Longshore Drift

Lade - mild, cloudy, drizzle, wsw 5 - The seemingly endless wet and windy weather systems originating from the mid-Atlantic continue to sweep up-Channel battering the coastline, though fortunately its not cold.
  We always try and have at least one or two days a week (normally at the weekend) without using the car, which is not a problem for me living as I do within easy walking distance of bird-rich habitats across the peninsula. Anyhow, this morning we did a long, loop walk up to Kerton Road, down on the beach, back north to Greatstone beach, up Seaview Road and back home via Lade pits.

                                Gull fest continues

                               Waders on the beach

  The gull fest continues with thousands of birds still feeding by the Pilot, including several Mediterranean Gulls and at least two Yellow-legged Gulls (OL reported Caspian Gull this morning). Walking down the beach on an incoming tide at least 20 Ringed Plovers were noted, a sure sign that spring isn't far away, plus a mixed flock of Bar-tailed Godwits, Knots and Dunlins, 20 Sanderlings and 350 Oystercatchers, but gull numbers were low. The open, wind-blown lakes were virtually devoid of wildfowl as they sheltered from the gale, although there was plenty of passerine activity around the ponds from tits, finches, Cetti`s Warbler, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

                                Shingle creep on Greatstone beach

                               New shingle bar, Romney Tavern

                               Spring tide damage to dune system


Longshore Drift -  Just a quick observation and comment on the shingle movement along the local foreshore. The geological phenomenon known as longshore drift, whereby flints are dragged out of the chalk seabed in Sussex and rolled eastwards, up-Channel, by tides and wave action to form the Dungeness cuspate has been ongoing for some 5-6,000 years. But you don`t have to be as old as Methuselah to witness this dynamic process; just wander along the beach opposite the lifeboat station to the area known as the `dustbin` after a spring tide and you`ll see the latest shingle deposits thrown up by the sea. As for where the scouring action on the ever-shifting shingle bank is currently occurring, you need look no further than the mechanical diggers working frantically away in front of the power stations and Jury`s Gap.
  And so to the famous sandy beach at Greatstone, which is becoming, well, not so sandy as this winter a 200yd finger ridge of shingle has been extended by the storms from the Romney Tavern along the front of the sand dunes, with more pebbles scattered over a much wide area further down towards Littlestone. Mother Nature it seems is always evolving and where this section of the coastline is concerned, pretty much unstoppable.