Until July 2017, documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur so don't trust I'm always right. If ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say! Meanwhile . . . I've now moved to Halifax in West Yorkshire. Click on the link below to collect the new URL. Don't forget to follow there!

Sunday 3 July 2011

WE WALK ON

This is a continuation of the walk we began in the last post. (The Dog Which Sat At My Feet)

We are walking along a cliff - not a high one . . and not a steep one either because, every year, some of it  crumbles. The top is getting thinner. There are fewer places to put our feet. In some places the earth has sheered of. In others, it's become almost a slope down to the sea - but a cliff, none the less.

The ground is dry and flaking away from the roots of plants.


At first, we can look down at the little coves and pools below. The piles of rocks are to protect the land from erosion. England is shrinking!


The track is narrow, the grasses rise


and in a while we are pushing our way through tall reeds.


They are taller than my head and are probably taller than yours (unless you are a super-model or a tennis player).


In places, they have been burnt. I don't know why. (There has been controlled burning of gorse not far away and children/teenagers sometimes light bonfires . . . because . . . because that's what they do! The weather has been hot and the ground dry, with lots of dead grasses and seed heads . . . )


But new growth is hearty.


We find a place with a good view - so we can sit in the sun and watch kite surfters.


Perched on the edge, we can look down onto a specially interesting beach / patch of grey, sticky, boot-sinking mud.

See the round things which look like car tyres?  They are Septarian Nodules; part of the fossil history of the area. I've zoomed in and scale is hard to judge from up here - but they are probably about eighteen inches across. (We'll make a special trip down to that grey landscape and see them closer in another post.)

The wind is not strong but it's ruffling everything. Almost every flower that isn't flush with the earth trembles on its stalk. They don't want their photos taken!


But these stay nearly still enough.


And these.


But now it's time to open the flask, and poor the tea and chat with . . .


You didn't think I'd come alone, did you?



Hope you have enjoyed this post -
but there's something more serious to think about
on the Wanderin' Weeta blog.
Read
Extinction Event in Microcosm.
Susannah could probably do with a visit.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another lovely walk Lucy, I can smell the sea from here. I do like your companion's trousers! It's a long time since I saw jumbo cord.

Mark Willis said...

Looks like you picked a nice sunny sheltered spot to stop and have your tea!

Bridget said...

Reading that felt like I was walking there with you. Beautiful pics.

RURAL said...

That was a good walk, I think that I have just the slightest sunburn from it. But well worth it.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Diana Studer said...

Your closing photo is an interesting composition with a spellbinding tale in it.

Susannah Anderson said...

Thanks for the link, Lucy!

Dimple said...

Love the last shot! Thanks for the walk.

In answer to your questions about "Lunch Time"..." where, when, is it real, is it posed, are they waxworks . . ?"

Somewhere in the middle of the USA...the mid part of June...yes, it's real...no, it's not posed...no, they are not waxworks. :-) But they are characters! I would have liked to take more pics, but we finished our lunch had had to leave.

Rowan said...

Such a lovely walk, I'd love to do it for real. Coastal erosion is a real problem in some areas but there are other places where the land area is increasing so swings and roundabouts I suppose - not much comfort if your house is on the edge of a fast disappearing cliff though!

Laura Bloomsbury said...

Lovely narrative and images Lucy - an enigmatic ending to a wildlife walk!

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Hello Everyone!

Toffee Apple - re. the jumbo chords - fashion doesn't hang out too comfortably round here!

Hello Mark - it was lovely. We were about a third of the way down the cliff so we had protection from the wind. I wouldn't have noticed there was any breeze if the flowers hadn't trembled. Out at sea it's windier still. As you can tell from the kite surfing!

I'm glad you felt you really were out for a walk, Bridget.

Jen at Muddy Boot Dreams - I hope your sunburn isn't too sore!

Diana at Elephant's Eye - there are tales . . . and there are tales . . .

Susannah - putting a link to your blog

http://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/

is a pleasure!

Hello Dimple - shame you couldn't have stayed for an extra cup of coffee so you could take more pictures for your blog.

http://idahodimple.blogspot.com/

Rowan - it's true. Perhaps we should think of the coast being re-arranged rather than eroded? (Except that the warming of the sea may mean the land is shrinking after all.)

Hello Patio Patch. Not meaning to be completely enigmatic - except for a good ending and that the person on the other end of the legs hardly counts as tree/plant/flower - the theme of the blog!

Lucy

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Dear Everyone.

You may like to know the next post for Loose and Leafy is up.

Are you able to say what kind of birch is in the pictures?

http://looseandleafy.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-this-tree.html

Lucy

garden screening said...

I'm afraid I can't answer your question about the type of birch - but the photos in both this post and the birch are great! The colours come through really well! (I'd love to be down by the sea right now...)