British Shorelines  

Want to see some photographs of these beaches?  Hover over the seagull to see a thumbnail picture.  Click on him, and he will take you to the full-sized photograph, then click on the penguin to bring you back here.

Just in the South alone, Britain has a wealth of variety along her shorelines.  In the west are the rocky, craggy shores of Cornwall, with their sandy beaches and rock pools brimming full of small but fascinating life.  

 

Moving towards the East the sand becomes finer, but  still the wealth of variety remains.  Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove owe their beauty, their fame,  and ultimately their fate to the softness of their stone and the harsh brutality of the weather and tides.                            

Kimmeridge... not far away in terms of miles... but so distant from it in appearance!  Here the cliff of slate towers upwards from a beach of slate, and the unique Kimmeridge Ledges that reach out onto the sea, providing a platform for walkers who can conquer its slippery smoothness when the tide is out.  

Further East... and we come to the fine, rolling sand dunes of Studland Bay and Sandbanks, with their clumps of hardy grasses and rushes, and a sprinkling of shells.

Bournemouth and Christchurch - the safe and sandy beaches that are so beloved by laughing children in the summer months - are better known parts of Southern shores.

Then there is Lepe - a harsh and stony environment, where walkers enjoy the adjacent grasslands as well as the wild and weather beaten shoreline - a haven for wildlife.

Calshot heads the land to the East of Southampton Water.  Here Calshot Castle is a grim reminder of days when it wasn't just the weather that attacked our shorelines!  From here, the estuary to the once crucial port of Southampton could be controlled and protected.  The stony, muddy beach itself I find small and bleak - but it is worth a visit just the same, especially when the boats from Calshot's childrens' activities centre litter the water with colour.

The beaches of the Isle of Wight could easily fill their own website.... the variety of colours of sand alone are a fascination.  Here you will find spreading sands, craggy rocks and smooth, shiny pebbles - all within a short drive of one another!    A beach lover's paradise!  

And here, for the time being, I must stop.  Another year, and another site, I feel are required to do justice to this subject.  All I am able to offer here and now is this taster.