A Lundy Beach Through the Seasons

30th August is National Beach Day, which started me thinking about one particular beach on Lundy.. It is a place I return to time and time again. It is one that I have come to know well during the five years I have lived here on the island.

As an all-year-round ‘sea dipper’, I see the beach in all seasons and all weathers. I have watched it change from calm summer mornings, when yachts fill the bay, and the Oldenburg arrives with visitors. To winter days when the sea is grey, the wind whips across the shoreline, and the only visitor arrivals are by helicopter.

The beach itself never seems quite the same twice. Most of the time it is made up of pebbles, shingle and patches of sand, but sometimes the stones disappear beneath fresh deposits of sand. Stones that were uncovered are now covered, the beach shifts on every tide. The seam of Lundyite that runs down the cliff and across the beach, can be clearly visible one week and then hidden for months. It was these changes that inspired a piece of land art, I created with friends, called Vanishing Stones. Like the beach itself, the artwork lasted only until the next high tide. As Land Artist James Brunt says ‘it makes it about This Moment, This Day, This time”.

Raising Awareness of Ocean Pollution

National Beach Day is not only about celebrating beaches, but also about caring for them. One of the aims of the day is to raise awareness of ocean pollution and encourage habits that help protect our coastlines. Living on an island, you notice the amount of debris that the sea carries, espeically on Easterley winds. Among the driftwood, shells and sea glass are pieces of rope, netting and plastic washed ashore by storms and tides.

A few years ago, I began collecting discarded fishing rope and fragments of ghost nets from around Lundy’s coastline. Rather than seeing them as waste, I transformed them into a series of hand-crafted baskets. The project gave a second life to material that had once posed a threat to marine life and became a reminder of the impact that our activities can have on the ocean.

Winter

There is something about walking on this beach in winter that makes it feel especially remote. Whether I am looking for sea glass, creating land art or simply watching the waves, the beach feels very different from its summer self. Both Vanishing Stones and Fire and Water were created here during the winter months. There is something about the feeling of desolation and remoteness that draws the artist to create.

In winter, the island itself feels different. Visitors are delivered to the top of the island by helicopter and few descend the steep slope down to the beach from the plateau. The bay becomes quieter and more isolated.

Winter Swimming here in the afternoon, is rarely sunny. Even on bright days, the sun is not high enough in the sky, to reach this part of the beach. High tide feels wilder and more exposed. Afterwards, there is no lingering on the shore. It is a case of getting out of wet clothes and into dry ones, as quickly as possible, before walking back up Beach Road to warm up.

Sharing the water with seals during the winter months feels like being fully immersed in nature. The beach belongs more to wildlife than to people.

Spring

Spring is when I start to notice the water warming. Usually, by May, I can finally leave behind the neoprene gloves and socks that have protected my hands and feet throughout the colder months. It is a small milestone each year, but one that always feels significant.

As the season moves toward the Summer. The changes are subtle at first. The sea feels a little less harsh, the days become longer and there is a sense that the island is beginning to wake up again after winter. I start to get excited about Hazy Summer beach days.

Summer

Summer transforms the bay. The sea becomes calmer, yachts fill the anchorage and the familiar sight of the Oldenburg arriving, brings large numbers of visitors to the island.

On a calm, high tide, swimming becomes a very different experience. Rather than battling the cold and rushing to get dressed, it is possible to enjoy a leisurely dip in the morning sun, sit on the beach with breakfast and dry off naturally in the warmth.

The buoys, if they have survived the winter storms, once again become useful markers in the bay. Boats tether up and small tenders make their way back and forth to the Jetty. The beach feels connected to the wider world again.

The Beach Through Time

The white stone sign enscribed TH Landing Place 1819, has sat beside this beach. and has watched generations of visitors arrive and depart. It marks the buidling of the first Lighthouse by Trinity House and remains a reminder of Lundy’s long maritime history. The stone would no doubt have irritated Martin Coles Harman, who wanted visitors arriving by sea to know that the island belonged to him rather than Trinity House.

Sitting on the beach today, it is easy to look across to the Jetty where the MS Oldenburg docks. Yet the Jetty has only existed since 2000. Before then, visitors arrived directly onto this very beach, ferried ashore by landing craft from ships anchored in the bay.

Returning Again and Again

Although reaching this beach requires a steep walk down and a demanding climb back up, it is the place I return to most often to swim. Perhaps it is because I understand the water here. I know how the wind can curve around and into the bay from the North or South. I know how fierce the strong high tides can be. I have seen first hand, the wreckage of Yachts here. I know what Neap tides and Spring tides, look like on this beach. I also know that sometimes even if its blowing a hooley from the West, the sea on this beach can be flat calm.

Over the years, I have watched the sand cover the stones and reveal them again. I have seen buoys survive winter and others disappear into the sea. I have swum here in sunshine, mist, rain and calm water.

National Beach Day celebrates beaches, but for me this place is more than a stretch of shoreline. It is somewhere I have returned to throughout the seasons, watching it change whilst slowly getting to know it better myself. The beach is never quite the same twice, and perhaps that is exactly why I keep coming back.

References:

Dell, S., (2019). Lundy: A landmark 50 years. Oxford, England: Amberley Publishing.

Dell, S., (2011). Lundy Island Through Time. Oxford, England: Amberley Publishing (Through Time).

James Brunt: Land art which disappears into the sea. (2018).