AUTUMN 2007 part 1: Quietest spell since records began!

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The almost total absence of dramatic weather has been the key feature of Autumn 2007 in Mid-Wales. A couple of surging cold fronts giving line-squalls in poor visibility and that's about it. Early snow in mid November, that lasted for less than 24 hours, one showery day and an awful lot of grey anticyclonic gloom!

It looks, though, as if things are about to change, with the forecast models pointing to a major pattern-shift by early December allowing the Atlantic to have its say once again, after months of reduced influence. Will there be a few days of storm-intercepting before the year is out? One can only hope!

I thought I might start my Autumn 2007 offerings with a series of photos of the Dyfi Estuary and Aberdyfi Bar. I took these for the slide-library but there's a bit more room to chat about them here!

Below Glandyfi, which is about 4.5 miles W of Machynlleth, the Dyfi widens out drastically to a vast expanse of salt-marshes that are covered by just the biggest Spring tides. Dissected by numerous deep muddy creeks, it is nigh impossible to cross them in a straight line! Try looking on Google Earth and you'll see what I mean! The whole area is an internationally important nature reserve, for its birdlife amonst other things. On the walk during which I took this. I put up a small flock of little Egrets - they look like a half-size, white heron. Beautiful!
Out in mid-channel, the river winds its way seawards around sandbanks in a multitude of channels. This is best appreciated from the hills above and east of Aberdyfi, which afford an almost aerial aspect and show the vastness of these shifting sands at low tide.
This is the same area from the Machynlleth-Aberdyfi road. There are few decent vantage-points these days. An excellent one with a large layby had to be fenced-off because people were fly-tipping down the bank below. Fly-tipping is a pretty detestable activity at the best of times, but the Cambrian Coast line ran below the layby so it had to be stopped for safety reasons. So now one has to risk the pavementless and bendy main road on foot. Best left to quieter, non-tourist times of the year, when the patterns of sand and water can make fascinating subjects for the camera. The Main Channel is in the background here. It's very shallow at low tide. We attempted it a few weeks ago in our boat, a shallow-draft Dory, and ran aground many times prior to abandoning the attempt: that was an hour before low water!
The mouth of the Estuary is a much narrower areas, because of the barrier formed by the northerly-migrating storm-beach that starts at Borth. Shingle-backed and capped with extensive dunes, it is again an internationally-important nature reserve. In slack areas between the main dunes are marshy tracts famed for their Spring orchids...
...while the dunes nearer the beach carry telltale signs of visitors making sand-slides!
From the top of the boardwalk that crosses the dunes, the view reveals, at low tide, the complex of sandbanks that guards the entrance to the estuary. As if this lot wasn't enough, the exit from the Dyfi to the open sea is marked by a shallow area known (infamously) as Aberdyfi Bar....
On a big Spring tide, it is possible with care, in fine weather and having checked the timing of Low Water, to walk out towards the Bar. These are shifting sands, with areas of quicksand in places, so that going with a local who has experience of their layout is the safe approach....
From the approach to the Bar, the view south towards Borth (out of picture to the L) and Aberystwyth (far R) is worth taking a telephoto lens and tripod for! This was on a very bright October day at about noon, with cloudier skies to the south...
From the northern edge of the sands, the waters over Aberdyfi Bar itself are visible. The buoy in the distance marks the open sea: there is then a line of green navigation buoys leading towards Aberdyfi. They mark the deeper channel: either side are treacherous shallows. The Bar itself is a place where the water shallows dramatically, with the result that if there is any ground-swell running, a big surf may form. On the ebb on a big Spring tide, the force of the water coming out of the Estuary meeting incoming swells can generate big stopper-waves. This can be a serious hazard, especially to small craft, with the Aberdyfi Lifeboat often called out to deal with incidents. On the day this was taken the swell was certainly a big one, even though there was hardly any wind at all. It is important, therefore, to check the swell conditions as well as forecast winds when heading out to sea!
When viewed from the hills above Aberdyfi, it becomes clearer how far out to sea the Estuary projects. I liked the way the sun was lighting up the water, into the distance, in this image. So that's a little tour down my local Estuary. The other section for Autumn 2007 covers what little interesting weather we had!
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