The upper part of the sandy beach at South Beach, Studland in Dorset is littered with pebbles and stones of many colours and interesting patterns and textures. They are mostly flint and ironstone that has weathered out of the chalk that forms impressive cliffs from here to Old Harry Rocks and the Foreland or Handfast Point in the distance.
Click on any image to enlarge and view in a gallery.
REFERENCES
Barton, CM, Woods, MA, Bristow, CR, Newell, AJ, Weathead, RK, Evans, DJ, Kirby, GA, Warrington, G, Riding, JB, Freshney, EC, Highley, DE, Lott, GK, Forster, A, and Gibson, A. 2011. Geology of south Dorset and south-east Devon and its World Heritage Coast. Special Memoir of the British Geological Survey. Sheets 328, 341/342, 342/343, and parts of 326/340, 327, 329 and 339 (England and Wales), 9–100.
Cope, JCW, 2012 Geology of the Dorset Coast, Geologists’ Association Guide No. 22, Guide Series Editor SB Marriott, The Geologists’ Association, 191-194.
Swanage Solid and Drift Geology (map), British Geological Survey (Natural Environment Research Council) 1:50,000 Series, England and wales Sheets 342 (East) and part of 343
Jessica's Nature Blog 
We’re there for lunch today with the dogs, so will go and take more notice of stones and pebbles I’ve been familiar with for years! I guess I have always gone for the more overtly ‘pretty’ ones, so still lots to learn! Thanks for the info. Best wishes, Jane
On Tue, Apr 4, 2017 at 7:31 AM, Jessica’s Nature Blog wrote:
> winderjssc posted: ” The upper part of the sandy beach at South Beach, > Studland in Dorset is littered with pebbles and stones of many colours and > interesting patterns and textures. They are mostly flint and ironstone that > has weathered out of the chalk that forms impressi” >
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Thanks, Jane. Have a lovely time on the beach today. Hope the weather stays fine. I have been busy trying to find out more on the geology of that end of the beach – so more posts to follow shortly on the subject of flints and chalk.
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Straight away I noticed all those lovely blue and brown colours among the stones – just beautiful. They inspire me… !
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Amazing colours Jessica. I don’t think I’ve seen any quite like these.
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I can see from the wonderful artwork on your blog and Flickr that you like that particular colour combination as much as I do.
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I am not certain how common these kinds of rocks are in Ireland. These are very varied in this particular area – there seem to be several colour types of flint depending on the exact nature of their origin. I’m looking into it.
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