Ringstead Bay resolved

A grey, overcast day but the sea here still managed to look blue. I sat on the beach to watch some Slavonian grebes (also known as horned grebes) and couldn't resist taking a picture of the shingly beach. This is looking back towards where I took the pcture of 1 January 2011 from.

Here's a link to a not very good picture of the grebes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespotlightkid/5320133621/in/photostream/

I think I've worked out why the beach is usually covered in shingle, but sometimes all sand. The shingle lies on top of the sand, as can be seen here. This makes me think that in a big storm the waves drag the shingle off the beach, revealing the sand beneath. Then each time the tide comes in, shingle is deposited on the sand again. This is how the beach looks most of the time.