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

Suffolk: Lowestoft to Southwold 19/6/2009**

 
Yellow horned-poppy
 
Mossy stonecrop
 
Cotton thistle
We parked by Claremont Pier and walked along the promenade, after filling our water-bottles from a drinking tap.  The beach was spotlessly clean, being regularly swept by machine, but beyond the main front marram, yellow-horned poppy, sea-holly, sea-kale, sea-pea and sticky groundsel all started to become frequent, signs of a good sand/shingle community.  We walked along the foreshore where there was a firm line of sand below the shingle, much of it covered in sea-gooseberries once again.  We were below a line of low cliffs with only a slight view of the caravans above, and passed the village of Kessingland entirely without knowing it.  A grey seal raised its blunt head above the waves to look at us for a minute or so.  After a wide shingle beach and lagoons just above the beach, we were in Benacre Nature Reserve where a sluice entered the sea from a pumping-station.  Here we found slender thistle, sea bindweed and mossy stonecrop with its small pink flowers.  Birds included meadow pipit, ringed plover, black-headed gull and little tern, which nests here, especially on roped-off shingle flats fronting the occasional small “broad”.  A corn-field above a bracken slope had wide margins with small nettle, bugloss and common fiddleneck, but we had to return to the beach to continue, as the path at the top eventually disappeared.  At the top of the beach, sheltered by gorse bushes, we ate our lunch, although bothered somewhat by pollen beetles Meligethes aeneus continually landing on us, as they had done a few years ago on this east coast, presumably clouds of them being swept by winds across the sea, just like the painted ladies, worn specimens of which were the commonest butterfly around.  On Benacre Broad were cormorant, heron, little egret, coot and mute swan, which we could observe most easily from a hide on the south side, as a cold wind made one’s eyes water and vision blur, so using the binoculars in the open was difficult.  Each side of the broad a wood covered the edge of the cliff. Whitened trunks and gaunt branches, strewn across the beach showed how the coast here is eroding.  The soft sand-cliffs are retreating, but they still provide nesting-sites for hundreds of sand martins, some of which may fall prey to the peregrine we disturbed from the carcase of a razorbill washed up on the shingle.  On Covehithe Broad there were mallard, shelduck and pochard.  By Easton Bavants approaching Southwold were platforms of collapsed sand with many flowers and butterflies.  Here was an imposing tall plant of cotton thistle, still in bud, clumps of the spreading immigrant grass, water bent, and California poppy.  Nearing the pier at Southwold, large boulders dumped as beach protection forced us along the concrete steps of an embankment and eventually up to street level, through a car park and into town.  We eventually located Market Place and the bus stop for our return to Lowestoft.  The bus journey was slow, jolty and laborious.  It was a relatively quick drive by car back to Southwold, where we parked behind the Swan (an Adnams Hotel) on Market Place, where we are staying 3 nights.  We went out to eat at the Crown nearby (also Adnams).
 




 
Kessingland cliff
 
 
Boathouse Covert
 
 
Water bent

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