WIDEWATER
LAGOON FLOOD PLAIN
Widewater
Margins 2015 et. seq.
1
April 2014
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Sea
Beet
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Dandelion
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Stonecrop
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Lesser
Celandine
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Widewater
Flood Plain
22
May 2008
A
male Common Blue Butterfly
fluttered over the expanses of Bird's Foot
Trefoil, with plenty of Sea
Kale, Ivy-leaved Toadflax and
Thrift
in
flower with Sea Campion, Scarlet
Pimpernel,
Sow Thistle,all
prominent on the Widewater
flood plain near the pipeline inlets. There
did not appear to be any clear signs of where the gravel had been disturbed
to bury the inlet pipelines.
7 May
2008
From
the promenade cyclepath the shingle flood plain of Widewater
near the pipeline inlets was seen to be covered in patches of violet, which
was assumed to be Ivy-leaved Toadflax.
14
April 2008
A
Peacock
Butterfly was seen fluttering around the
flood plain of Widewater
to the west of the bridge, south of one of the pipe inflows.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
6
June 2006
On
the flood plain of Widewater Lagoon where
the gravel and pebbles had been disturbed to install the pipeline, there
was a varied collection of plants as though the terrain had never been
disturbed in the first place. Ivy-leaved
Toadflax still dominated but there was
plentiful Sea Kale,
Bird's
Foot Trefoil,
Sea
Campion, Thrift, Sea
Beet, Dandelion, Stonecrops
and
other plants, including a few Yellow-horned
Poppy.
29
May 2004
The
first of the two photographs below were taken on the land that was laid
bare when the pipeline was installed:
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Bird's
foot Trefoil &
Ivy-leaved
Toadflax
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Yellow-horned
Poppy
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Thrift
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19
May 2004
The
dark green expanses in the photograph are Sea
Heath.
15
May 2004
A
year ago a large expanse of the Widewater flood plain was bare gravel because
it all had been churned over to construct the new pipeline.
Colonisation
was expected to be swift and one year later the shingle is covered by the
blue-violet of Ivy leaved Toadflax,
with splatterings of other ground-hugging plants like Scarlet
Pimpernel, small patches of Stonewort,
clumps of Sea Campion,
one or two Bird's Foot Trefoil,
and a few small Sea Kale plants. Sea
Thrift produced the usual attractive sweeps
over the gravel, but none of this had actually sprouted forth from the
disturbed ground. A Ringed Plover
was well camouflaged against the shingle and plants.
Photographs
of the colonised and nearby area
16
July 2003
The
increased
lagoon water levels could possible have a detrimental effect on the
flood plain flora.
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Ivy
leaved Toadflax
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Red
Campion
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1
July 2003
A
humid and intermittently bright and overcast day, once going completely
black with intermittent very heavy showers.
A few
stretches of Orache
greened the disturbed gravel where the pipeline had been laid and a few
plants pushed their way from the gravel on the Widewater margins.
Small
ground-hugging plants on the gravel:
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White
Stonecrop
Sedum
album
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Scarlet
Pimpernel
Anagallis
arvensis
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Sea
Heath
Frankenia
laevis
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Stonecrop
Sedum
anglicum ?
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Lesser
Sea-spurrey
Spergularia
marina
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Sea
Heath
Frankenia
laevis
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24
May 2003
The
sun shines through a cloudy
(Cirrus, Cumulus/Stratocumulus,
and Stratus) sky on to
the patch of
Sea Thrift:
14
May 2003
The
soil and gravel that had been disturbed for the pipeline at Widewater was
like a bare desert between large drifts of the Sea Thrift
and patches of Sea Kale. A pair of Ringed
Plovers rose from amongst the Thrift.
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Undisturbed
land on an overcast day
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Soil
and gravel removed to instal the pipeline
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6
May 2003
On
the Widewater flood plain, on the gravel and soil that had been lifted
to install the new pipeline and then
replaced, the Sea Campion
was noticeably in flower. There was just one or two Bird's
Foot Trefoil plants showing.
Other
plants in flower on the flood plain (May 2003):
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Ivy
leaved Toadflax
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Mouse-eared
Hawkweed
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Buck's
Horn ? Plantain
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Birds'
Foot Trefoil
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Sow
Thistle ?
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8
April 2003
The
new pipeline from the sea to Widewater Lagoon
has been landscaped and now merges into the shingle bank. After
a couple of months of low rainfall, the lagoon salinity rises to a high
figure of 25.5‰ (as high as any recording last year).
Widewater
Salinity Records 2002-3
Photograph
by Steve Barker
(May 1999)
The
flood plain contains some interesting flora, including the Sea
Thrift, and is also a breeding area for the Ringed
Plover. This area is bordered by a steep bank on the seaward side up
to a concrete path adjacent to the lagoon &/or car parks.
Stonecrop
page
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to Widewater Lagoon
Widewater
Margins 2015 et. seq.
