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





Thursday, 23 January 2014

Hampshire: Hayling Island 30/6/2001**


 

Hayling Island Ferry
 
Groynes, Hayling Island
 
Shingle gardens, Hayling Island
Starting at the ferry terminal at Hayling Island we immediately saw the first sea holly of the trip. It was across the road on a sandy bank.  We walked south down the beach, a mix of coarse sand and shingle, at the end of which was a huge bank of slipper limpet shells.  Turning the corner and walking east along the seafront of the island there was a fine example of established shingle grassland between the golf course and the beach.  Many of the viper’s bugloss flowers here were very pale blue.  We soon reached the first beach car-park and joined many more people dog-walking, wind-surfing, sun-bathing and surf-boarding.  A series of tall wooden groynes made it impossible to use the beach as a through route and so we diverted to the back of the car-park and a signed nature trail through more shingle-based grassland until we reached some chalets and could regain the beach.  This was straightforward to walk but with very few shells or seaweeds.  We saw a single common tern diving for sand-eels in the ocean.  The eastern end was again impassable with groynes and we had to walk at the top of the beach on awkward loose shingle until we reached a paved walkway past beachside houses, where we at least had the diversion of comparing their gardens.  Some were left as relics of the original shingle with the usual wild plants, but others had constructed raised beds in order to hold soil for planting the more usual garden species.  Each garden was unique, some using beachcombing finds and others children’s toys.  Towards the end of the houses we reached a fenced-off local nature reserve (Sandy Point), where we saw our first sea bindweed, storksbill, hoary mustard and marram of this trip.  We looked successfully for the rarer early meadow-grass among the other dried-up small grasses, like annual meadow-grass, small hair-grass and sand cat’s tail,.  This reserve took us round the SE corner of the island and we followed the beach as far as Black Point.  Yachts were being launched from the marina.  On the other side of this spit was saltmarsh with sea rocket. The bank above, beside the road to the marina, was bristling with hare’s tail grass.  After this there was no established route along the east side of the island, which has very dull scenery.  We passed through a long housing estate to get to a footpath along the side of a saltmarsh inlet (Mengham Salterns), past a caravan site and the Lakeside Classic Resort.  The path ended at a yacht club and we had to walk streets again, a path through fields, and then back to the main road down the centre of the island.  A holiday village, marina, golf course and farms all prevented further access to the coast.  We had to walk for an uncomfortable kilometre beside the busy road past a large sea inlet before being able to take another path by the saltmarsh and then small village roads through North Hayling and Northney.  We reached the north end of the island, coming out again on the main road where it crosses Langstone Bridge to the mainland.  Here we could catch a bus back to the south beach.  Our B&B for this night, Tide Reach, was right by the beach.
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