Norfolk: Blakeney Point 7/9/2008***

 

Sea pea   Long-stalked glasswort   Lifeboat house, Blakeney Point

We returned to Beach Road and drove up to the car park, although the road was flooded in one part from all the recent rain, which threatened to make today a non-starter.  However, the rain was easing as we parked and the sky looked bright over Blakeney Point, so we set off west, heading for the far end.  With an old flora list for the shingle spit we attempted to record every plant seen in order to compare.  Initially it was hard going on loose shingle, with saltmarsh on the landward side.  Only by lunchtime did we reach the lines of dunes that form the wide “point”, where walking was easier.  On the shingle, despite a limited range of plants to be expected from this exacting habitat, we were delighted to find sea pea, which had originally been planted here but is now well established and a pioneer species along with sea campion, sea sandwort, yellow horned-poppy, curled dock and shrubby seablite.  There was some sticky groundsel and the solitary wasp Psen equestris.  In the rare more vegetated areas we found a little common cudweed.  The dune flora was very impoverished and the dominance of sheep’s sorrel showed how acid the dunes were – mostly sand sedge, marram, lady’s bedstraw, western polypody and various lichens and mosses.  Even bramble only found a hold on the highest hummocks, where it was joined by broad buckler fern.  We sat here to enjoy our lunch of Norfolk Dapple cheese and peppery biscuits.  Salt flats beside the dunes held plenty of sea heath and provided easy walking off the shingle and the tall-grass dunes, as we approached the lifeboat house.  Here the dunes also contained some blue fleabane, common storksbill, sea bindweed, and grey hair-grass, as well as abundant cat’s-ear.  Spanish dagger Yucca gloriosa provided an alien addition to the flora.  At the boathouse we could descend to an inland shingle beach fronted by saltmarsh, where we found our first sea rocket and a prostrate glasswort – long-stalked glasswort.  We followed this round to the far side of the dunes and at last saw sea holly and more sea rocket.  Descending to the sandy beach at this end there was more sea rocket and saltwort.  The tide now being further out the sand and fine grit uncovered provided a much easier way of walking back than the laborious shingle and we managed this in about an hour, still mostly in sunshine.  There were few birds around – mostly meadow pipit and the sleek wheatears on land and over the water black-headed and lesser black-backed gulls and oystercatchers.  Other creatures were also infrequent, grasshoppers and a few butterflies, but we did see several small coppers in the more flowery areas.  Back at our hotel we were glad of a shower, as we were covered in salt spray and had dry wind-blown hair, although we had very much enjoyed the peace of this long spit only populated by the odd bird-watcher.

Sticky groundsel       Small copper, hedge brown on yarrow