June 09, 2020

Sunrise at the chalk pinnacles of Old Harry Rocks, near Studland, Dorset

Carved by the sea. Wearing down Old Harry

Basking in the sunrise here on the south coast of England are Old Harry Rocks, three chalk formations which are being slowly whittled away by the sea. Formed around 65 million years ago, once they would have been linked to The Needles formations on the Isle of Wight by chalk hills, but those have long since been washed away. Old Harry himself is the stack which sits furthest out to sea. Another stack, Old Harry’s Wife, crumbled during the storms of 1896, leaving just a stump behind to keep her husband company. Old Harry is likely to go the same way as his wife eventually, as the sea continues to lap at his feet.

This chalk headland, between the bays of Studland and Swanage in Dorset, forms the easternmost point of the famous Jurassic Coast, a 95-mile stretch of coast which goes all the way up to Exmouth in Devon. This World Heritage Site is home to rocks, landforms and fossils dating back to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods – a microcosm of the Earth’s geological history over millions of years.