Lakes and Wetlands
Lakes
Natural ones are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Most are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes. More than 60 percent of the world's bodies of fresh water are in Canada; Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and nearby Minnesota all have a great many. And then there are the five Great Lakes in the middle of North America.
In the top row are 3 from Russia:- #2273 L. Ritzu, Caucasus
- #2276 L. Iskander, Central Asia
- #2277 L. Baikal, Siberia
In the next row are:- Bulgaria #1681 Smolian water bodies (1968)
- US #1106 A body of fresh water in Minnesota, with Pine trees; the state calls itself “Land of Ten Thousand Lakes”
- New Zealand #247 - L. Matheson near the Fox Glacier in south Island, this one is famous for its reflected views of Aoraki/Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, as shown on the stamp.
More from New Zealand:
From New Zealand:- #507 L. Waikaremoano (from 1972) is found on the North Island
- #508 L. Hayes is in the central Otago region of South Island
- #509 L. Wakatipu is at the southern end of the Southern Alps, south Island. It is long and narrow, with a backwards N shape.
- #510 L. Rotomahana is a in a crater on the North Island. The image shows steam rising from the water, a thermal feature of water in the area.
The lower pair are from New Zealand & Australia.- NZ #1350 L. Wanaka is in the Otago region of South Island
- Aus #1486 Willandra Lakes – This region covers a semi-arid landscape in the Murray Basin area of far south western New South Wales. It contains some Pleistocene lakes which formed 2 million years ago, but are dry saline beds now. It is one of several World Heritage Sites in Australia.
Two from Canada:- #935 Waterton L.'s – this is a National Park, in the southwest corner of Alberta, next to Glacier National Park.
- #936; Banff National Park - is Canada's oldest
national park
, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. It contains alpine landscapes, with glaciers and ice fields, and dense coniferous forest.This one shows Morain L.
The next row has 2 from Britain and one from central Africa.
- GB #2193 Lower Loch Erne, Northern Ireland. The loch is a widened section of Erne River, with Ely Island specified in the title.
- GB #2198 Islandmore, Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, is one of only 3 Marine Nature Reserves in UK. The lough is an inlet of the sea on the east coast, with a fast tidal water flow.
- Uganda-Kenya-Tanganyika #71 - L. Naivasha; in Kenya, north west of Nairobi, in the Great Rift Valley. It has a cameo of King George VI in the corner.
Wetlands
Wetlands have different terms: swamp, fen, marsh, etc. The important part is the water; they may have large areas of flooded land, with reeds and grasses, and even small forested areas. The plants are aquatic ones, or tolerate being inundated for a time. The water may be fresh, salt or brackish. These areas are very important to Mother Nature, as they are home to a host of animals, either permanent residents, or those migrating through. They also serve as a sponge to contain excess water in rainy seasons.
- US postcard from 1988 – I have not identified it yet. It has a wading bird and swamp in the image, and below that “America the Beautiful” and “USA 15”.
- US #C142 Okefenokee Swamp, a huge wetland straddling the Georgia – Florida border
- Canada #937 – Point Pelee, a peninsula reaching south into Lake Erie from the province of Ontario. It consists of marsh and woodland areas. It is the southern-most point of Canada at 42° N, as far south as the northern border of the state of California.
The stamps from Australia below are titled on the stamps as “Wetlands and Waterways”.
- #1247 Noosa River, Queensland
- #1248 Lake Eildon, Victoria
Check out my other pages on
rivers,
waterfalls
and
glaciers.
Return from Lakes and Wetlands to Mother Nature
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