Coastal signs
October 2022
Perched high above the Jurassic Coast, we found the NCI Lookout Station known as St Alban's Head. The wind was fierce, and the flag flapped vigourously, a stark warning on the tall broken cliffs. The gloom, the mist and the threatening skies added to the isolation.
Red flag warning
The lookout station - hunkering above the broken cliffs
All along the south coast, sea defences and other human structures are fighting a never-ending battle against storms and erosion. Here, as in other places, the struggle to contain nature is combined with a hefty dose of denial.
A small, tall table set against the prevailing wind, curved - deliberately or otherwise - into the profile of a wing
Beach conspiracies - BBC lies / Wake up it's a HOAX
At low tide, pebbles and seaweed created curvaceous, abstract patterns on the sandy beach - as the sea had gently retreated and left them where they washed up. Almost a peaceful, natural scene, between the man-made sea defences.
It was not the seaweed that first caught my eye, but the flotsam of more topical environmental issues.
Abstract, natural shapes
Discarded and disposable - I shamefully left it there
The National Coastwatch Institution: https://www.nci.org.uk/
It turns out that the red flag is a warning of firing at the nearby Lulworth ranges - not of a marine hazard, in this case.
