A sunny and warm English summers day, so rather than going to my usual haunts I thought I’d pop down the 16 miles or so to Samphire Hoe just south east of Dover.
Looking toward Folkestone Warren
Samphire Hoe is if you like, a striking result of making use of man made land from the spoils of digging the Channel Tunnel which opened in May 1994.
Several sites to ‘dump’ the spoil were put forward but as it was more or less right above the tunnel workings on a lesser reachable part of the Cliffs, Samphire Hoe was chosen.
Upon completion of the Tunnel, the spoil was landscaped and ‘converted’ into a Nature Reserve, owned and maintained by Eurotunnel.
About a mile and a half long and in places going about 300 meters out from the 350 feet high cliffs, it’s mainly made up of Meadow land and a few ponds which attract both birds and other wildlife.
Juvenile Black Redstart
At the south east end of the Reserve you have a shingle beach with some sand, this stretching all the way along to Folkestone Warren. At the other end it is basically rock with Shakespeare Cliff towering above it, this being probably the best place to observe land and sea wildlife.
Juvenile Stonechat
Like most areas, being late Summer makes some species of birds hard to spot but I was most pleased to get photos of the Stonechat and Redstart.
Other birds present were a huge number of Sand Martins plus Kestrels and Sparrowhawks flying predating close to the Cliffs.
Unfortunately I found it difficult to get settings on the Camera to focus in on anything with the white background. Maybe too sunny.
Looking toward Dover Eastern Docks
Getting to Samphire Hoe is pretty easy, it’s approached through a tunnel from the A(M)20 about one mile on the London bound side of Dover.
Careful in the tunnel though. It’s not well lit and on a sunny day driving from the brightness into the darkness is a bit tricky on the eyes. Also a very steep gradient.
But well worth a visit and on a clear day you get a good view of the cliffs north of Boulogne in France.
