Chesil Beach Diary

Fossil Walk Pirate's Cove

Hazel — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:10:00 +0100

Saturday July 26th was a glorious sunny day which prompted 45 people to come fossil huinting at Pirate's Cove. Despite a highish tide everyone found enough fossils to keep them happy. One young lad in particular did very well and made some of the adults green with envy.

What a day!!!

Ed — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:26:00 +0100

Wednesday should have been our main event for the Weymouth and Portland Spirit of the Sea festival. The plan was to dive on the Phoenix caissons in Portland Harbout with an underwater camera and a diver with a full face mask to provide a running commentary. The sound and pictures would then be sent to the Chesil Beach Centre for viewing.

The day before the event the weather forecast was bad so it was decided to abandon the Portland Harbour event and substitute a reduced event in the Fleet where the water is more sheltered. Overnight there was an inch of rain and on the morning the wind was a 6 gusting 7. Despite this three of us ventured up to the Black Hut carrying all the necessary equipment and attempted to jury rig a system to provide pictures from the Fleet. Difficulties meant we missed the 11 and 12am planned broadcasts, but as there were no watchers due to the weather this was OK. By the 2pm slot all was in place and despite deteriorating weather a broadcast was made to a small audience at the Centre. By 3pm the rain was harder and the wind stronger, but an improved broadcast was made to a slightly larger audience.

We then broke down the system and conveyed the essential parts back to the Centre in appalling conditions.

This exercise, although carried out in dreadful conditions, provided a number of useful pointers to improvements that can be made to ensure the smooth running should a similar event be held in the future.

Up the beach again

Ed — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:58:00 +0100

After a break of several weeks due to other commitments I managed to get up to clean the underwater camera. A bright sunny day, but a very cool southerly wind. Water temperature was 18.0C. Visibility was moderate to good. At last the algae has stopped growing and and cleaning has become less of a chore. Over the next month or so most of the algae will die off and with reduced plankton in the water the visibility should improve. A few wrasse about, both ballen and corkwing, but only one grey mullet seen. The common gobies are about in moderate quantities, but very few Palaemon elegans prawns about yet.

Walking back along the beach, the thyme is now well out in flower while the samphire and sea purslane is just starting to flower. The solitary yellow-horned poppy has now pretty much finished flowering.

Pebbles Walk

Hazel — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:03:00 +0100

We had our first ever pebbles walk on Saturday. Of course it had to rain just as we got to the top of the bank but this did not deter us. People learned of the origin of the pebbles, the different types of pebbles, the nature and origin of flint, the grading of the pebbles, how the pebble bank formed and its significance to those of us who live here. Despite the weather we had very positive comments and will certainly repeat the walk next yaer.

Prince of Wales School

Hazel — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:58:00 +0100

On Thursday 19th June we had a visit by year 2 from the Prince of Wales School, Dorchester. This was our first visit by such young pupils and included one with mobility problems. I admire their teacher who had everything organised with military precision! We went out beachcombing and learned a bit about how the beach got here, about the different things that live on and around the beach then it was lunchtime. After dinner we moved lock stock and barrel to Camp road for a trudge over the fields to Pirate's Cove where the youngsters looked for fossils. We managed to get the all terrain buggy to the top of the bank and onto the shore in Pirate's Cove thanks to the ladies doing all the pushing! No one went home empty handed and all had a good time. We certainly enjoyed having them and hope they come again next year.

Chesil flowers

Ed — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:44:00 +0100

Now is an excellent time to visit Chesil Beach to see the flowers. The thrift are in full flower turning the turf areas around Ferrybridge a beautiful pink colour. On the edges of the turf areas are masses of sea campion in full flower. Mixed in with this are yellow banks of birds-foot trefoil and kidney vetch.

Warm water

Ed — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:41:00 +0100

After the recent very warm spell of weather, the water in the Fleet has now reached 16.7C. The water out in Weymouth Bay has also warmed and reached 12.9C today.

After many weeks of poor underwater visibility due to heavy rain and strong winds, the visibility is now improving. There has also been a major increase in the number of fish on the camera. There are many two-spot gobies and a fair number of adult grey mullet. Also making a recent appearance are bass, ballen wrasse and a black-faced blenny. Above the camera pontoon there is now a large group of immature grey mullet, but so far they have not been seen on the camera.

Around the pontoon there are now large numbers of common gobies, and a steadily increasing number of shore crabs. As yet there are very few of the Palaemon elegans prawns.

Return of the terns

Ed — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:01:00 +0100

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.

Underwater news

Ed — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:58:00 +0100

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.

Pink Portland

Ed — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:52:00 +0100

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.

Hamm Beach has arrived!

Ed — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:47:00 +0100

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.

April Events

Hazel — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:35:00 +0100

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.

Great Dorset Beach Clean 2008

Angela — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:09:00 +0100

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.

Underwater news

Ed — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:09:00 +0100

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.

In the water again

Ed — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:23:00 +0000

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.

Tidmore Point Fossil Walk

Hazel — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:13:00 +0000

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.

School Visit

Hazel — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:06:00 +0000

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!

Above and below the water

Ed — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:55:00 +0000

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.

Is it summer yet?

Ed — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:46:00 +0000

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

Camera cleaning

Ed — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:53:00 +0000

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.

Underwater Visibility much improved

Ed — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:14:00 +0000

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.

Events so far this year.

Hazel — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:58:00 +0000

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.

Chesil Diary expanded

Ed — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:13:00 +0000

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.

Underwater again

Ed — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:50:00 +0000

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.

Post storm

Ed — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:54:00 +0000

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.

Oil

Ed — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:28:00 +0000

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.

Underwater news

Ed — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:19:00 +0000

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.

Stormy weather

Ed — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:47:00 +0000

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

Ed — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:18:00 +0000

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.

Above and below

Ed — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:10:00 +0000

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.