9th July

 Dramatic skies on a balmy afternoon - deep purples and grey-greens in the intermittent sunshine...
This time a starfish and, for a change, a fish have washed up on the tide. Poppies bloom in the disturbed soil where the cliff has fallen.
I find a modest slection of cups and rope along the tideline.

high tide: 14.31 hrs 2.9m, low tide: 20.58 hrs 0.4m
time of arrival: 15.38 hrs  
weather: cloud (stormy), wind  W 12 mph, temperature 19c
marine litter: a selection of plastic cups and rope/line

4th January

 It's around low tide as I arrive and wide expanses of sand are exposed. The seascape has a haunting beauty. I find a huge flint, split in two, lying on the shingle. Stormy seas have bent and buried part of the barricade and signs, and there are fresh earthy cliff falls on the beach and clods of clifftop grass.

There is not much rubbish though I find a couple of good wildlife traps. These will be useful as most of my collection is currently on display in Spain. Of the three identifiable pieces of rubbish, two are foreign (French and Belgian) - moreorless par for the course at this time of year.

A dogfish lies washed up at the top of the beach where the footpath meets the shingle.

high tide: 06.39 hrs 2.4m; low tide 13.21 hrs 1m (est)

time of arrival: 13.14 hrs

weather: overcast, wind SW 20mph, temperature 8c
marine litter: moderate to low amount, nothing of note.

 

 

28th December

Many of the gabions have now been reconstructed and parts of the beach between the barricades are almost reverting to 'normal'. Until you get to the heaps of huge bags at the north end of the erosion works zone, you can almost forget about the diggers and industrial scale intervention of the last three months.

Huge flints have been imported to the beach (from where?) to construct the gabions and strange blue and yellow hieroglyphics have appeared on the stones.

A new discovery: our lovely puppy not only loves to dig, jump and swim - he now likes to climb cliffs too...

There are signs of recent cliff falls (not puppy-induced) and the old high tide mark (weed and rubbish) pushes right up to the base of the cliff, surrounding the wild lupins.

The 'dusk' sky and light on the sea are stunning as we walk back along the shore. We find a smartie top just as we climb back up the shingle to leave the beach. A periwinkle is in flower at the top of the beach.

Not much to carry today - an unremarkable collection...

low tide: 07.05 hrs 0.2m; high tide 13.29 hrs 2.7m, low 19.02 hrs 0.8m

time of arrival: 14.01 hrs

weather: cloudy, wind SW 20 mph, temperature 10c
marine litter: nothing exceptional