Seasalter High Tide, 6th December

I went down to the beach Thursday pm expecting a bit of a high tide after listening to all the forecasts on the radio and tv but the tide looked quite low....what are they on about.  The early Friday morning high tide (2.00am) was again said to be high and as Seasalter seafront was evacuated it seemed things were going to be bad. I thought about going down to Whistable harbour just after midnight too witness the event but whilst I was asleep, I forgot all about it!  However, next morning listening to Radio Kent the expected high tide happened. I arrived at SS to see the road had been closed but access could be had all along the front. Fortunately, I think everybody had a narrow escape as there was no sign of flooded properties just flotsam very high on the beach and on some people's drives.

Moving up to the Sportsman and South Swale things were quite different as the chalet car park and the and wedge of land beyond was completely flooded.

The piece of land between the huts and the seawall has been eroded several feet already this autumn and today's tide took another two metres, the tide will soon reach up to the earth bund at this rate. Interestingly, I have a friend who has been monitoring this erosion over the past ten years with measurements and photos. He was out there earlier this week after I told him it was eroding fast this autumn, not expecting this today's surge but it appears that it has eroded back by about sixty feet!

A glance out onto the mudflats revealed that 3-4000 knot had just arrived plus plenty of dunlin and today (7th) there was a record number of 74 coots by the pumping station, normally only up to two or three plus a water rail calling.