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

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

17th December

I have a helper on the beach today: my mad fluffy 'pup' (who is nearly old enough to know better...) who found (and then lost) a dustpan...
There are large quantities of wax on the beach today including one massive lump...

Treasures include two toy soldiers (Chinese), a hoover attachment (so easy to lose at sea) and an unopened can of ?Arabic orange Fanta!
No plastic bags, no balloons and only one sanitary towel - hooray.

low tide: 09.12 hrs 0.6m; high tide 15.32 hrs 2.5m

time of arrival: 12.33 hrs

weather: overcast with glimmers, wind W 15mph, temperature 4c - cold!
marine litter: large amount of wax; higher density plastic pieces.