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





Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Kent: Rainham to Sittingbourne 22/5/2010***


 

Slender parsley-piert
 
Edible frog
 
The bridges to Sheppey
From Rainham station we walked back to Otterham Creek to proceed past Horsham Marsh by footpath and road, through several orchards, to the riverside near Ham Green, following the embankments to Lower Halstow.  Across the next bay, Fulton Creek, we took the road that remained close to the shore, whereas the Saxon Shore Way deviated inland.  At the end the road climbed Raspberry Hill and we went north again towards Chetney Marshes.  Near the beginning of the footpath was a convenient bench for lunch, with a panoramic view of the now familiar Medway landmarks of the Kingsnorth and Grain power stations and the arched bridge that goes over to Sheppey.  The path along the west side of the peninsula passed large lakes with islands where many birds were nesting – avocet, black-headed gull, common tern, mallard, pochard, tufted duck, shelduck, ruff, greylag and Canada geese, feral domestic geese, great crested grebe and coot.  They were accompanied by a lone black swan.  In the short turf on top of the embankment were the white flowers of bird’s-foot clover or fenugreek and slender parsley-piert.  As we reached the farm buildings half way up the peninsula, as far as we were permitted to go, we saw introduced edible (green) frogs in a ditch with brackish water crowfoot.  There were many rabbits around – and by the earlier paths we had passed many dead ones that had been shot.  We crossed to the east side and then proceeded by embankment all the way to Kingsferry Bridge which carried the main road over The Swale to Sheppey.  A lower flat bridge carried the railway and a B-road.  As we approached, the latter was raised in the centre to allow tall-masted vessels to pass along the channel.  Further down the river towards Sittingbourne were many industrial sites where we had to walk around the fences or pass through narrow littered corridors with high fences each side.  We had a contretemps with two bikers illegally driving the footpath and making a mess of it with ruts that made it uncomfortable to walk, but it was obvious that this was a common sport locally, as the whole way was badly rutted.  Nearly into the centre of Sittingbourne we passed a noisy carting track on the opposite bank.  By the time we gained the streets we were virtually in the centre and it was only a short walk to the railway station and the return to Rainham.  Despite a cool overcast start, by midday it was sunny and increasingly hot.  In the afternoon we saw a good many butterflies – lots of small heath and our first common blues - on the better flowery banks near Sittingbourne.  But the country here is basically man-made with no natural botany (Kent, the Garden of England) and the footpath is continually threatened by factories trying to close it near their premises – we met several points where signs had been removed or damaged and walkers had had to break down illegal barriers.  We are not a popular breed in this area!
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