Further erosion

The high Spring tides this past week have caused several metres of beach to be swallowed up between the bungalows and the 'old' harbour entrance. Almost all the Sea Kale has now been washed away and the resulting 'cliff face' has become very dangerous especially as the high tide approaches when there is an enormous volume of water scouring the 'cliff' and taking the shingle with it. Keep well away !

Here are few photos taken this morning at low tide.........

Looking towards the Church Norton spit showing how the tide is scouring the spit very close to where the proposed 'cut' is to be and in the foreground one of the last remaining new shoots of Sea Kale about to go over the edge.

This photo was taken on Saturday morning showing the barrier at the end of the track to indicate the danger immediately ahead

Taken from the same position this morning ...barrier gone in the night....

Below...the walkway now hanging over the edge, which at high tide could prove hazardous. 

Another view of the scouring on the opposite bank with the presumed WW2 defences in the foreground which have recently been exposed.

Much of the Valerian is fast disappearing over the edge!

A panoramic shot of the entrance

A closer shot showing the huge build up of shingle and the narrow waterway into the harbour.

Also a big build up of sand/sediment by the 'wall'.

But, a nice find...wild honeysuckle by the base of the old hide.

Pagham Beach estate...a new approach!

What a great idea 

For the past few days a kind soul has been working hard to improve  the appearance of the 'island' leading to Harbour Road and Lagoon Road.

Work in progress.
What a great idea! Thank you.

This morning at 6.30 I noticed  person  walking the low tide mark in the harbour channel with a GPS on his back.

 Forty five minutes later, at 7.15  a site meeting appeared to be taking place at the 'old' harbour entrance....interesting!

Panoramic shot....Bognor on the left...Selsey on the right of photo.

Another panoramic showing West Front Road bungalows on left , the newly formed lagoon and the the main outfall channel from the harbour.( Need to view large on large screen to see properly)

During the past few weeks erosion has continued unabated and exposed a huge amount of metal work...presumably WW2 relics.

 I am pleased to note that the RSPB has put up notices regarding the danger of the toxic caterpillars of the Brown Tailed Moth which have now stripped all the blackberry foliage and are foraging for food in gardens and  crawling up walls and even coming indoors.

Close up ...showing the thousands of prickly hairs!

Blackberry bush near the Lagoon.....stripped of foliage.
Typical of hundreds of similar bushes on the Spit.

Visitors - beware of these caterpillars.

These caterpillars are from the Brown Tail Moth....but please be aware these caterpillars are well-known for their urticating hairs; they cause extreme irritation if in contact with human skin so PLEASE LEAVE ALONE! They feed in a communal web on the leaves of hawthorn  and blackthorn but at present can be found on almost anything at present, throughout Pagham Spit...there are literally thousands of them. Be careful and don't allow children to touch them...they are very tempted!

They are stripping anything and everything...and turning up everywhere...

Not even the birds will eat them or go near them except for one species...the Cuckoo.
I suspect that is why we currently have two Cuckoos calling on the spit and around the Lagoon at present. They have a plentiful supply of food!

A well fed Cuckoo...thanks to the Brown Tail Moth caterpillars.

Please take care and advise children of the danger.

Spring High Tides.

A few of the photos taken during a week of high Spring tides....

The new enclosed lagoon being filled as the sea overtops the spit.

The original harbour entrance has narrowed and the man made embankment on the Church Norton side is being eroded on a daily basis.

A closer look.

The next three shots show the waves attacking the beach between the last bungalow and the original harbour entrance.

Since Thursday at least 2/3 metres has been lost !

The scouring  of the beach can be seen in these  photos and the loss of sea kale and horned poppy
is considerable.

Neap tides return now and the beach will settle down until the next spring tides towards the end of April.

Pagham Beach after Storm Doris and the following high tides.

Although Storm Doris was significant in terms of wind the beach did not suffer to any great extent.  Since then some high tides have, as always created some interesting changes to the scenery especially at the western end of the beach.
Yesterday was especially windy and at high tide the gap in the spit increased in width and depth and  the beach in front of the last few properties in West Front Road was further eroded.  For the past few months since the creation of the new lagoon  the tidal effect has not been noticeable but these past few days the break in the shingle has had greater significance due to a  far higher volume of water entering and departing and therefore  having an effect on  the landscape.
The photographs below were all taken today and hopefully demonstrates the changes.

Looking straight out  at 7.00  this morning at low tide
It is quite noticeable that the shingle bank has been overtopped and has pushed an enormous amount of shingle towards the 'inner'shore line.

This shot shows the extent of this shingle being pushed towards the bungalows.

Another shot taken looking back at the bungalows.

This is taken from the lowest part of the gulley looking towards the bungalows in direct' line of fire'.

Looking towards the 'old' harbour entrance the beach has been scraped clean!

It can be seen here how the high tide is again 'eating' at the beach by the tracks from the old car park.

A huge amount of shingle has now been deposited at the entrance to the harbour and the distance at low tide has been reduced considerably and the metal work almost totally been buried.

The following photos were taken later in the day at high tide.....


Compare with the first photo in this blog.

Yesterday however almost the entire part of this lower spit was under water but today the wind changed direction to an 'off shore'.

Taken from the western end of the new lagoon at high tide 

Just for interest a few pictures looking towards Bognor at high tide taken from the west end of the newly formed closure of the 'new' lagoon.

So every day brings a change of some description!!

Pagham Beach update

I woke this morning to sunshine and blue sky...a real contrast to yesterday! The tide was out so I took the opportunity to use  the good light to capture the current situation on the beach. The following photographs were taken between 9.00a.m. and 9.45 a.m.
For any of my blog followers who live on the beach you will recognise from where the photos were taken but those who don't frequent the beach too often, an explanation may be helpful. For those who only visit infrequently or annually Pagham Beach will be  virtually unrecognisable! The changes to the beach profile and the whole landscape can change from one day to the next.
The first photograph is taken in front of the last beach bungalow at the far west end of West Front Road, looking west from the dividing posts to the RSPB reserve.

Walking along to the new shingle 'blockage' and looking eastwards, the enclosed new lagoon can best be seen.

When turning 180 degrees and looking west from this position the main outlet from the harbour can be seen.

 This is a closer view from the same spot showing another bank of shingle splitting the outflow.


 However a new breach has occurred in the past week which now allows the sea at mid tide to flow into the lagoon and during each tide the breech gets deeper and a little wider.

 This becomes a rushing torrent as the tide ebbs and flows and whilst it was possible to walk along the spit at all states of the tide, this is now impossible.

The force with which the water enters the lagoon has created a kind of 'lava flow' effect as can be seen above.

Shot taken on the 'lava flow' looking north.

From a little further back looking west.

An 'indentation' slightly to the east of previous picture.

This is at the far east end of the  new lagoon which is now bounded by shingle and effectively sealed the east end.

Another shot a little further to the east

This shot and the next one show how the beach has changed and the shingle bank  that has been created. This one looking eastwards towards groynes one and two.

....and this one looking back...westwards, again highlighting the shingle build up to the east of the new lagoon.

Finally looking from the far eastern end (groyne 3 now disappeared).

There is various speculation as to what nature will do next...will the new inlet to this lagoon seal up of its own accord or will a storm break through the shingle bank? Who knows!

                                             The end (for now) !