St Oswald's Bay, nr. Lulworth Cove, Dorset 6th May 2013 12:30
Cliff Fall in St Oswald's Bay
The white chalk cliffs of the Jurassic Coast are world-famous and are one of the reputed seventy-odd bands of sedimentary rock that stretch from Exmouth to Studland Point. Two hundred years ago, these cliffs harboured Mary Anning's fossils and a wealth of other petrified discoveries that helped shape our understanding of the origin of species throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
In terms of potential finds (though not safety, it must be said), the best time to go fossil hunting is after a storm, after the rain and thrashing sea have dislodged these miniature treasures, secreted away in their chalky tombs many eras ago. However, massive landslides like the one depicted in this photo happen with alarming frequency along the coast, sometimes taking whole houses away with them. As you walk the South West Coast path, which runs along the top of these cliffs, you may spy fissures in the cliff face, or undercutting voids thrashed out at their base by waves, leaving them teetering on the edge of collapse.
After this fall, the sea was transformed into an opaque, creamy, almost ethereal turquoise soup, hinting at the forces unleashed during the slip. A static haze hung over the landslide for days, casting an unexpected chill below despite the warm weather. A palpable sense of foreboding lingered beneath the haze as you passed through, with the distant cliffs of Durdle Door looming in the unexpectedly muted light. Nevertheless, by the end of the following winter, the relentless pounding of the sea had reclaimed the rubble, erasing all visible traces of the collapse. Nature, it seemed, had swallowed its own wound, leaving only the faintest hint of the drama that had unfolded in the early hours of 30th April 2013.
The majesty of the cliffs contrasts with the scale of the two tiny canoeists dwarfed by the immensity of the landscape. And on closer inspection, you have to wonder about the common sense of the three people sunbathing on the beach below the overhang of the remaining adjacent cliff on the right, just five days after thousands of tonnes of unstable cliff roared onto the beach.
This dramatic scene is a stark reminder of the constant but unpredictable change and destructive power that shapes the coastline. It reminds us that although there are beauty and boundless fossils to be found in the Jurassic Coast's dramatic cliffs, they should always be approached with caution.
Photo details, Nikon D80, Nikkor 15-55mm, 54mm(equiv) f8 1/250sec ISO100, processed in Lightroom macOS
In terms of potential finds (though not safety, it must be said), the best time to go fossil hunting is after a storm, after the rain and thrashing sea have dislodged these miniature treasures, secreted away in their chalky tombs many eras ago. However, massive landslides like the one depicted in this photo happen with alarming frequency along the coast, sometimes taking whole houses away with them. As you walk the South West Coast path, which runs along the top of these cliffs, you may spy fissures in the cliff face, or undercutting voids thrashed out at their base by waves, leaving them teetering on the edge of collapse.
After this fall, the sea was transformed into an opaque, creamy, almost ethereal turquoise soup, hinting at the forces unleashed during the slip. A static haze hung over the landslide for days, casting an unexpected chill below despite the warm weather. A palpable sense of foreboding lingered beneath the haze as you passed through, with the distant cliffs of Durdle Door looming in the unexpectedly muted light. Nevertheless, by the end of the following winter, the relentless pounding of the sea had reclaimed the rubble, erasing all visible traces of the collapse. Nature, it seemed, had swallowed its own wound, leaving only the faintest hint of the drama that had unfolded in the early hours of 30th April 2013.
The majesty of the cliffs contrasts with the scale of the two tiny canoeists dwarfed by the immensity of the landscape. And on closer inspection, you have to wonder about the common sense of the three people sunbathing on the beach below the overhang of the remaining adjacent cliff on the right, just five days after thousands of tonnes of unstable cliff roared onto the beach.
This dramatic scene is a stark reminder of the constant but unpredictable change and destructive power that shapes the coastline. It reminds us that although there are beauty and boundless fossils to be found in the Jurassic Coast's dramatic cliffs, they should always be approached with caution.
Photo details, Nikon D80, Nikkor 15-55mm, 54mm(equiv) f8 1/250sec ISO100, processed in Lightroom macOS