|
|
This is an aerial view of the peninsula, with the North Sea on the right
and the River Humber on the left. This is a 6 km long spindly peninsula of sand and shingle, formed by the errosion of the Holderness Coast. It is formed by the phenomenon called the Longshore Drift.
The peninsula has a 250 year year cycle and when it is breached at the end of the cycle and the sea cuts across it permanently then all beyond the breach is swept away. Eventually it will reform over the years as a new peninsula slightly more west and pointing further south. This region from the village to the north,
Kilnsea
to Spurn head is now a National Nature Reserve. To get on to the Point all cars pay a small toll of £3.00
and the carpark is next to the lighthouse and it is only a few hundred
metres walk along the shore to the tip of the head. At the head moored
just off the jetty is the Humber lifeboat, one of only three in the
country, manned by a full time crew. At the jetty you will see the
comings and goings of the Humber Pilots as they go and guide the shipping
in and out of the Humber through the difficult and narrow shipping
lanes. |
| Spurn Heritage Coast. Blue Bell Visitor
Centre. Open; Easter-October Sat - Sun & school holidays. Tel:-
01964 650139 |
|
|
|
The peninsula has also been breached a few times in its history only
to be built up again slightly to the west and pointing further south. In the middle of the 19th
century a series of groynes
were built on the shore to check the erosion. This was later found to be a bad idea as it stopped the natural movement of the sand around the point, and it also failed to stop the erosion. |
|
| Spurn National Nature Reserve. Kilnsea.
Open All Year, daily Visitor Centre -All year Sat - Sun, main holidays,
Sat - Thurs. Cars £3.00 Tel:-01904 659570 |
|
|
The peninsula is only around 45 metres wide in some places and on
the seaward side it has sandy beaches while on the other Humber side
it has flats of muddy sands, these mudflats are a great feeding place for many different wading birds. This part of the coast has been called
the oddest place in England, and a variety of plants survive just
out of reach of the sea and most are unique to this area. It is also
a haven for migrating birds during spring and autumn as the fly along
the east coast. There is a bird observatory for the monitoring of the many migrating birds. |
|
|
|
|
|
