Spurn, Yorkshire's 'Land's End' five years on

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-46608595

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What now for Yorkshire's "Land's End", five years after a large tidal surge smashed over the thin peninsular?

Spurn Point, in East Yorkshire, juts 3.5 miles (6km) out to sea to the north of the mouth of the Humber Estuary.

The thin strip of land has a long history of military, maritime and wildlife use.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT), which runs its nature reserve, said: "The magic and the wilderness make it an amazing place."

Clea Grady of YWT, added: "There is nowhere else like it."

The surge inundated the nature reserve at the narrowest part of the peninsula and removed a stretch of road, in December 2013.

It was the worst since January 1953, according to the Environment Agency, leaving Spurn Point as a tidal island with access dependent on the tides.

Chris Skinner, a researcher at the Energy and Environment Institute at the University of Hull, said: "There has been a lot of debate over the future of Spurn.

"I think it will become an island sitting on hard rock, as it has been in the past."

Now its strategic importance is as a wildlife haven with a visitor centre that opened in March, and as an RNLI station.

Jon Easby, of YWT, said: "Spurn's easterly position means birds drop in to rest and we have many wading birds and protected species.

"We have to work with the tides; it's a very atmospheric place to work but the weather can be very challenging.

"It is a bit of a lost gem of East Yorkshire but is our most complex nature reserve as the sand changes daily and a bad storm moves it."

Spurn's heritage

Sources: BBC and YWT