Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon.
Chesil Beach is a ridge of pebbles stretching from Portland in the east to Abbotsbury in the west, up to forty five feet high two hundred yards and over eight miles long, separated from the mainland by the Fleet lagoon, the largest of its kind in the UK.
The beach is accessible from the Portland end at Ferry Bridge, which is tidal emptying in to Portland Harbour; the western end is accessed from Abbotsbury.
You can walk either side of the Fleet, the mainland side has the South Western Coastal footpath, and the seaward side has just the shingle of the chesil beach (a long hard walking but a pleasant one). The walk along this side with the beach towering above you is reminiscent of the sand dunes in the desert, large gullies and depressions in the beach changing shape with the position of the sun.
Flora.
The vegetation is sparse but rich in species , consisting of grasses and plants which can subsist in the hostile environment , plants which can take the salt laden air ,strong winds and little soil ,the plant life starts at the tide line and in some places spreads over large areas of stable shingle.
Wildlife
There can be large numbers of birds at certain times of the year, large flocks of gulls and waders roost on the shingle at high tide, in the spring migrants from across Africa and Europe rest before moving on to their breeding grounds, In the autumn return migration to their wintering grounds, Large numbers can be seen at Portland Bill not far away.
There is a small breeding colony of Little Terns (Sterna albifrons) on the shingle at Ferry Bridge, breeding over the last three or four years has been very poor, owing to predation foxes and hedgehogs, which eat the eggs, Even the work by English Nature, erecting fences has not stopped the destruction of eggs. This year the Terns decided to breed outside the fence with disastrous results.
Other birds Present throughout the year include Raven,( Corvus corrax), Peregrine falcon,(Falco peregrinus) and Kestrel,(falco tinnunculus) other wildlife includes Short-tailed Voles,(Microtus agrestis) mice, Brown Hare,(lepus europaeus) Hedgehog,(erinaceus europaeus) Fox,(Vulpes vulpes) and the occasional Roe deer,(Capreolus capreolus).
The Fleet Lagoon.
The Fleet itself is full of wildlife both on and beneath the surface ranging from fish and invertebrates to large numbers of wintering Wildfowl; there is also the World famous Swannery at Abbotsbury. The fleet is classified as an S.S.S.I. (Site of Special Scientific importance) (More on the Wildlife of the Fleet later).
The Presence of Man.
All along the seaward side of the Fleet the presence of man can be seen in many ways , old fishing huts still remain, once the main livelihood of the local population, some still in use but on a smaller scale. Some of the huts are in need of repair. The old wooden track ways leading up and over the brow of the beach, used at one time to haul small fishing boats to the sea, now lay abandoned; the wood rotted away, the iron fixings corroded by the salt air.
Wooden clinker built boats of all shapes and sizes (now replaced by modern maintenance free materials); lay abandoned, left to the ravages of the elements, to rot away, in a graveyard.
In another five to ten years there will be nothing left just memories like the master craftsman that once built these once fine craft.
There are still scattered remains of the Military presence that once existed here, scattered brick and concrete rubble, on the landward side old military pill boxes, still exist overgrown with bramble or moved by erosion. (The Fleet was used in the Second World War to test the bouncing bomb, for the RAF dam busters.) The military still has a small presence here on the mainland in the form of The RE, bridging camp, and a small arms range at Chickerel.
The most recent signs of man come in the form of plastic, bottles, bags, etc, of cuts of nylon rope and nets and other waste, dumped in the sea by trawler men, as they repair their damaged nets, All this washed in by the sea and blown over the ridge, trapped by the vegetation, with little chance of ever being removed.
In the coming weeks images will be prepared to accompany this page.
