Wild words: chalk

21 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in geology, nature, seaside

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#WildWords, Birling Gap, chalk, chalk cliffs, Cuckmere Haven, limestone cliffs, Seven Sisters Country Park

Chalk: noun; ‘a white soft earthy limestone (calcium carbonate) formed from the skeletal remains of sea creatures’, according to the Oxford Dictionary, though that seems a relatively simplistic explanation to me. I chose chalk as this week’s word as I was in East Sussex last week and had occasion twice to see the magnificent chalk cliffs known as the Seven Sisters, once at Birling Gap in a howling gale and again, at Cuckmere Haven, on a day that felt like summer had come early to southern England.

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The Discovering Fossils website has this to say about the chalk at the Seven Sisters:

The Chalk at Seven Sisters belongs to the Upper Chalk, and was deposited during the Coniacian and Santonian stages of the Late Cretaceous epoch between 87-84 million years ago (mya). At this time Seven Sisters and much of Great Britain, along with Europe, lay beneath a relatively shallow sea around 40°N of the equator, on an equivalent latitude to the Mediterranean Sea today.

And you can read more about the fascinating process of chalk formation here.

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Craig-y-Cilau National Nature Reserve

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by sconzani in geology, nature, parks, walks

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birding, birdwatching, Brecon Beacons, Craig-y-Cilau, Glamorgan Bird Club, limestone cliffs, national nature reserve, old tramway

170410 Craig Y Cilau NNR (4)

Last Wednesday I joined 19 of my fellow Glamorgan Bird Club members on a trip to the Craig-y-Cilau National Nature Reserve. Though our species list for the day totalled around 30, most birds were too distant for photographs but the location, high in the hills on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, is stunning!

The limestone cliffs here were once quarried and our path – at times rather narrow and with a steep drop to one side – followed the route of the old tramway, the signs of which could still be seen in the stones. The cliffs are riddled with caves, with a mapped system of over 400 miles of passageways, though you’d be foolhardy to enter without an experienced guide.

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Though the birds were somewhat elusive, we were surrounded by flourishing and sometimes rare flora, with wildflowers aplenty and some interesting fungi.

And the panoramic views, towards the towns of Crickhowell and Llangattock and over the surrounding countryside, were simply sensational. We didn’t get a chance to explore the whitebeam-filled woodlands or the unique raised bog so I’m already planning a return trip.

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