Moving Pebbles along the Beach!

Machinery at Rest yesterday

You may have noticed the quite regular moving of pebbles from one part of the beach to another, it happens at least once a year, sometimes quite a few occurrences. Well, it's a serious part of the process, going on as I write, of protecting the coast, Hastings Borough Council (HBC) and the Environment Agency (DEFRA - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) work together to "produce Shoreline Management Plans and Coast Protection Strategies which enable schemes of work to be implemented in line with DEFRA policies" (Hastings Borough Council website).

In Action

Therefore not quite so silly as it may first appear to the general public and, indeed, one of the necessary factors that ensure our coastal protection locally. I have mentioned similar before, and know one of the lads involved in this work, cheers Graham, keep up the good work!

“This work will protect potentially vulnerable areas from flooding, remove surplus shingle from where it's not needed and help reduce the impact of wave action on the shoreline. The work is expected to last up to three weeks.”  Announced last week (HBC facebook).

Movement on the Beach

Now that the 2 new groynes are in place to the east of the Pier, the annual moving pebbles from the east to the west of the beach is being facilitated by 4 trucks and a bulldozer... 

There you go, a nice pile of pebbles!

Then the bulldozer enters the fray to flatten the piles... I had a wee surprise watching this yesterday as the driver of the bulldozer waved at me! It was someone I know, obviously, Graham, who I'd forgotten had told me a couple of months ago that he would be working on the coastal protection scheme here, you just can't hide from anyone in Hastings!