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

Lincolnshire: Butterwick to Boston 30/6/2008**

 
Embankment monument
 
Knotted hedge parsley
 
Chrysops relictus (left) & Haematopotus bigoti (right)
At Butterwick we parked at the village hall by the bus stop, and walked up the road to the coast.  The road ended at a car-park and we walked the embankment south into the RSPB nature reserve.  The lake at Freiston Shore had many breeding black-headed gulls, accompanied by avocets, oystercatchers, common terns, mallards and Canada geese.  The reserve path led to a hide and continued to the outer embankment, which led all the way to the far point on the northern side of the river flowing out of Boston.  Along here we saw in the arable fields a group of three brown hares, while a barn owl flew past.  Just before the end there was a monument to the building of the embankment to reclaim farmland in 1936 by inmates of the North Sea Camp for juvenile delinquents, which lay a few hundred metres inland.  The inmates were still obviously involved with farming the land here raising pigs, sheep and greenhouse produce.  A stile accompanied a gate with No Admittance!  Then it was only a little way to the Bird Club hide at the far end, but there was nothing to be seen from there at this time.  It remained only to follow the north bank of the river all the way to Boston, with the tall tower of St Botolph’s Church, the “Stump”, as a prominent landmark ahead.  We passed a few plants of knotted hedge-parsley on top of the embankment, and afterwards a single plant of corn marigold.  The path passed a memorial to the Pilgrim Fathers at the place they were arrested trying to escape.  Some seats here gave us a chance to eat our lunch overlooking the muddy river, plagued by Chrysops relictus horseflies (Twin-lobed deerfly) with bright green eyes and brown-banded wings.  No bother at all was a less conspicuous dark horsefly Haematopota bigoti, a rare saltmarsh species.  A sewage works on our right was no problem, but after that a landfill site across the river attracted crowds of gulls and imparted an unpleasant smell.  We then reached an industrial estate and left the riverbank by a church and village pond at the SE corner of Boston.  We walked into town behind the docks beside St Botolph’s, to the central market square, which seemed to comprise the whole of the centre of the town.  From the bus station we caught a bus back to Butterwick.  This was a poor day botanically, although we did see a respectable number of birds, including yellowhammers. As it was warm and occasionally sunny, more butterflies were active than any previous days, mainly small tortoiseshell, meadow brown and ringlet.  Tonight we ate in our hotel, the Vine in Skegness.
 
Approaching Boston, the Stump in centre
 
KEEP OUT OF PRISON! (Stile on the left.)
 
 
 
 
Boston Stump
 
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