Sizewell to Dunwich Heath 8th January 2020
It is a very mild, overcast morning at Sizewell Beach car park. We are getting later in our starts, it being 9.30am. This is in stark contrast to our early start two days ago, when we had to get up at 6am to catch a bus from Southwold at 7.55am. The motor car makes everything much more convenient and the user lazy with it. I wonder if it will catch on as a mode of transport one day?
The upper beach here at Sizewell is approximately 100 to 150 feet wide at high tide, with the beach deposits mostly pea-shingle sized – perhaps 1 to 2 cm. The top of the beach has a thin layer of pebbles over it. Some sand has been deposited between the pebbles, probably carried in by the wind. The wind-blown sand provides a suitable substrate for Sea Campion to grow here, suggesting that this part of the beach has been undisturbed by the sea for some considerable time.
Wide expanse of dune vegetation at Sizewell with water intake platforms beyond
Sizewell A and B partially hidden behind a screen of conifers – dunes in front
A couple of platform-like structures dominate the immediate area of sea before us, marking the intake for the cooling water pipeline. Nuclear power stations, like their fossil-fuel-driven, thermal cousins, require massive amounts of water to cool them during the electricity generating process.
Pebble beach and water intakes (Sizewell A right/B left)
Further out, large numbers of gulls gather around where the cooling water is returned back to the sea. This water will have been raised several degrees Celsius during its brief journey through the power station. Any living creature passing through the system will have been well and truly broiled in the heat exchange process – but the gulls don’t mind as they equally like their fish fresh, or well cooked. I suspect the water outlet supports a distinct ecosystem of its own, perhaps along the lines of the volcanically derived hot water plumes found near mid ocean ridges.
Gulls feeding at the Sizewell B cooling water outlet
The dome on Sizewell B looks like a mosque, or other place of worship. In some ways it is, providing a focal point for a kind of religious fervour for those of us who adore the benefits that electrical power brings. Nuclear power stations are one solution to the atmospheric carbon accumulation caused by burning fossil fuels. However, it is not by chance that nuclear power stations are all to be found in out-of-the-way places. There are considerable risks associated with their operation and just as many with their decommissioning. Sizewell A is currently being decommissioned. Back in 2009, a workman involved in the decommissioning visited the site’s laundry and discovered a water leak that could have spilled thousands of gallons of radioactive water into the North Sea. The water was from the spent fuel cooling pond. Had he not accidentally discovered it, the fuel would have overheated and caught fire. It was just as well he was more fastidious about his appearance than those charged with the safety of the plant.
Fascinating though nuclear power is, we have a walk to complete, so are pleased to find the sand and green sward provide easy going underfoot. The dunes in front of the reactors are about 100 m wide, with the upper ones obviously man-made to provide a degree of screening. The dunes here are covered in Marram Grass, with hawkweeds and hawkbits, mosses, Sea Campion, Ragwort, and Wild Lupin evident. The older Sizewell A building is an ugly lump of concrete, whilst clever design and painting greatly reduce Sizewell B’s visibility.
Sizewell B – clever painting blends it into the sky
Lupin amongst Marram Grass, Sea Campion in moisture retaining sandy beach, Gorse thickets
Beyond Sizewell B, World War 2 tank traps lie redundant 80 years after being placed here. North of Sizewell a belt of coniferous trees grows, providing further screening for the power station. Planted Scots Pine and naturally regenerating birch trees do well in the freely drained, acidic soils of the Suffolk Coast. However, should the power station operators have their way, these will give way to the Sizewell C complex that is planned for the near future. https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/nuclear-new-build-projects/sizewell-c/about/cgi-videos
A short walk along a sandy trackway, bordered by rabbit grazed grassland and foliose lichen covered dunes, brings us to the southern extent of RSPB Minsmere. Here the landscape changes completely, dominated by wetland. The vegetation of this area is subject to a variety of pressures that favour different species. The conifers and birch regeneration seen earlier prevent low growing grasses from developing – through the dense shade that they cast. However, on the dune areas rabbit grazing and poor soil nutrient levels suppress tree growth in favour of shorter vegetation. This all changes at Minsmere, where waterlogging of the soil favours plants such as Norfolk Reed which are adapted to the low oxygen levels of the substrate in which they grow. Everything has its place – unless of course man decides to cover it all with concrete!
Foliose lichen covered dunes border the rabbit-grazed sandy trackway north of Sizewell
At Minsmere Sluice a complex system of water-control structures ensures that the Minsmere wetlands are kept at an appropriate level. The sluice also protects the passage of elvers – young eels – which migrate from the open sea to these wetlands and provide essential food for many of the wetland species present.
This is a heavily managed environment, geared to optimising the nesting and feeding conditions for resident and visiting birds. Too much water and nest sites risk inundation, too little and the rich invertebrate life of the muddy scrapes would disappear – to the detriment of the feeding birds. The RSPB has in recent years made a point of conserving species other than birds on its land, but ornithology is still the main driver behind the business, bringing flocks of bird-watchers who sometimes match the numbers of birds they have come to watch.
Minsmere Sluice controls water levels at Minsmere
1940s beach defences include dragon’s teeth placed to obstruct the passage of invading tanks.
Beyond Minsmere Sluice we pause briefly at a roofless viewing platform, put in place for the general public to view part of the reserve. This provides us with a good place to stop and take in a drink of water and of course enjoy the view of a scrape that has been dug. Alas very little is visible at present.
From here we move on to Minsmere East Hide. The viewing is much more interesting here, with Lapwing flapping around like pieces of blown magazine covers, Cormorants are standing in the sun drying out their wings in characteristic fashion, whilst Mallard let all the other birds know what their opinion is through their laughing quacks.
Pintail are busy dabbling, taking bottom dwelling weed from the shallow scrapes – by upending themselves like farmyard ducks from a Beatrix Potter illustration. Their distinctive pointed tails are a dead-give-away. A pair of Shelducks are in the process of head bobbing at each other, whilst Grey lag goose stand around looking big and superior compared to their duck cousins. We manage all this without the use of binoculars.
In the bird hide, which is open free-of-charge to the general public, I like to listen to the bird watchers as they train binoculars on various birds before them.
“No movement.” Is one bored comment, followed by general excitement every now and then as something more interesting does move.
I spot one of those familiar-looking gentlemen that we’ve all seen, but whose face we can’t place – so assume them to be someone famous off the TV. He is distinctive in that he is wearing a ‘county-check’ shirt and RSPB tie, whilst all the rest of us are dressed in cags, over-trousers and walking boots. He looks very important, as besides his collar and tie he is dressed in a blue ‘v’-necked pullover with the RSPB logo emblazoned upon it. I wonder if he is a big knob in the organisation who has just popped down from his office to see something of ornithological interest amongst us ordinary folk.
He has a female accomplice in tow and I am intrigued to later observe them holding hands. I am reminded that I was interviewed 10 years ago to lead the education team at Minsmere. Is it possible he was on the interview panel and hence my recognition? I have no idea if I might have ended up working here at Minsmere, since I withdrew my application after the interview – I chose early retirement to East Sussex instead.
As we leave Minsmere East Hide we discover a coral fungus which has been identified for us on the sand dunes and cordoned off for its protect. I think we have arrived a few days too late to see it at its best.
I am surprised to find that Minsmere is open to the coast-walking public to just walk in. My assumption is that they have faith in the public to paying for the privilege, once they are at the cafe and visitor centre. I’m not so sure. We are not tempted, as I would rather visit Minsmere and give it several hours of exploration – time we do not have today.
Wetland birds from Minsmere East Hide
This Coral Fungus was found growing on the dunes – I suspect it is past its best-before date
Minsmere’s fragile ecosystem is protected from obliteration by the sea by a thin ribbon of shingle
As we approach the Minsmere Cliffs, where we were yesterday, we spot a seal bobbing offshore about 3 or 400 m away. Despite it being barely visible, we are nonetheless excited to see one of these distinctive marine mammals, as it gazes in our direction – perhaps ticking ‘human’ off in its own wildlife log? It certainly looks very interested in us as we tramp along on the wet sand exposed by the receding tide.
At Dunwich Heath Coastguard Cottages we are not surprised by the continued lack of an open café. However, we are once again delighted to make use of the toilets. Outside the toilets we discover a well-placed bench which has been dedicated to “Derek and Peter” – who have evidently given great service cleaning them. I suspect these two gentlemen are long-serving volunteers, so are deserving of such recognition.
The Coastguard Cottages – Dunwich Heath
This is as far as we go along the coast today, as we turn inland to complete our circular walk back to Sizewell. Our route takes us along the Sandlings Trail from now on, although you would hardly know it, from the lack of waymark markers.
As we leave National Trust land, we experience our first Suffolk kissing gate and take time to indulge in a brief embrace, before passing through mature birch woodland where we take lunch on a fallen log.
Mature birch woodland, with fallen sycamore giving rise to a ‘linear coppice’
We come across a fallen sycamore, which judging by the girth of the regrowth fell some 15 to 25 years ago. It has the appearance of a sort of linear coppice and I realise that I have never seen ancient trees left to grow in this fashion, although they must have naturally done after a big storm. I suspect in centuries passed such storm-damaged trees would have been culled for their timber, leaving space for healthy tree growth. It highlights the change in woodland management during my lifetime. Before the 20th Century, woodland was managed for it timber value, but today it is more likely to be managed for its conservation value, or just not managed at all.
This is the RSPB’s Minsmere Woods, which I suspect is little visited by the general public who largely come to the nature reserve to watch the wetland birds. However, there is charming evidence of educational activities taking place in the woods, in the form of a ‘fairy garden’, doubtless made by an early years group.
A fairy garden – Minsmere Woods
Our return to Sizewell takes us along the road through Eastbridge and then by footpaths where the miriad of protesting signs reveals a concerted effort to repel the proposed expansion of the Sizewell Nuclear Power complex.
The proposed Sizewell C development is already blighting the area with posters from both sides
