Shingle File

‘WHEN in years to come academics ponder the wholesale disappearance of south Dorset, they’re likely to identify several scapegoats.

Charlie Dimmock illustrates the wheelbarrow position

Global warming will, of course, be first on the list, followed by things like coastal erosion, tide patterns, Vanessa Feltz taking her summer holiday in Bournemouth…

But the real culprit, we learn today from the Telegraph, is someone who has never been seen in an ill-fitting bra in her life – Charlie Dimmock.

Conservationists blame Dimmock, Alan Titchmarsh and other stalwarts of TV shows like Ground Force, Garden Invaders and My Sod, Your Sod for the destruction of the famous Chesil Bank.

Apparently, amateur gardeners are taking away pebbles by the sackload and in the process gradually destroying the beach which forms part of the Jurassic Coast world heritage site.

Warden of Chesil Bank Don Moxon says pebbles and shingle are vital to the area’s ecosystem, as well as being a natural bulwark against the sea.

“Too many,” he says, “are ending up in ponds or fountains. If people want stones for their gardens, they should go to garden centres.

“If people saw the storms and what was at risk, they would want every pebble to remain on the beech.”

He clearly hasn’t been to Poole…’

Posted: 2nd, September 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink