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) !

Sunrise over the beach

This was the sight that greeted me this morning at 7.20 when I drew back the curtains...just before sunrise!

I just had to get out there with a camera!

Once on the spit I looked back at the beach bungalows and the reflection from the mirror like
'new' lagoon was impressive.

 Even before the sun rose the effect was dramatic!.

A sea of gold.

Here it comes!

It's a blinder!



On my return the sun was catching the windows on certain bungalows

Incredible reflection!

...and finally a couple of items from last week.

 A man without his trousers was crossing from the Selsey side to the Pagham side one morning before the sun rose but as he neared the deep water in the middle he decided better of it and returned from whence he'd come...I was about to alert the emergency services as I knew he wouldn't make it so that was a relief. (he must have been very cold as I watched him dress and put his shoes and socks on and toddled off along the spit towards Church Norton!)

This object was washed up one morning. Looked like a very old lobster creel covered in whelk eggs and anemones.

You never know what you are going to see on the beach, first thing in the morning!

Its all change!

Since my last blog there have been some dramatic changes to the beach profile. All the photographs this week show what has been happening but most impressive of all is that the west end of the broken spit has merged with the beach and resulted in what is virtually a lagoon at low tide. This enables access to the spit at any time during  periods of neap tides. As the tide recedes it is now possible to cross to the spit at the western end and walk along the length of the spit and off at the eastern end (groyne three.)  The eastern end of the new lagoon changes in appearance daily and a few photos here show the various changes over this wee


Early in the week these rocks 'appeared'

 This resulted in the outflowing tide to cut into the beach

 A few days later the rocks had 'disappeared' again having been covered with shingle.

 This morning the erosion to the beach was even more noticeable .

 This afternoon at low tide there was no outflow and crossing over was no problem

This shows the extent of the build up of shingle at the eastern end.

Taken from the spit at low tide showing that the newly formed lagoon held water ...a couple of weeks ago this would have almost emptied leaving just mud and shingle.

 This final photo shows how the spit has joined up with the beach.

 However on the big tides the sea is now washing over the lower part of the spit at its western end and  this could mean further changes in the next few weeks especially if we have any major storms.
As ever, watch this space!