DECEMBER 2023 · WATERLINE

Water breaks it's neck

Radnor Forest, Wales

The name is accurate. The waterfall drops through a narrow gorge in the upper Radnor Forest, the water hitting the rock at the bend with enough force that the sound carries up the valley before you can see the source. In full flow in December it's substantial.

Misty forested valley with mixed coniferous and deciduous trees layered in haze — What the gorge still looks like from the valley

— What's gone

What's not there anymore is most of the woodland above it. The land managers — whoever holds the upper slopes — have been through with machinery and taken the trees out. Clearfelled. The upper hillside above the gorge is bare now, a pale scar visible from the approach track. Freshly cut timber logs are stacked at the edge of the work: a row of round pale ends, the felled trunks lying behind them. This is what a working forest looks like when the work has just happened, before the word "forest" applies again.

The gorge itself survived because it's inaccessible to machinery.
Water-break-its-neck — December 2023

Freshly cut timber logs stacked in cleared woodland, felled trunks in background — Before the word forest applies again

— The gorge survives

The gorge itself survived because it's inaccessible to machinery. The waterfall drops through moss-draped stone walls, the cascade catching December light and holding it in white. The rock face is vertical and wet, the moss working into every crevice and striating the stone with green. I got close enough to see individual water droplets beading on the moss surface — vivid green, each droplet a small lens.

Moss-covered weathered stone with vertical striations and overhanging vegetation — Water working on stone continuously

Densely moss and lichen-covered rock face with cascading green vegetation — Inaccessible to machinery — survived

— Stone and water

The stone below the waterfall has the kind of weathered texture that comes from water working on it continuously. Vertical striations in the rock face. Overhanging vegetation where the gorge walls lean inward. The mist from the cascade hangs in the air and keeps everything wet.

Close-up of vibrant green moss clad in water droplets — Each droplet a small lens

— Above and below

Above the gorge: cleared hillside, stacked timber, bare sky. Below: this. What hadn't been reached was still there.

Cascading waterfall in moss-draped gorge with stone walls, Radnor Forest — The cascade catching December light, holding it white

Full series — Water breaks it's neck 6 photographs

Misty forested valley with mixed coniferous and deciduous trees layered in haze

Moss-covered weathered stone with vertical striations and overhanging vegetation

Densely moss and lichen-covered rock face with cascading green vegetation

Close-up of vibrant green moss clad in water droplets

Freshly cut timber logs stacked in cleared woodland, felled trees in background

Cascading waterfall in moss-draped gorge with stone walls, Radnor Forest

Waterline Water breaks it's neck

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