Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Friday, 31 January 2014

Essex: Harwich to Great Oakley Hall 27/6/2009**


 

Harwich Pier
 
Hamford Water
 
American sting winkle
We took the morning off, but there is little to do in Harwich beyond sitting on the Pier, drinking coffee and eating shrimps, so we decided to put in a half day’s walk in the afternoon (6 miles).  From the boating lakes at Dovercourt we continued along the seafront promenade in front of the usual line of wooden beach-huts, the beach being divided by groynes.  One small beach of sand and pebbles had a layer of dark mud on which children were diving with great glee and getting completely black!  We continued along the embankments around saltmarsh, soon coming across sea barley, sea clover, and golden samphire, all for the first time this trip.  Soon we entered the Hamford Water Nature Reserve and discovered our first few plants of hog’s fennel on the embankment, along with masses of salsify seed-clocks.  Below on the flats we disturbed a pair of redshanks, while the ditch inside the embankment had coots, tufted ducks and little grebes.  Sea channels and patches of higher saltmarsh extended to Oakley Creek and Pewit Island.  The usual meadow browns, painted ladies and small tortoiseshells were flying, but for the first time this trip we also saw small and Essex skippers – appropriately, as we had only just entered the county.  Another beach to which we descended had sea holly, one plant of frosted orache, purple marram and sea rocket, while we came close to a young ringed plover pretending to be part of the scenery, as its parents nearby cried at it to stay still.  There was a better variety of shells here than so far this trip, including the American sting winkle first found as an introduction in Essex at Mersea.  Returning to the embankment path, the track on the landward side had abundant sea clover and some more sea barley, along with some narrow-leaved bird’s-foot trefoil, and eventually dyer’s greenweed.  Soon enough we came to prohibitive fences because of the Exchem factory beside the harbour and we had to take a footpath away up to the B1414, just outside Little Oakley.  We walked west towards where footpaths leave the road again, looking out for bus-stops, but found none. We got to Great Oakley Hall and called for a taxi to take us back to Harwich.
Sea clover, Hamford Water
 
Salsify seed-head
 
Essex skipper


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