crabs, the army and the sand martins

weybourne beach, between sheringham and cley on the north norfolk coast, is a fascinating place. off shore is the chalk reef with all its fishing opportunities, and there are couple of thriving crab-fishing family businesses based here

the season is just starting again, boats hauled up on the deep shingle beach by ancient tractors

to the east of the car park the cliffs begin.

they start low but soon tower up. walking under them looks dangerous, they are layered with chalk, flints and sand and each tide seems to pull down more material, or under cut them

glacial deposits are mixed with the underlying chalk and sometimes the freezing and melting process has left a marble cake of swirls visible where the cliff leaves sections exposed

above your head the sand martins that nest here barrel along, and the sea throws up things both gruesome and enchanting like this sun star, a type of starfish.

out to sea they are still working on the wind farm cable, it comes ashore here. just west of the car park the cable trench begins, which winds its way along and through our village. progress has been very slow with this, we expected it all to be finished and covered up by now, with the scars beginning to heal.

west of the car park the beginning of shingle ridge that runs all the way along to cley

in some places it still has low cliffs here, where you get relief from plodding through all those stones.

inland is the muckleburgh tank museum, a pean to all things warlike, and it seems the army have come for a camping weekend. soldiers pose with rifles on the skyline.

on the beach a pillbox from the second world war is still intact

the concrete really only slightly eroded after seventy five years of waterborne sand and stones being flung at it.

I think it will take another hundred years at least to eradicate it

the shingle ridge plunges down steeply and this coastline was seen as a good prospect for invasion by landing boats

the chalk reef is a wonderful habitat for sea life. marine sponges seem to predominate amongst the tide wrack

the dog had her nose down finding bits of crab to chew on

which she later sicked up in the car. the natural lagoons and marsh here are not wild life reserves, but offer habitat to the same birds as further along, at salthouse and cley.

on the way back the army’s camping equipment and vehicles parked just behind the low cliff.