Beautiful Dorset, West Country.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Swanage, Dorset (I love this village, there's very pretty old shops there.)



Shell Beach, Dorset


Weymouth Beach, Dorset


Durdle Door, Dorset



Lulworth Cove, Dorset

[♥ Lily ♥]

http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/F...arry+Rocks.htm

Old Harry Rocks is the first major point of interest along the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Jurassic Coast
which covers the coast of Dorset and East Devon to Orcombe Point near Exmouth.



Old Harry and his wife are chalk stacks and stumps respectively
and were at one time part of a chalk seam
that stretched from Purbeck to the Isle of Wight which included the Needles.

With the rise of water after the last Ice Age the sea took its toll on the chalk cliffs.



The chalk itself is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock,
a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite.

It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation
of minute calcite plates (coccoliths) shed from trillions of micro-organisms called coccolithophores.

It is common to find flint nodules embedded in chalk
which are thought to be the silicon remains of sponge beds.
The appearance of the chalk from the promontory at Old Harry
is quite regular with the bedding planes and joints almost looking like laid breeze blocks.



The chalk strata at Old Harry are on a horizontal plane as clearly shown
by the the sand and grit line that runs through No Mans Land,
Old Harry and on through the Needles,
whilst within two kilometres south the chalk strata flows on a vertical plane at Ballard fault.

The cause of this fault is in dispute but it is probaly the result of the African and European plate collision
some 30 million years age that also caused the Lulworth Crumple.



The creation of Old Harry starts at a headland with the sea exploiting a crack
in the chalk joints and slowly creating a cave.

As the sea gradually eroded along the joints and bedding planes the cave
eventually created an arch which then collapsed to leave the stack of Old Harry,
No Mans Land and the gap of St Lucas' Leap.

In the 1770's, people could still walk from the headland of Handfast Point to Old Harry.
Old Harry's wife was still a stack until her eventual collapse in 1896 to render her a stump.
Due to the horizontal strata the wave cut platforms still provide a footing
for the stack and stump at low tide and to a lesser extent the two pinnacles to the south.

Looking south towards Peveril Point in the distance.
In the foreground are the Pinacles known as the haystack and wedge respectively.



Due to the isolation of the stacks and the steep cliffs they have been colonised
by breeding sea birds and also by peregrine falcons.
The geology of the area gives rise to chalk grassland and associated plants, flowers,
insects and rare birds such as the skylark.

The area is managed by the National Trust to encourage species diversity by mowing and grazing.
The names of the areas owe themselves to tales of smugglers, the devil,
greyhounds and even pre-Roman weddings.



The Needles (Natural Wonders)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Needles

The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea
off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, UK, close to Alum Bay.

http://i.picasion.com/resize80/e6477...fded3d2507.jpg
The Needles - From the Beautiful Britain series, The Isle of Wight, by G. E. Mitton.

The Needles Lighthouse stands at the outer, western end of the formation.
Built in 1859, the lighthouse has been automated since 1994.


The Needles from the cliffs inshore at The Needles Battery showing the Needles Lighthouse

The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar
called Lot's Wife that collapsed in a storm in 1764.
The remaining rocks are not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck.



The Needles were featured on the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders
as one of the wonders of Southern England.


The Needles – View from the experimental rocket launching station

Some controversy has been raised about the actual shape
of the "Lot's Wife" stone column, that allegedly collapsed in 1764.

A drawing of The Needles by Dutch landscape artist Lambert Doomer (1624–1700)
made in 1646 depicts a rock formation with much stouter shape than that
shown in Isaac Taylor's 1759 "one inch" map of Hampshire.

The Doomer etching is contained in Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem (published ca. 1662),
which is in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
It is not clear from these drawings what transpired.

Wareham Forest, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset

[Brianna]

It's beautiful! The cobalt blue sunset sky looks like a glimpse of Heaven. It's no wonder that residents are happy.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Hengistbury Head, Dorset

[♥ Lily ♥]

Hengistbury Head, Dorset (one of my favourite childhood places)

Hengistbury Head is a scenic headland near Bournemouth, Dorset, England
The website link below outlines her structure, her long rich history
and the continuing fight against erosion.

There is a parking guide and sections on Stanpit Marsh
and Steamer Point, which with Hengistbury Head
form an integral set of nature reserves around Christchurch Harbour
and are all designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

http://www.hengistbury-head.co.uk/index.html
http://www.hengistbury-head.co.uk/he...head-links.php







Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel
between Bournemouth and Mudeford in the English county of Dorset.

It is a site of international importance in terms of its archaeology
and is scheduled as an Ancient Monument.

Declared a Local Nature Reserve in 1990,
the head and its surroundings form part of the Christchurch Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest.
It is also a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area,
an Environmentally Sensitive Area and a Site of Nature Conservation Interest.
The name "Hengistbury Head" refers to the immediate area; the elevated portion is called Warren Hill.

There has been human activity on the site since the Upper Palaeolithic;
during the Victorian era, it was heavily quarried,
and in recent years tourism has become significant – it receives over a million visitors annually.

The various habitats on the Head provide a home for many plants, birds and insects,
some of them rare and critically endangered. Erosion remains a threat to the site,
although long-term projects are intended to secure it for the future.











The spit is home to more 300 privately owned beach-huts,
one of which in 2012 became one of the UK's most expensive,
selling for £170,000 just two days after being put on the market.

The hut measures a little over five by three metres, has no running water,
and the occupants may only stay overnight from March to October.
Despite the relative lack of amenities,
the area has become one of the UK's most desirable;
huts are rented out for up to £600 a week.

The Black House, a local landmark, stands at the end of the spit,
opposite Mudeford Quay,
site of the Battle of Mudeford in 1784.

Built in 1848, it was once a boat-builders' house, but is now rented out to holidaymakers.






Hengistbury Head is a sandstone headland forming part of Southbourne,
which is a suburb of the town of Bournemouth to the west;
the nearest major settlement is Christchurch to the north.

It is the most easterly part of the Borough of Bournemouth,
and marks the most easterly point of Poole Bay.

Historically part of Hampshire, the Local Government Act 1972 designated the area a part of Dorset.
The northern slope of the hill tailing off towards the sea forms Mudeford spit,
the sand bar closing Christchurch Harbour from the south.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Hengistbury Head as shown in Isaac Taylor's Map of Hampshire, 1759.
After the counties were redesignated in 1974, the site has been considered part of Dorset.
The isolated building near the centre of the image (labelled "Summer House")
is the thatched barn still at the Head. The barn forms part of the new visitor centre.


View from Warren Hill overlooking Mudeford Spit

[♥ Lily ♥]

Dorset

[♥ Lily ♥]

Dorset
http://www.dorsetmagazine.co.uk/comp...unty_1_2872309

[♥ Lily ♥]

Dorset

[♥ Lily ♥]

Dorset