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A few days away.

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We had a few days away in the campervan this week. About 130 miles away from home near Burnham on Sea on the Somerset coast.

The tide goes out a long way on the North Somerset coast into the Bristol Channel – but mud is a big sticky danger with over a couple of miles on mud to the waters edge at low time some places having a 35 foot drop in water at low tide. Several of the coastal towns have RNLI Hovercraft rescue craft as well as lifeboats.

These pictures show the tide going out at Weston-super-Mare The Island in the background is Steep holm. A place of nature and old coastal gun batteries.

Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier. Opened in 1904. The pier was gutted by fire in July 2008. but was rebuilt and open again on 23 October 2010. £3 for Donkey rides but closed for the winter.

If anyone remembers the 1967 British TV series The Prisoner you will recall the beach ball stopping people from leaving the village I had “I am a person not a number moment “while on the beach when I was passed by a giant beach ball bouncing along the beach!

There is a gem of a pier at Weston-super-Mare Birnbeck Pier which is sadly in a poor state  It is the only pier in the country which links the mainland to an island, linking to Birnbeck Island.In the past the pier was popular with locals and tourists as a boarding point for steamers in the Bristol Channel. During WW2 the pier was commissioned as HMS Birnbeck by the Admiralty as part of miscellaneous weapons development site. After the war the steamer trade declined and by the 1970’s the pier started to fall into its current unsafe state. Today it is in a largely derelict state. Part of the pier collapsed during storms on 30 December 2015.

Heading up the coast to Clevedon is a pier that has been restored and well worth a visit and this shows you what a great attraction Birnbeck could be.

A modern lighthouse at Battery Point,

There is a good view across to Wales from the point.

A warning sign at Battery point and a memorial.

Black Nore Lighthouse which is also known as Blacknore Point Lighthouse) at Portishead. it was judged to be no longer needed for navigational purposes, and the light was decommissioned in September 2010. It is a listed building and now owned by a trust.

 

Something different.

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I thought I would experiment with trying to capture the movement of flight. By slowing down the shutter speed of my camera to blur the motion – it goes against the grain as I am alway trying to freeze movement.

1st movement frozen – Common Tern in flight. 1/1600 sec. (fast shutter speed).

2nd movement blurred – Common Tern in flight. 1/30sec. (slow shutter speed).

The “Buoys” are back in town.

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A morning at Meon Shore.

The Buoys are Back in town – after almost 2 years the familiar buoys which are used by Hill head sailing club as race marker buoys are back in the Solent – removed during lockdowns. I was excited to see them as they are like old friends which I used to monitor the tides and water level and at times swim out to them. All I could think of was the Thin Lizzy song the “Boys are back in town” of my youth Walking on the sands the song played in my head!

The buoy closest to the beach now has the name “Rainbow” on it – is this to acknowledge our NHS during the COVID pandemic or something else I do not know, but as people place rainbows in their window to support the NHS I guess this is likely.

On the beach.

Some bird shots on the shore nothing new but just nice to have my feet in the water on this windy but bright morning.

The Turnstone are in good condition and sporting their summer colours.

Starling foraging in the seaweed. Adult and juvenile.

Common Terns breed within the nature reserve when the tide is low they come onto the beach and feed in the sea. Returning to the small islands as the tide comes in. I counted over 150 birds on the beach this morning.

Adult right youngster on the left.

Black-backed gulls enjoying a fish breakfast (a large trout) on the beach.

Herring gull take off.

The Herring gull has a Wingspan of 130-150cm and a weight:690-1440g.

The Great black-backed gull has a wingspan of 150-165cm and a weight:1-2kg.

Another Hermit crab found at the low tide mark this one quite small.

The above picture shows the size of this small crab.

Around Exmoor for a few days.

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Another small trip using the campervan for the past 3 days. Lots of sunshine and fresh air.

We made an early start on Tuesday by time it was time to stop for breakfast we were on the hill looking towards the village of Shaftesbury. Very warm and the fields are looking ready for the harvest.

We arrived at our campsite in Minehead early afternoon after a drive across country using back roads.

Some beach views.

Minehead has two ends the holiday camp end and the old harbour end. The old end is where we headed for!

The footpath from Minehead leads from the old town for some 630 miles to lands end and back along the south coast all the way to Poole in Dorset. A small park past the harbour is the start of the path. Link gives details.

https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/walk-coast-path/south-west-coast-path-national-trail/

A perfect storm waters flowing up on Exmoor.

A view of LYNMOUTH.

Anyone who has been watching the news of the floods in Europe and China may not be aware that on Friday 15th August 1952 – 28 people died in Lynmouth plus another 6 in the wider area in what has been said as the worst river flood in English history. The west Lyn river rose 60 feet above its normal level when rainfall flooded into the many tributaries of the East and West Lyn rivers.This caused, many tons of water, earth, boulders and vegetation descended through the narrow valleys of Exmoor from 500 metres up on the moor to meet at sea level in village Lynmouth on its way, many bridges blocked the flow until they collapsed and subsequently a wall of water and rubble hit Lynmouth in the late evening.

Swallow
distant deer.

This chap nearly became a cropper in front of us as he came around the bend as we crossed Exmoor.