Friday 13 April 2018

Life's A Beach

Leaden grey skies continued to hang heavy over the land all this week, variation coming only in the form of drizzle, fog and occasional downpours. Nothing for it but to scroll back a week to a day of dazzling blue skies when, after a walk at Dersingham Bog, there was still time for a stroll on the north Norfolk coast.


The transition from land to sea can, in some places, be abrupt and clearly delineated; a line of cliffs, say, with sea on one side and land on the other. All very neat, concise and clearly defined. North Norfolk is not at all like that.


Here land and sea do not so much brush shoulders as they walk side by side, but instead they hold hands, link arms and, when nobody's looking, become so intimately entwined that it's difficult to decide where one ends and the other starts.


The coast becomes a loose, unravelling skein of sand dunes, beaches, mudflats, shallow inlets, salt marshes and offshore sand bars. Threading its way through the drier parts of it is the North Norfolk Coastal Path, while further inland runs the coastal road. In places there are rather incongruous pine tree plantations, planted on some of the dunes to stabilise them and provide some shelter from the wind.


All this shifting, irresolute frontier between the solid and liquid worlds is much to the liking of many kinds of birds, especially during the winter months. Rafts of sea ducks loiter offshore, gulls sweep past out to sea, Sanderlings skedaddle back and forth before the incoming waves while other, less energetic, waders probe the mudflats for tasty morsels. And in spring the pinewoods become a refuge for exhausted migrant birds.


And all the while the waves of the North Sea lap along the beaches slowly moving the sand, shifting the seashells and murmuring soporifically. It's hard to imagine this same sea can at times become enraged enough to break through the sea-defences and inundate the land.


Even in midsummer you need to watch the tide-tables here as the sea can come in very rapidly across these vast sands. 


So remember, have a good run, fetch that stick, but for goodness sake....

take care.



13 comments:

  1. Walking a by the sea on a nice day brings a smile to your face

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  2. This isn't an area that I know much about. So it's nice to see it though your eyes. I love being by the sea, having lived withing sight of the sea as a child...... but sadly now the nearest ocean beach is 1000 miles away!

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  3. Love that first shot with the red!

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  4. lovely writing and photos. love the dog running across the wet sand.

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  5. Your coastline is inviting! Love your description, John.

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  6. Lovely photos of the ocean - makes me feel like I'm at the beach. That dog certainly knows how to enjoy life.

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  7. Wonderful photos John, and a pleasure to read your words.

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  8. I have visited Norfolk but once and I remember it as a lovely place with a splendid variety of birds. One of my best memories is seeing my first ever Northern Fulmar hanging in the wind just off a cliff.

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    1. That would be at Hunstanton, Fulmars are there for most of the year and nest on the cliff ledges. I love to watch Fulmars as they glide so effortlessly and accurately on apparently stiff wings.

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  9. Nothing better than a walk along the seashore. Nice photos!

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  10. Lovely scenes :)

    I haven't seen the sea for a long time... I'm hoping to rectify that soon :)

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  11. This shallow shallow coastline is different from ours. The tidal phenomenon is interesting. I can see the sea every day, but it looks very different. I believe that the blue sky and the beautiful air inspire many to walk there, I would also like to walk.

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  12. I love seeing the coast there. What a beautiful place to walk.

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