This weekend has been characterised by strong winds and torrential rain, again! Earlier, the wind reached

60 knots in the midst of the squalls which had to be classed as tropical rather than typical British weather. This was combined with an exceptionally high spring tide, 5.3 meters. Not surprisingly there were flood warnings for Bosham and Ichenor at 10:15 when the tide was expected to reach 5.5m, boosted by the exceptionally low pressure.

Just after high tide there was a brief interlude between storms so we headed out to Chidham to see what it was like in these exceptional conditions.

Needless to say we were well prepared for a downpour although that proved to be unnecessary, we were lucky! 

There was plenty of standing water to be seen as we drove down, the fields were lined with muddy puddles when we set off. A surprise came when we arrived at Chidham Creek, the sea level was well up the sea wall and far above the road; higher than I’d ever seen it before. Fortunately the flapper valve leading to the pond seems to be working well, no water flooding in at present.

A bit further on by the houses this family of swans seem to be happy enough being fed by one of the

residents. This seems to be a regular occurrence as she’s offering them proper food, not the remains of a loaf of bread. Either way it’s good to see that these three youngsters are growing strongly, not that they have any predators here.

Unfortunately at the end of the alley leading to the harbour we came to a full stop as can be seen here. The main path is well above the high tide line but there is just a few yards from the bottom of the steps before you’re on the sea wall. This was well and truly flooded, there would be no way past without chest high waders!