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: Ramsgate to Deal 28/5/2010****


 

We walked straight from our hotel on to the official Coastal Path, roads on top of the cliffs above the tunnel to the Ostend ferry, until we reached the end of Ramsgate.  Then we took the path on top of the cliffs on the north side of Pegwell Bay.  At the north-west corner we went down to the shore.  Fossil spines of the sea-urchin Cidaris from the chalk beneath Thanet Beds are exposed in the cliffs.  The shore consisted of ruined parking bays and the old concrete launch ramp for the hovercraft ferry that used to operate from here 1969-1982, now become wasteland.  In the long grass we saw a ground lackey moth caterpillar.  At the saltmarsh edge were the Red Data Book swollen spire shell Mercuria confusa and the chiton Leptochiton asellus.  We could not get back up from the south end because of a reed swamp and cliffs, so had to return to metal steps that came to the top of the cliff just where a replica Viking ship stood in an enclosure.  This ship was sailed from Denmark to Pegwell Bay in 1949 to celebrate the 1500th anniversary of the first Viking landings here.  From here we walked beside the main road to Pegwell Bay Country Park, where we were able to take another green path overlooking the saltmarsh.  This returned to the main road at Stonelees, where there was at least a wide pavement including a cycle track.  Across the road were the cooling towers of the disused Richborough Power Station, which form a significant landmark.  We were cut off from the coast by the River Stour, whose west bank the main road followed through one industrial site after another to North Stonar, where we took a minor road left.  Here there was a patch of grass with grass vetchling and hop trefoil, and, on a verge, narrow-leaved pepperwort.  This road led straight to Sandwich, the first bridging point over the Stour.  Over the bridge, on The Quay, were Little Cottage Tearooms, where we had an early snack of scones and a knickerbocker glory, with coffee and refills!  Henceforward we escaped the roads and only had country paths for a mile to the coast, firstly up the east bank of the Stour, a pleasant walk but uninteresting vegetation.  We watched a cormorant fishing in the river.  We left the river through a LEAF farm, following the northernmost footpath to the dunes, where we had to cross the Royal St. George’s Golf Course.  It was a relief when we got to the dunes and beach, for here there was much more to record.  We walked north towards Shell Ness at first, stopping when we reached the sensitive bird-nesting area and then returned to continue due south.  This area, less frequented, had a few nudists.  At the top of the beach were marram, reed grass, sea sandwort and sea holly, with apparently only one plant of sea rocket.  We found lots of shells on the sand-and-shingle beach.  Inland there was much sea buckthorn, some denuded by lackey moths last year, but open areas had lots of sand cat’s-tail and asparagus, much of the latter just sprouting.  We had an excellent free meal of these as we went along.  Dune tiger beetles Cicindela maritima (Notable B) sometimes ran over the sand.  Other uncommon beetles found here were Isomira murina, the carrion beetle Silpha laevigata and a leaf beetle Podagrica fuscipes (Notable A; Thames estuary region only).  We noticed a cream-spot tiger moth in a clump of marram.  When we got further south the beach became a shingle ridge with only sea kale, but the inland sand-dune area (what had been left from the golf course, which must have destroyed any dune-slacks) had hundreds of lizard orchids in bud, noticeable even then for their robust size and pale colour.  There were southern marsh orchids and we saw one specimen of early purple orchid past flowering.  Even more noticeable, however was the bedstraw or clove-scented broomrape which is parasitic on lady’s bedstraw and was in full flower, very pale mauve with widely-open flowers that really did smell of cloves. There were also several patches of rosy garlic, and both clustered and suffocated clovers.  The habitat began to deteriorate as we passed the large houses of Sandwich Bay Estate, in front of which there were lots of sea daisy.  The beach had frequent clumps of yellow horned-poppy, not seen further north.  We continued on the beach-side track and road past the Royal Cinque Ports Golf Course.  As we reached the outskirts of Deal we saw a fox watching us from a field and we took a good look back through binoculars!  It was then concrete walkway all the way into the centre of Deal, coming up to the streets near the pier, just after which a main road rose to the station.  Back in Ramsgate we walked to Surin Thai restaurant in Harbour Street.
Leptochiton asellus
 
Lizard orchid
 
Fox

 

 
 
 
Pegwell Bay saltmarsh and cliffs
 
 
 
 
Sandwich River
 
 
Clove-scented broomrape
 
Clustered clover
 
Suffocated clover
 
 
Rosy garlic
 
 
Cream-spot tiger moth

 
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