Up to 11 tornadoes strike Britain

Tornadoes ripped through parts of Britain today, leaving a trail of destruction behind them.
Reports suggested that as many as 11 twisters formed separately as a cold front moved north-eastwards across England.
Local residents reported hearing "horrendous" noises as violent winds tore down trees, pulled off roofs, knocked off chimney pots and in once case overturned a caravan.
Hayley Stroud, 27, described the twister that hit Farnborough, Hampshire, at about 7.30am as "like something out of The Wizard Of Oz".
Terrence Meaden, deputy head of tornado research group Torro, said five reports were "looking certain" to be confirmed as tornadoes.
They came from Farnborough, Luton, Bedfordshire; Nuneaton, Warwickshire; Breaston, Derbyshire; and Eye, Cambridgeshire.
Dr Meaden said further research may well confirm that another six tornadoes - in Northampton; Nottingham; Scunthorpe; Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire; Long Eaton, Derbyshire; and Ollerton, Nottinghamshire.
Although there was widespread damage to properties and vehicles across England, there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The Met Office said a weather system "conducive" to tornadoes travelled across the country from west to east this morning.
A spokesman said localised winds had gusted up to gale force speeds of 40 to 45mph

Hengistbury Head to Mudeford Spit

An ideal walk on a Sunday, or for that matter any day of the week is the 2 miles from Hengistbury Head Cafe to The Beach House cafe on Mudeford Spit. If you're less keen to walk, the 'Noddy Train' will take you from the car park to the Spit. Alternatively you can take the ferry from Mudeford quay, or other ferries from Christchurch quay. The last option is to cycle, making sure to keep to the paths, from the Head car park.

We took this walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon following the path across the top of the Head and down to the Spit, stopping there at the Beach House cafe for a drink and then back along the bottom lane, used by the Noddy Train, to the car park. A walk of about 4 miles in total.

The views from the top of the Head on this bright sunny afternoon were fantastic

The sandbank or Spit as its known is narrow stretch of sand jutting out into the small inlet at Mudeford at the entrance to Christchurch quay. On the sandbank are several beach huts, one of which sold for allegedly £60,000 recently!

National Coastwatch Institution

The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) is a voluntary organisation set up in 1994 to restore a visual watch along UK shores after many small Coastguard stations closed due to Government cutbacks. NCI is a registered charity and controlled by a board of Trustees with a Constitution agreed by the Charities Commission.

NCI stations have been set up along the coast from Lands End in the South West to Hartlepool in the North East. Each station keeps a watch over its own particular area whether it is a popular seaside town, busy port or shipping area. Accidents will always happen at sea and along the coastline, wherever there is an NCI station a watchkeeper will be looking out for danger and ensuring your safety on the water.

Each Station is manned by a team of fully trained and dedicated volunteers who keep a daylight watch up to 365 days per year. Stations are equipped with telescopes, radar, telephone and weather instrumentation as well as up to date charts. Close contact with the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) aims to promote stations to Declared Facility Status in order to become an integral part of the National Search and Rescue Structure.
Watchkeepers come from all walks of life and offer a wide range of skills and experience. Full training ensures that all volunteers reach the high standard expected by the NCI and MCA. Regular assessments take place at all stations and retraining programmes are held to maintain standards, and to keep watchkeepers up to date with latest legislation or improved operational procedures.
Watchkeepers are the eyes and ears along the coast, keeping a visual watch, monitoring radio channels, using radar and providing a listening watch in poor visibility. Watchkeepers remain vigilant at all times. Surveillance work is mainly routine but watchkeepers are trained to act in an emergency, report to the MCA and if required co-ordinate with the search and rescue services.
A log of all water-based activities is kept during each watch, and if required weather conditions can be passed to yachtsmen and fishermen before they set to sea. Also with the new generation of web cams we can identify sea conditions for those who wish to check on the weather or sea state prior to doing any watersport activity, hopefully reducing the need for MCA response and RNLI call-outs. Also during each watch other activities such as canoeing. diving etc are closely observed, as are bathers, walkers and climbers who walk our shoreline.
When on watch watchkeepers provide a vital link with all the emergency services and can provide an emergency contact point on land for both sea and shore users.

We recently had the privilege of being invited into the station during a visit to Swanage. This station is open from 8.00 - 17.00, 364 days of the year. We were shown some of the equipment they use and the daily log book