Portland, Dorset

To the left you can see Chesil Beach.

The origin of Chesil Beach has been argued over for some time. Originally it was believed that beach material was from the Budleigh Salterton pebble beds to the west and later from Portland to the south east. The differences between the pebbles on the beach and nearby sources is now put down to the Flandrian isostatic sea level rise, so the feature could also be considered a barrier beach or bar, that happens to connect the mainland to an island rather than a 'true' tombolo. Normally, tombolos are created due to the effects of the island on waves (through refraction) and to sediment transport , which usually produces a beach perpendicular to the mainland rather than parallel to it.

Chesil Beach is 29 km long with pebbles at the southern end as large as potatoes, while at the northern end they are pea size.

The water to the right of the beach in the photograph was used for the sailing events in the 2012 Olympics.


No visit to the seaside is complete with watching thieving gulls. I watched as a gull descended on a neighbouring restaurant table and lifted a small ceramic bowl of potato salad, flew 30 metres or so to a rock and devoured the contents.

It then stepped into the water to wash its beak.


The sequence is shown in the Extra photos.