27th September

Horror! Barricades have appeared on the beach, dissecting the shingle and cutting off the beach to the north. This is my favourite area to walk and will be inaccessible due to sea defence work until at least December. Ironically, huge quantities of shingle have recently returned to the beach, vastly increasing the work necessary in order to install the defences. Nature plays cruel tricks.
As the tide is unusually low due to the recent equinox and works have stopped for the day (it is after 5), I slip beyond the barricades while I still can.
After a day of unusual heat, a sea fret has rolled in off the sea, reducing visibility and creating an eerie and cold atmosphere and soaking my hair and clothes.
Tidal pickings are low and I am able to travel light on my way home.

low tide: 16.26 hrs, 0.1m 

time of arrival: 17.01hrs

weather: fog, wind 9mph SE, temperature 17c
marine litter: very low quantity (sanitary towels, plastic cups, small plastic pieces)

beyond the barricades looking south

beyond the barricades looking north

22nd September

Another very warm, sunny day with a flat sea...
It is two hours after low tide and there are still vast expanses of sand.
There are new lumps of paraffin wax (a waste product or spillage from shipping) - a pernicious pollutant which is also hazardous to wildlife as birds and other animals feed on it. At the beginning of the year, the whole tideline was a sea of paraffin wax for several miles along this stretch of coast - it took many months to disperse (or perhaps melt?).
But today I carry home only a light bag of rubbish.

low tide: 11.48 hrs 1.1m; high tide 18.46 hrs 2.4m

time of arrival: 14.07 hrs

weather: sunny, wind W 13mph, temperature 18c
marine litter: balloons, sanitary towels and quite a few sweet/snack wrappers left directly by visitors to the beach. Lumps of paraffin wax.

looking north...

... and looking further north

 

  

Rolf makes a beeline for the top of the cliff!

more paraffin wax...

18th September

A beautiful calm sunny day with vast expanses of soft sand, despite arriving more than  two hours after low tide. After the busy summer months, it is fantastic to have the beach virtually to myself... Moreover, it is unusually clear with Southwold as sharp as I have ever seen on the horizon to the north. 

The snails are still inhabiting the plastic... I am interested as to what attracts them to it - traces of what it once contained?  - traces of what it has accumulated in the sea?  -or is it just a good shelter?

Extraordinarily, I find a blue artificial flower petal identical  to those found on my last two walks. Quite a coincidence as I had cleared the beach on each occasion as there was relatively little debris...

low tide: 07.35 hrs, 0.9m; high 14.05 hrs, 2.7m

time of arrival: 10.14 hrs

weather: sunshine, wind 8mph WSW, temperature 15c
marine litter: typical and quite large haul of rope and line, polystyrence, cans, sanitary towels, plastic bags adn plastic pieces.

More snails on plastic...is this a preferred habitat now???

Are they feeding on the plastic or on something on the surface of the plastic?

the coast curves north towards Sizewell and Southwold

unbelievably, three walks, three identical pieces of flower...

10th September

It is a warm but overcast day (glowering but with glimmers!) and there is a fresh breeze: good t-shirt weather for walking and collecting on the beach... A lovely low tide too as the equinox and the harvest moon draw near - there is still an hour or two to go but already there are huge expanses of sand.

There have been fresh cliff falls at the end of the gabions. Posts meanwhile are appearing in the shingle towards the Ness (something to do with monitoring beach levels for Sizewell perhaps?)

I find an unusually small amount of plastics  but a large quantities of small rope pieces and net...
Strangely, I find piece of artificial flower identical to the one I collected last week. And, as always, the ubiquitous sanitary waste.

high tide: 09.30 hrs, 2.9m ; low tide 16.49 hrs, 0.4m  (estimates)

time of arrival: 14.07 hrs

weather: overcast, wind SW 18mph, temperature 18c
marine litter: significant quantities of rope and line otherwise just bits and pieces.

looking north

looking south

the Sizewell post?

still the wedding season then...