Rain over Bristol Channel

This ship is heading downstream. It has probability come out of Portbury or Avonmouth docks. Smaller ships still use Sharpness sometimes, but that is much further up the river and the Welsh ports are further downstream.

In this area you often see sand boats. They harvest sand from a huge bank which lies downstream from the Severn bridges.

Conservationists worry that 1/4 of the sand has already been taken and nature does not replace it adequately. How the loss of the sand will effect the wildlife, tides and environment as more and more of the sand is taken is unknown.

The sand boats used to off load in Bristol docks before it was surpassed by Avonmouth and Portbury. I remember the sand boats in the Bristol locks when I was a child.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44292160@N05/sets/72157622614690095/

This link is to someone else's photos of the sand boats. How nice they have put the photos up.

The sand is used for building. Much of my family home has this sand in its construction. My father used to obtain it from the boats as they passed back into the harbour through the lock. I used to help him mix the cement for his building works.