Harbour Entrance Maintenance!

Taken from the harbour wall looking towards the Church Norton Spit

Work taking place to  maintain the main channel....these photos taken on January 27 2004

 We had no threat of extinction then!

Today there is more activity on the beach....T.V,cameras etc

Shown on BBC local news this evening 

Hopefully, more publicity will bring action to protect our beach properties.

The following is an extract received from the RSPB Pagham Habour e-update today.

"Pagham Beach Protection Roger Spencer of Arun District Council gave us this update:

Church Norton spit continues to grow eastward. A rock revetment was constructed by Arun District Council in November/December 2013, which successfully protected the properties at greatest risk on Pagham Beach from the damaging effects of storm waves entering the channel. Just before Christmas the spit not only grew in length but there was a marked landward turn of the eastern end; this in turn changed the hydrodynamics of the channel. The revetment and the adjacent groyne have been damaged by the new, undercutting scour.

Urgent works were undertaken by Arun DC’s contractor in early January to stabilise the revetment as a short-term repair. All options available to remedy the situation were then discussed at a multi-agency technical meeting. The preferred option coming from that meeting; to bring in a further supply of rock to bolster the revetment at a low level, was reported to the Pagham Harbour And Coastal Issues Group on 22^nd January 2014. That Group agreed that this is the preferred option and officers from Arun DC are now working with the other bodies in an effort to secure sufficient funds to undertake this work at the earliest opportunity."

Another day and another high tide attracts worried residents....with much discussion about the forecast high tides and high winds this weekend.

...so that's how Brian gets those fantastic videos on 'save Pagham beach' facebook!

...clever stuff!

...another viewing from a local working group.

More news awaited.

A noisy night last night and the groyne seems to have developed more of a 'lean'!

Looking up the beach

Detail looking the other way...it doesn't get any better.

A meeting was held today and basically I understand that  more rocks are going to be brought in to reinforce the revetment in the very near future. More details to follow, hopefully, on the Save Pagham Beach Facebook.

A different viewpoint.

As I was wanting to track down a rare gull reported from Church Norton  I took the opportunity of walking the full length of the spit this morning  and I took some shots looking towards the beach.

Eastern end of revetment

A jumble of rocks.

Western end of revetment

The fallen rocks

 

 

Panoramic view

The groyne from the spit...a sorry sight

...and I did track down the gull....a rare Glaucous Gull...

see full details and more images on the Pagham Birder blog.

A sorry sight and getting worse after every high tide

Taken at low tide this morning and no sign of all the work put in last week to build a track in front of the rock revetment....all shingle gone!

The whole landscape of the lower beach in front of the posts at the western end is changing...daily.

...every day is different.

A superb end to the day...taken from the 'old' harbour mouth.

Watching the rising tide.

The old pill box by the crumbling groyne...uncovered once again.
It was buried with shingle on Friday!

Apparently more rocks fell into the deep water channel at 12.25 today...see  https://www.facebook.com/SavePaghamBeach

Contractors are back at 8.00am

Two of the vehicles were  back again this morning back filling behind the groyne. It didn't take long but when I had a look at 10.00 the shingle had already started disappearing....

10.00 this morning

3.30pm this afternoon ...say no more!

Panoramic ...looking towards the spit

Contractors on the move.

The bulldozer was covering its tracks this morning and smoothing out the beach in front of the bungalows...whilst the vibrations indoors were shaking the windows and doors!

The beach has taken on a new look....

Not a pretty sight!

...more like a ploughed field!

It was obvious the contractors were pulling out as all vehicles except one were removed from the beach.

Just one remained beside the shingle bags to be used if they are wanted quickly! (The sun showed itself very briefly in an otherwise dull miserable day.)

Already the groyne needs more back filling...we hold our breath...the tides start building up again to peak later this week but the problem tides come at the end of January/early February.

Shingle disappearing behind the groyne yet again...in a very short space of time!

The main emphasis today seems to be firstly  on creating many more shingle bags....

 

Be prepared...in case of further erosion when the next spring tide hits....weekend after next.

and secondly on ensuring the revetment is made safe by changing the profile of the rocks.

Rocks have been moved and the angle  of the revetment nearest the groyne has changed and looks a lot safer.

 

Late afternoon

The 'new look'  revetment

Well done chaps!

Men and machinery still working on the beach affording us all some comfort!

Work continues protecting the groyne on the east side

...using bigger, stronger shingle bags.

...whilst more shingle continues to be deposited at the foot of the rock revetment on the west side.

End of another week.

Well, here we are ...a brand new Blog all about Pagham Beach and, for the time being, all about the continuing saga of the beach erosion. My Paghambirder blog... http://paghambirder.blogspot.co.uk/  ... has been taken over by the  recent work on creating a revetment at the western end of the beach and I thought it appropriate to maintain that blog for its original purpose....bird sightings!

So here goes...a new blog, but basically a photographic record of 'happenings' on the beach and the immediate area.

At present the beach is being eroded at a rapid rate and the emphasis will be centred on photographs of the changing beach on a regular basis.

What a contrast to a week ago....sunny ,windless and peaceful.

 

Following a weeks work the platform/roadway to gain access to the base of the falling revetment still has a little more to go.

The rocks continue to fall into the deep channel every high tide and are becoming increasingly dangerous and yet access is still permitted. Suggest everyone keeps well away!!