Happy days as missing sandy beach returned overnight

Residents in a seaside resort where the entire beach was taken away by a freak high tide are celebrating after it miraculously came back. Locals in Porthleven in Cornwall were left scratching their heads after its pristine golden sands were replaced with jagged rocks covered in seaweed and algae. Overnight last Wednesday a severe high tide removed all the sand, leaving it a rocky not sandy beach.

Photos from the scene showed promenade steps that used run down into the lush sand leading to a sharp drop onto rocks. But locals woke up on Thursday to find the sand was brought back, leaving them with a golden coast again. Councillor Andrew Wallis said the beach returned "completely naturally" confirming that "Mother Nature" put the sand back, not the council.



He said: "The beach had never had that little sand in living memory. This area is quite prone to long shire drift and sometimes it is more extreme than others. This time was definitely on the more extreme side." Alan Jorgensen said he has never seen the level of sand so low in all his years in the village, adding: "I've never seen it like this before. It was a bit of a surprise to be honest."

Experts calculated that nearly a million tonnes of sand were lost off British beaches last year, with popular beaches in Newquay, Bude and Perranporth also left bare. Estimations were that the sand, which was left languishing offshore in mountainous sandbanks and bars, would take years to return.