Geograph - photograph every grid square

There are several oxbow lakes along the former course of the River Bollin. Two oxbows here are known to have formed over the winter of 1973-74 and the first oxbow (to the left) was separated by a low and incomplete levee (seen here in the centre). The first oxbow was being gradually infilled by rotational slips of material from the adjacent river terrace. Before the two breaks were made by the river, it had flowed round a large meander, now occupied by the first oxbow lake. The two breaks occurred within a few weeks of each other after heavy rains and this accounts for the only partial formation of the levees of the first oxbow. See SJ8082 : Oxbow formation, River Bollin (2).