All coastlines change over time due to the effects of nature, and Swansea Bay is no exception. But as we're becoming more aware, Man can have a major effect, too - in some cases a detrimental one. One such example is the concrete groynes you'll see on the beach, which as most will concede stick out like a sore thumb. They were placed on the beach to prevent longshore drift - the action of sediment pushed sideways along the beach, a process generated by waves and sea currents - but this old style "hard engineering" has now fallen out of favour, with the groynes left to erode.
Further along there are new sea defences; they still represent old-style hard engineering, but are of a much better design. The sea defences are sloped to slowly reduce the wave energy, acting more like a natural beach which is, of course, the best form of sea defence.
Mark Blackmore, who is aranging an informative stroll along the seafront from Blackpill to Oystermouth Square on September 19 at 2pm, says, "Looking across to the Victorian sea wall at this point you can see that the power of the waves has removed the sediment at the base, making it taller. It's a good thing they used such massive foundations in those days!"
Coastal erosion and dropping sand levels are an increasing concern around many of the Gower bays, and the 'Save Our Sands' (S.O.S) campaigners point an accusing finger at the Llanelli Dredging Company which is extracting sand under licence from the Bristol Channel, notably the Helwick Bank off Gower. The company, on the other hand, denies that it is responsible, although the campaigners claim that bedrock unseen for countless millennia is now being uncovered by the rapidly retreating sands at Gower's most popular beaches.
Two of the beaches concerned are close to Mumbles - Bracelet Bay and Limeslade - while Swansea appears to have lost a dramatic amount of sand over the past few decades at certain points along the bay.
Alun Cairns, the South Wales West AM, even went to the extent of holding an open air consituency surgery at Limselade five years ago to highlight coastal erosion there, and he says, "Some of my fondest childhood memories were spent along the Mumbles coast. In spite of living just 14 miles away in Clydach, many of my summer holidays were spent in a caravan just a short walk from Limeslade Bay.
"Ignoring the rose-tinted spectacles that we tend to call childhood memories, there is no doubt that there was a greater presence of sand on shore than there is in 2005. I distinctly remember digging pits and building sand castles on Limeslade - something that is nigh on impossible today due to the lack of sand."
Mr Cairns admits the fall in the level of sand is worrying, particularly the rejection that there is any link with dredging. He says, "The future propserity of many depends on the tourism industry. If such erosion continues a major economic asset and environment will disappear."
NEXT: Part 8
your comments
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Peter Williams from Canada
It is a Xmas tradition in our house to read "A Child"s Xmas in Wales" which not only gives me goose bumps but many fond memories of a happy childhood spent at 35 Queens Road, exploring Langland and Rotherslade bays and the cliffs and playing rugby and football in Underhill Park.
Wed Dec 20 09:53:05 2006
Arthur Brooks from Swansea
I absolutely love the Mumbles, my job as a bus driver takes me back and forth along the Mumbles Road several times a day.
I find it calming and serene when the tide is in and often hop out of the bus if I have a "layover" of a few minutes or so.
The views across the bay are magnificent.
Wed Aug 10 21:07:24 2005
David Riddle from London
As stated elsewhere in these comments although not living in Swansea now I spent all summer through my youth there and on the Gower. Personally, although I agree that some bays have lost a great deal of sand in recent years, especially Port Eynon, Langland has always been very variable, but now has a lot more sandy 'baylets' than it had in the 60's when I used to investigate them in detail by canoe. Last summer, the rock 'divide' between Langland and Rotherslade had also become a wide expanse of sand. Limeslade and Bracelet Bays I have no recent low-tide knowledge of. As for Swansea Bay, I used to dig lug and rag worm for fishing at the Pier at both Brynmill and West Cross. Below neap tide mark both areas were largely mud with perhaps an inch of sand on the top. In recent years in the evening at low tide with a low sun in the west the entire beach glows golden! This never happened in the past. And dunes? Why worry about creation of a minor 'new' system at Blackpill when there are still extensive dunes all the way from Blackpill to St Helens in the opposite direction. Swansea Council also used to deliberately remove, or at least relocate sand from the St Helen's - Rutland Street section of the beach to prevent it from being blown on to the Mumbles Road in winter storms.
Sun Aug 7 11:24:49 2005
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