Moody morning

A moody scene on Barton undercliff this morning.

 

Barton view

A clear blue sky reflected in a millpond sea; what a beautiful day for a walk on the beach.  A view of isle of the Wight and the Needles from Barton undercliff this morning.

Mellow morning

A subdued scene from our walk along the Barton slides foreshore this morning. Mellow. Nice, mind.

After the rain

A visual example as to the fragility of the coast at Barton. Only last week the cliffs here were near vertical, their base clear of debris, as was the intertidal. One minor downpour and the cliffs have slumped noticeably, their base and close intertidal littered with fallen clay boulders and their face lined with a filigree of rivulets eager to return to the source. Though years of human intervention to stem erosion consistently fails to stop these prehistoric marine clays returning to the sea, in fact they're swept into the themselves. We can hinder natures plans, though never foil them, nor have true dominion over her. We'd be better, as a variety of projects have shown, working with mother nature and changing our ways when required. Sadly though, our hubris is our Achilles Heel. 

Alien?

''Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely they drew their plans against us.'' (War of the Worlds) Or......it could be a good sized Dustbin Lid jelly fish (Rhizostoma pulmo), it's all down to your point of view. 

Slip sliding away

As the recent past slips from memory, so its physical remnants slip too.  These humble concrete slabs, passed by many daily, mostly ignored, their pasts on the whole unknown, are slowly making their way down the cliff side, sinking through the beach pebbles to disappear under the waves into oblivion. I understand that during World War 2 there was a gunnery range here, if you look, on some of the slabs you can see where the gun mounts were. And, occasionally I've even found badly decayed .303 cases on the lower sections of cliff. Though soon nothing will be left to see, nothing to prick the imagination and then the site will be gone, erased from the archaeological record and memory.  It makes me wonder how many other sites have gone this way over the centuries; more than you'd think, I'd imagine. 

Sharks Tooth

40 million years ago this sharks tooth was swimming around a vast lagoon, doing shark stuff. Since then it entered the geological matrix, ceaselessly moved through said matrix bound in a layer of compressed lagoon bed, then eroded from its ancient bed, it was carried by surface water until today this tiny 9mm tooth found it's way on to the beach and into my hand.  Time's some crazy shit.

Becton Bunny Sunset

Sunset as seen from the cliffs above Becton Bunny.

Dead Kennedys

It makes me smile to see that old punk bands still have an influence on section of youth. The symbol carved into the sand cliff face at Barton is that of The Dead Kennedys, an American new wave band formed in the late 70's, which had a big influence on both sides of the Atlantic. Right on!

Eroding coastline

The tide was coming in as I walked the foreshore below Barton Cliffs and the Barton beds, a rich source of fossils which extends well inland beneath the New Forest, occasionally showing in the banks and beds of the forests streams. Soon sea'll be lashing the soften clay and 40 million year old lagoon deposits, long aground will be returned to whence they originated. Above us the sky was grey, the wind roared, the sea was grey and all in all there was a foreboding atmosphere about the place this afternoon.  On a bright day, with a mill pond sea, it's easy to forget that the sea can be unforgiving; on a day like today it's easy to imagine. I didn't hang about.

Barton clouds

I never get tired of clouds. Well, that's not strictly true, the blankets of grey which cover us with dank and misery, I get tired of them. But more frequently on the occasions when the sky becomes a canvas for a fluid installation of colour, light and form, then I can always find the time to take in the show. I love a bit of cloud, me. 

Golden Eye

A golden eye at sundown.

Cloud v sunset

Cloud v sunset, and the clouds have it.

Golden Skies