On Friday February 14th, a day that won't be forgotten in a hurry, storm Valentine arrived. She was the third in a week of tempests and bought with her more destruction than we've seen in this entire, havoc wreaking winter. At it's peak, the storm surge was 1.5 metres above the predicted tide height. As well as moving parts of the RSPB islands, it also led to flooding on Hayling, Langstone and Emsworth (with the Langstone bridge even being closed). Quite a few boats were displaced with some stranding on the nature reserves as well as one unfortunate yacht sinking in the harbour.
Above: High and dry, a new yacht on South Binness. (Photo: Wez Smith).
Above: Heartbreaking, the mast of a yacht is all that can be seen above the Langstone Harbour brine. (Photo: Wez Smith).
Above: Snapped like cotton, the mooring line from a smaller vessel on Bakers Island. (Photo: Wez Smith).
Everything has now been checked and although there has been considerable damage, I'm confident that it won't have any long term affects on us. We've lost most of our signage (some arrived in Emsworth!) and some fencing due to the wind, storm surge and erosion but all of this can be replaced. We've also inherited a new load of plastic debris from the heaving sea but this can be collected and partially recycled.
Above: In a mess, the West Hayling Local Nature Reserve is going to require a lot of hours to clean up. (Photo: Wez Smith).
Above: This is in a very sheltered spot and really gives an idea as to the power of Valentines storm surge.
In terms of the nesting habitat out on the island reserves, I can best describe it as a clean slate. It's all new and it'll be very interesting to see what happens this year. Valentine left us large areas of new, fine shingle. It's perfect for nesting terns. The problem however is that it is lower than before. Currently, even a mild storm surge of 60 cm in the summer could deluge massive areas of nesting habitat wiping away eggs and drowning chicks. Given this, our works (although slightly changed) will be going ahead to raise some sections which didn't benefit from Valentine and so help protect small parts of the nesting colony from any summer storms that occur.
Above: to show you just how much things have changed, take a look at this photo of South Binness. All the shingle to the right of the vegetation line is newly deposited. (Photo: Wez Smith).
Above: Fresh, beautiful, little tern perfect shingle (Photo: Wez Smith).
We'll be getting back to normal over the next few days and I'm very much looking forward to sharing with you some photo's of all the great wildlife that's currently around the harbours. Until then, keep an eye out for our local wildlife, spring is on the way...