Because the weather was so untypically lovely on Sunday, my wife and I went for a long walk along the length of South Beach, through Castle Beach and up into the harbour. We were really concerned to see how the beaches have suffered from the recent storms!

South Beach, which used to be a glorious stretch of golden sand, is now an expanse of miniature boulders, difficult to walk on and quite uninviting. Castle Beach now has exposed rocks where once was smooth sand, and the general picture is one of our beaches being washed away into Carmarthen Bay, where huge quantities of sand are commercially dredged to be sold as building material.

An indication of the severity of the storms can be seen from the attached photograph of a warning sign from the Penally rifle range, which is half buried in the collapsing dune system roughly halfway along South Beach - what force was required to re-locate this sign and its heavy post?

The only positive feature that we saw was the portion of the beach that is protected by gabions; even though these stone-filled metal cages are showing signs of damage, the dunes that they protect are in much better condition than the rest of the receding dune line. Sadly, isolated gabions are quickly out-flanked and lose their efficiency, and one has only to consult the contour lines on an Ordnance Survey map to see that if the dunes are breached there will be precious little land left between the beach and the railway line.

If I could wave a magic wand which would stop dredging and see more investment in gabions and other forms of coastal protection, then I would. Sadly, like everybody else who appreciates the precarious position of our beaches and dune system, I can only hope that the powers that be will take appropriate action to combat this threat.

M.F.