A small beginning......

....to a big event.

This small clump of Spartina grass, and a few others in the distance, marks the progress of a major change in the Kent estuary. A cycle of events which takes twenty to thirty years.

When we first came to live here 25 years ago the shore seen here at Silverdale was completely covered with sea washed turf. Very green and lovely to walk on. It stretched out from the shore about 400 yards and was only covered with sea water at the highest tides.

The shore at the opposite side at Grange over Sands had little vegetation.

But there is a cycle taking 20 to 30 years in which the course of the river moves from one side to the other.

During the last few years the depth of the sand at the Silverdale side has been building up and now there are these first signs of vegetation and the sand stretches much further out into the bay at low tide. This Spartina will be the first grass to take hold but over the next few years other finer grasses will build up and the green turf will return.

At the Grange side the vegetation will slowly decline.

It has been going on for hundreds of years and is fascinating to watch.