sediment carried in by floodwaters.

This particular area, though, appears to be the result of a large avulsion, which caused the river channel to significantly shorten.

According to the 1856 O.S. map, the river appears to be relatively unchanged, suggesting this avulsion occurred before then¹‘View Map: Yorkshire 29 (Includes: Easby; Great Ayton; Ingleby Greenhow; Kildale; Little Ay… – Ordnance Survey Six-Inch England and Wales, 1842-1952’. 2023. Maps.nls.uk <https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344245#zoom=7&lat=5180&lon=3578&layers=BT> [accessed 18 January 2023].

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  ‘View Map: Yorkshire 29 (Includes: Easby; Great Ayton; Ingleby Greenhow; Kildale; Little Ay… – Ordnance Survey Six-Inch England and Wales, 1842-1952’. 2023. Maps.nls.uk <https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344245#zoom=7&lat=5180&lon=3578&layers=BT> [accessed 18 January 2023]