Brancaster Beach

Tags

beach, Brancaster, sand, sand patterns, seaside, seaweed, shells

To mark my birthday I usually ask that we go for a walk together.  The weather at the beginning of September is often warm and hazy and we always see plenty of dragonflies, which pleases me.  This year, to ring the changes, I decided to ask for a family trip to the seaside which was acceded to with enthusiasm.  So much enthusiasm that we went to Dunwich and Southwold as a taster and hors d’oeuvre to the main course.  I then remembered that Mum loves the sea and hasn’t seen it for two or three years and so felt guilty.  I arranged to take her to Dunwich Heath the day after my birthday treat.

I left the choice of beach to Richard as he had kindly offered to drive us there.  He plumped for Brancaster on the north Norfolk coast which is about an hour and three-quarters drive away.  He said we should have lunch in Fakenham on the way and I agreed!

Brancaster Beach

This was our first view of the beach with the sea some distance away.  The sun was shining brightly but there was a strong north-westerly breeze blowing so as usual I was pleased I had brought my jacket.

This effect was caused by the wind on the sand.

You can also see the sand blowing across the beach on this picture.

It was a lovely afternoon.

Even when the sun disappeared behind a cloud and the tide began to come in it was still a good afternoon.

Sand with Worm/Razorshell holes

Worm Casts

Razor shell and worm casts

Seaweed – Horn Wrack

Sand with crushed shells

I love the patterns on the sand.

A warm pool in which I saw tiny fish and shrimps.

Seaweed –

Razorshells (Ensis arcuatus)

Crab Carapace

I wonder if the limpets were living on the crab shell before it died.  The shell at the top of the photo is a cockle shell.

A view of the sand dunes

More sand patterns

Kite surfing

A flock of Oyster Catchers (Haematopus ostralegus)

Once the tide starts to turn it is advisable to get as close to the sand dunes as possible as quickly as you can.  The water races in and if you are stranded on a sand bank it is not very pleasant!  There is a ship-wreck on one of the sand banks which attracts a lot of people and the channels of water are warm to paddle in.  It is easy to lose your sense of time here. Three children have died on this beach in the last ten years.

I cannot identify this bird.  It may be a female wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe).  It behaved like one, running about on the sand and through the grass catching insects.  I just couldn’t get near enough to it.

Whelk (Buccinum undatum) Egg-cases

The tide approaching

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

I found some Sea Buckthorn with berries.

View inland from Brancaster Beach car park

Another view inland

Altogether, a perfect day!

Thanks for visiting!

Wells-Next-the-Sea

Tags

beach, Norfolk, pine woods, Rain, sand, sea, Wells-Next-the-Sea

Wells-Next-the-Sea

 

Last summer we visited the seaside town of Wells-Next-the-Sea in north Norfolk.  It is a very attractive little town with plenty of narrow, winding lanes, pretty cottages, interesting shops and a lovely wide green surrounded by elegant Georgian houses.  The place is very dear to me as I spent many holidays here as a girl.  It gets very crowded nowadays during the high-season and there is nowhere to park if you arrive after mid-morning.

Unfortunately, we set off rather late and stopped in Fakenham on the way to have lunch.

Fakenham is a pleasant market town in Norfolk

The place where we had our lunch.

 

 

Wells has a harbour but the beach is a mile away from the town and is reached by a narrow road and paths. There is a high bank next to the road which was built about 150 years ago to consolidate the channel that connects the sea to the harbour and also, I presume, to act as a sea defence.  The paths are on the sea-wall.  During the summer months there is also a narrow-gauge railway that shuttles holiday-makers to and from the beach.

View from the top of the bank, across the tidal waterway (called ‘The Run’ I believe) that connects the harbour with the open sea, to the mudflats and saltmarsh beyond.

 

We decided to forego the delights of the town and so drove along the road to the beach car-park at Pinewoods.  We found nowhere to park (of course!) so left Alice and Elinor there with our belongings and drove back to the town where there was an overflow car-park next to the playing field.  We thought we might return to the beach on the little train but we had just missed one and there was a long wait for the next.  We walked along the sea wall in the strong sunshine.  It was very warm work.

Looking towards the sea in the distance

A poor photograph of Viper’s-bugloss (Echium vulgare) that was growing at the side of the path

 

 

 

We found the girls and shared out the bags and chairs and started to walk through the pine woods to the beach.  I remember playing in these woods with my brother and sister over forty years ago when it was wilder and there were fewer designated paths through the dunes.  Red squirrels were still to be found there in the early 70’s but they were under great threat and had died out by the mid 1970’s I believe.  Sadly, I never saw a live red squirrel only a dead one.  At intervals along the path there are steep slopes and steps up to the top of the dunes from where you suddenly see miles of sandy beach and the sea in the distance.

A lovely sandy beach where one can find pretty shells and where jelly-fish swim in the shallow warm-water inlets

I love to see the pine trees so close to the sea.

 

 

We walked some way across the sand in the direction of the sea.  The tide goes out for miles here but when it turns, it rolls in very quickly and many people get stranded on sandbanks every year by not heeding the tide and not listening out for the warning siren.

The beach huts here are on stilts

More beach huts

 

 

As seems to be what happens to us whenever we visit this beach, no sooner had we settled ourselves on the sand when the wind picked up and large clouds appeared.  I was glad of my hat and coat.

What is known as ‘an interesting sky’.

A bit of cloudy sky didn’t put people off their relentless march towards the distant sea.

It’s okay! That raincloud isn’t coming this way!

It looks quite nice over there.

People began to make their way back towards the woods.

This is me! I was glad of the hat and coat.

A yacht going out to sea. Notice the off-shore windmills in the distance. These days it is rare to find a place where you can look out to sea and not see windmills.

The sea was getting rougher

There are always fishermen on the beach

The visibility was getting worse.

A buoy

Wet sand

When we saw this we reluctantly started back towards the pinewoods.

It began raining just as we reached the woods and rained very heavily while we walked under the trees.  It stopped eventually and we walked back along the sea wall to the car.