NEW LANDS
This year saw extremely low levels of rainfall across Europe, and some lakes and reservoirs dried up (see FT424:19, 21). Lake Constance, at the border of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is among the largest European lakes, and sank considerably, revealing a “new island” in the Gnadensee near Reichenau island. This gravel bank is a well-known topographic feature called Straßenrain Island. Normally well below water, itis completely revealed when the lake level sinks to 2.37m (7ft 8in); as it was reported to be at 2.48m (8ft 1in) at its lowest, what was seen this summer must have been only the tip of the island, although one newspaper said that a sandbank was already visible on 16 August. Südkurier, 17 Aug; Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Blick, Web.de, 18 Aug 2022.
Then, one of the most fascinating megalithic sites of the whole Iberian peninsula resurfaced when the level of the Valdecañas reservoir (which is fed by the river Tejo and lies in Cáceres province) dropped and revealed
