The little terns are back. Up to 24 have been seen around the Ferrybridge area. The area on Chesil Beach where they usually nest has now been fenced off and they should start nesting in about two weeks time.

There are also a number of pairs of ringed plovers starting to nest on the beach.

The underwater camera is now showing that the two-spot gobies have returned in some numbers, along with the grey mullet. No corkwing wrasse have been seen yet though. The water temperature in the Fleet is now around 15C, while the water out in Weymouth Bay is only around 12C

The camera pontoon has suffered some damage from a boat impact in recent days but the underwater visibility has been too bad to fully assess the damage. The camera is still working well, but there is a slightly different view than the one we have been used to.

There are now large numbers of common gobies and shore crabs in the shallow water around the camera pontoon. The seaweeds are growing fast with a variety of greens and browns making the underwater environment very colourful at present.

The Portland pinks (thrift, Armeria maritima) are now approaching their best and the turfed areas along the Chesil and Hamm beaches between Ferrybridge and Portland have turned pink. This is a good time to come and see this wonderful display. Even better why not join our guided walk to see the thrift and other plants of the Chesil and Hamm beaches to be held next weekend. See the 'Whats On' pages for details.

The Chesil website has been expanded with a new sub-site on the Hamm Beach. This area will be expanded further over the next few weeks. The Hamm Beach area covers how the beach was formed, recreational use of the beach, its designations and includes a full list of plant species that can be found on the beach. Other pages will be added as soon as the necessary photographs have been taken.

Take a look by going to the usual home page - www.chesilbeach.org, then clicking on 'Hamm Beach' in the text or selecting from the fly-out main menu.

We saw 45 people come to the first low tide walk of the year in early April. This was one of the lowest tides of the year and we were pleased to find lots if marine invertebrates exposed. Bearing in mind it was a bitterly cold day the turn out was stunning! The hot tea and chocolate back at the Tea Cabin was great!

Last Saturday a smaller group went out on a warmer walk to learn more intricate details about Chesil Beach itself, its history and inhabitants.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in last weekends litter pick. Thankfully the good weather brought out over 30 volunteers who picked up more than 55 bags of rubbish.

The brown filamentous algae is now growing very quickly and it will be necessary to clean the underwater camera every week from now until early July. Cleaning on a two week cycle corresponding with spring low tides makes cleaning fairly easy through the winter. However, the intermediate clean corresponds with a neap high tide and up to 2 metres more water over the camera. This makes cleaning more challenging!

The underwater camera was cleaned to day in the middle of a hail shower, which made life interesting. Underwater visibility was only moderate and the water temperature was 10.0C. A large number of two-spot gobies are now in residence in the camera pontoon and one grey mullet was also seen. The algae and sponges are all very colourful at this time of year with lots of greens, reds, and browns.

On the walk back the scurvy grass bloom is coming to an end while the thrift is just beginning its main spring bloom.

After the very strong cold winds of the last few days the weather eased today and I was able to clean the underwater camera. The filamentous algae is now growing quickly and the camera has to be cleaned at least every two weeks or we lose the picture! The pontoon housing the camera is now very colourful with assorted algae, sponges and other organisms. However, still no shore crabs or gobies to be seen along the edge of the Fleet channel. The only fish seen was one grey mullet. The underwater visibility was still only moderate. It typically takes 2-3 days for all the sediment to come out of the water column after a period of very strong winds.

The water temperature was 8.5C. The water is normally at its coldest in mid-February, but this year there is still no sign of the water starting to warm in late-March. Look at the CMMP pages on the website for the full plot of water temperature.

Above the water, there were a number of oystercatchers along the Fleet foreshore, and the dandelions are in full flower on the grassy area on Chesil Beach.

On a freezing cold, extremely windy Easter Saturday 29 people braved the elements to go fossil hunting around Tidmore Point. We were mainly looking for ammonites but didn't object to finding other fossils. Almost everyone was rewarded with am ammonite but most of us had to settle for small ones. One young man, however, found a beautiful pyritised kosmoceras (8cm in diameter). It made my 4 cm one look small, but its still my best find yet - oh the lucky lad! Plenty of belemnites, gryphea, worm casts and smoe small but complete oxytoma were also found.

Last Tuesday saw the first school visit of the year. 21 year 12's from the Arthur Terry School came and spent a few hours here studying the geomorphology of the beach. After a guided tour and lunch they went off to measure the profile of the beach. This was actually a bit special as the storms the previous week had washed away most of the ledges making the  profile very steep indeed! 

Underwater visibility fairly poor after the storms earlier this week. Water temperature 9.3C. Several two-spot gobies seen on the camera, and one corkwing wrasse.

The very high tide last monday came very close to the exceptionally high tide of November 2005. A few more inches and the instrumentation system would have been flooded.

The weather earlier in the week caused significant over-topping of Chesil Beach with the strandline well down the landward side of the beach in places along the stretch of the beach at Ferrybridge. This did not result in any of the canns opening. This over-topping probably occurred on tuesday night/wednesday morning. The seaward slope of the beach has been swept clear of marine litter.

Nothing too exciting swept up, quite a few whelk shells, plus the usual collection of angling discards i.e. light sticks, fishing line, and tackle, also a good selection of timber. Only isolated lumps of fresh oil were found.

Two swallows, possibly more, seen on Chesil Beach on friday afternoon. Also seen on Chesil Beach the first clumps of Portland Pinks about to flower and the scurvy grass in full flower.

Can spring be far away now?

Ed

It's spring tides again so must be time to clean the underwater camera again. The tide was exceptionally low with the camera mounting cross-bar only just below the surface so camera cleaning was easy. The excellent underwater visibility also helped. The algae is growing fast with the whole pontoon, including the camera, covered in a new growth of brown filamentous algae. At this time of year this really needs to be cleaned every week, but the low water temperature and poor weather has prevented this on neap tides. The water temperature should now start to increase as spring advances and within a few weeks it should be possible to resume the weekly cleaning.

The water temperature today was 9.6C.

Although the visibility was very good and the algae very colourful, there was little else about. The usual group of two-spot gobies in the camera wreck were in evidence with about a dozen seen, but away from the wreck there was very little with only one shore crab seen and no other fish.

Walking back along Chesil Beach revealed the first few spring flowers with a few Portland pinks in flower and many scurvy grass flowers.

Weather better than of late i.e warmer and less windy! With very low spring tides, cleaning the P2 underwater camera was straightforward. Underwater visibility excellent and water temperature 8.9C.

The pontoon housing the camera is now very colourful with new growth algae as the new season gets underway. Very few fish about. A few two-spot gobies have been seen recently and a possible black-faced blenny, but no larger fish. The upstream camera revealed a peacock worm, Sabella pavonia, on one of the pontoon legs, the first time this species has been seen on the camera.

A survey along the edge of the channel revealed no shore crabs and no 'billie winter' prawns. However, there was a nice specimen of a slender spider crab, Macropodia sp, most probably deflexa, and many examples of what are believed to be daisy anenomes, Cereus pedunculatus. As usual there were many snakelocks anenomes, Anemonis viridis.

We have held 5 events so far this year and all have been well supported. The weather has been very kind to us. This weekend saw our second fossil walk in glorious sunshine and 39 people came. The high tides had caused the break up of one or two large blocks resulting in some rarer finds, notably pholadomya, Astarte (including 1 specimen with both valves). Everyone went away with a fossil collection very happy.

The scavenger hunt along the Bank was very well attended and some excellent natural specimens were found, including a pipe fish, dead sea slug, sea fans and lovely sea washed vertebrae.

More space is now available to the Chesil Diary!

This will allow photos to be uploaded to supplement the text information. Start checking the 'Photos' Link in the left-hand column of the index page. When you see a selection of photos, click any photo to see an expanded version with accompanying text.

The weather has calmed down and the underwater visibility has improved. Managed to clean the underwater camera in moderate visibility. Water temperature now 9.3C. Managed to have a look round the seabed around the camera site. The algae is now beginning to grow strongly, presumably triggered by the lengthening days. Very few crabs around and even fewer prawns. The number of sea squirts is also well down compared with mid-autumn last year.

The spring low tides are currently very low, some of the lowest tides of the year. Part of the camera pontoon is exposed above the waterline at low tide.

Hoped to clean the underwater camera today, but underwater visibility was bad and combined with neap high tide meant that it was not possible. The water temperature has dropped in the last week and is now 7.6C.


Walking back along the Lyme Back shoreline showed that the beach profile has changed again in the storms of the last few days. They have also thrown up a lot of cuttlefish bones. The majority are from the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, but some were much smaller and may have been from a different species. The majority of the debris thrown up on the beach is of natural origin, seaweed, cuttlefish bones, branches etc. There is a small amount of man-made debris such as a chest freezer, sawn timber, and oil.

Over the last week oil has washed up on Chesil Beach. It appears to have come from two sources. Along two high tidelines there is a scattering of new oil. It appears to be worst along the Abbotsbury to Cogden stretch but there are significant amounts right along the beach. There is also some oil that appears to have been in the water for a long time and has pretty much solidified into lumps. This is mostly in the Chiswell part of the beach.

Although not a major problem, take care if you walk along the seaward side of the beach, particularly if you have children and/or dogs in your party.

The P2 underwater camera was cleaned today. Visibility was awful and the cleaning was by feel only! Water temperature 9.1C. The high resolution datalogger measuring water temperature and depth was re-deployed.

The low tide this afternoon was exceptionally low with all the wrecked pontoons along the foreshore all or partially visible above the water level.

On the walk back it was noted that there are still a few Portland pinks in flower on the beach.

No underwater camera cleaning this week, weather and underwater visibility too bad. Water temperature is 10.4C, a significant rise since last week.

Walking back along the Lyme Bay side of Chesil Beach revealed some fresh oil patches on the high strandline, and many cuttlefish bones and dead sea fans. Other items of note were oranges, more shampoo bottles from the Napoli, and a selection of deadman's fingers, Alcyonium digitatum.

Avian flu has now been confirmed in three dead swans found at Abbotsbury Swannery at the north-west end of the Fleet. A further 6 dead swans are being tested. DEFRA have set up a control zone that covers the whole of the Fleet and the surrounding areas. This primarily affects poultry farmers but we would urge walkers along the Fleet to observe a few simple rules:

Stay on the public footpaths, do not enter farms or farmland.

Stay off the Fleet foreshore.

Do not let your dog roam on the foreshore or approach any wild birds.

We thank you for your cooperation during this difficult time.

Underwater camera cleaned today after the the Christmas/New Year break. Underwater visibility bad after the heavy rain and strong winds of the last few days. Water temperature 8.4C. Poor vis meant it was not possible to survey fish that may be around, but grey mullet and two-spot gobies were both seen on the camera over the last week.

While walking up the beach it was noted that there are still a few Portland pinks in flower (Thrift). Although the main flowering is late April into May, there always seems to be a small number of plants in flower right through the year.

Back at the Visitors Centre, nine people enjoyed a guided walk around the lower Fleet looking at the history, habitats and beach formations of the area. Luckily the weather held and the walk was completed before the rain set in again. For information on forthcoming walks look at our What's On page.

A walk along Cogden Beach this afternoon showed that the storms of the last few weeks came close to over-topping the beach. The two tide lines, one near the top of the beach from the storm event, the other half ways down the beach from the recent spring tides, both contained large number of slipper limpet shells, young whelk shells, and young scallop shells. There were also a small number of razorfish, black mussel, and top shells. Most of the shells were undamaged, but very few were still occupied.

There was remarkably little man-made litter. Most of the debris was of natural origin.

Underwater visibility now very poor. Water temperature 8.1C. The fish have now left the Fleet.   more »

Both underwater cameras cleaned. Water temperature has dropped now to 8.3C. Visibility only moderate following recent strong winds. The P2 camera was covered in a film of mud. Just touching the unit caused a cloud of mud. The P1 camera now very exposed after waves caused by the recent strong winds have removed the last of the pontoon cladding. This camera will now be removed as soon as possible to save it from further damage until it can be better protected.

The poor visibility meant it was not possible to see what fish were about. A few shore crabs were seen through the murk, and one grey mullet seen on the camera. With the drop in water temperature it is likely that most of the fish will soon be leaving the Fleet until next spring.

Signs requesting co-operation from dog walkers have been re-vamped as more effort is put into keeping this very public area as free of disturbance as possible. Currenly upto 500 brent geese are regualry loafing around the sandflat in addition to a number of warders and gulls. The birds need to conserve their energy and so the less disturbed they are the better it is for them. It is also rather enjoyable for bird watchers and local residents to see these small but attractive geese.

Both underwater cameras cleaned. Underwater visibility very good. Water temperature still dropping and now 12.3C. Look at the CMMP pages on the main Chesil Beach site to see a plot of the water temperature for 2006 and 2007.

The fish are still about, with plenty of big, grey mullet, a few bass, and many two-spot gobies. Along the edge of the channel there are many daisy anenomes. The number of small prawns Palaemon elegans is decreasing markedly, but there are still a few common gobies on the sand flats.

Both underwater cameras cleaned. Underwater visibility good, water temperature 12.7C. The water temperature is dropping quickly now as the nights get longer and colder and there is less heat in the sun.

Still plenty of fish about with numerous grey mullet and two-spot gobies. The black face blenny is also still seen occasionally. Away from the camera pontoon the number of common gobies has dropped considerably and there are now very few 'billie winters', the prawn Palaemon elegans.

The eel grass die-off has picked up again with the drop in water temperature and a fair amount of it was removed from around the cameras. The inter-tidal camera was half-buried in pebbles following the strong easterly winds of the last few days.

The autumn seaweeds are now growing and the camera pontoon is once again becoming colourful with the different species.

Both of the underwater cameras cleaned. The autumn die-off of Zostera has eased and keeping the cameras cleared is a ...   more »

We would like to thank everyone for their help last Saturday at the Fleet Foreshore Clean. With 13 volunteers we managed to pick up over 18 bags.

Very low tide this weekend, ideal for one of our ever popular low tide walks. Eighteen people enjoyed a walk around and under Ferrybridge led by Angela from the Chesil Visitor's Centre. The weather was ideal and the tide very low.

The underwater cameras were also cleaned, but here the very low tide was a mixed blessing. Easier to get to the cameras, but there was a very strong current running which made staying with the cameras rather difficult. Very little underwater wildlife to see around the camera pontoons, even the prawns had taken shelter deep in the bladder wrack clumps.

Both underwater cameras cleaned, underwater visibility moderate to good, water temperature 17.6C.

Plenty of dead Zostera around this week, particularly on the inter-tidal camera. A large amount removed before the picture was restored. Cleaning the deeper camera was more challenging at it was high tide and getting down to the camera was something of a challenge.

Plenty of fish around still, with many two-spot gobies and grey mullet, and a fair number of corkwing wrasse. No bass seen today.

Still a lot of Bispira tubeworms in the shallows between the cameras.

The two underwater cameras were cleaned yesterday. An ideal day for such activities with very light winds and good late summer sunshine. The water temperature was 18.2C and the underwater visibility was excellent.

The water temperature usually peaks in mid-August, but this year is peaking in mid-September. The cold, cloudy July seems to have delayed the cycle.

there is now a lot of fish activity with many grey mullet and a few bass about. The two-spot gobies are still around in high numbers. Visual estimates suggest about 50 fish in the camera pontoon. Two unusual visitors seen near the cameras were a pipe fish and a small cuttlefish. There seem to be a number of pipefish around at the moment with several seen. The species is most probably the worm pipefish. The small cuttlefish was approximately 6cm long and was in very shallow water near the P1 camera.

Also around the cameras at present are large shoals of small fish, approximately 15cms long. Species is unclear, but they could be young pollack. They always stay above the camera pontoon and never enter the enclosed area.

The small prawns, Palaemon elegans, also known as 'Billie Winters', are around in some numbers, but mixed in with them is a larger prawn that could be Palaemon serratus. These occur in large numbers on the Portland Harbour breakwaters.

The tides at the end of August were wonderfully low and parts of the beach were exposed that are not normally exposed leading to an excellent low tide walk. Although nothing out of the ordinary was found we were able to see and handel larger than usual sea squirts and starfish which was very good for the children.

Nine people thoroughly enjoyed a walk in the late summer sun on the grassy area by the Visitors Centre led by Dorothy, our flower expert. Because of the unusual weather this year the number of flowers to be seen was unfortunately well below normal. No rarities were found, but a good selection of the Chesil Beacxh flowers were observed.

The underwater cameras were cleaned a number of times during Marine Week to ensure best pictures were available. The water ...   more »