We visited two locations one was Swanage and the other was Studland.
Swanage is in the south of England, its population is around 9,000, Swanage is surrounded by the purbeck hills to the north and south, Corfe valley is to the west and Swanage bay to the east.Within the town there is a lot of open space over 100 acres, there is a railway many pubs and restraints and a theatre.Swanage beach is around a mile long and is stopped by the island of purbeck; the cliffs are 300 feet high.
The number of tourists that can be accommodated in a season is 240,500, a season is 26 weeks between April and October and the number of day visitors is around 864,000 in a season.Studland is an the south of England, the beach is around 4 miles long it starts from south haven point through shell bay and around pilots point. This area is extremely important as it is home to many rare species of plants, animals, birds and insects.Studland has both types of dunes (mobile and static), the front ridge is mobile and behind is the static, and there are a number of ponds with the areaStudlandSwanageStudlandSwanageOld HarryIn Swanage and Studland there are several geographical landforms like caves, arches and stacks, cliffs and wave cut platforms, headlands and bays and sea defenses.
In this section I will explain all of these featuresCaves, Arches and StacksAs waves erode cliffs, they work faster on the weaker rocks, carrying them away and leaving the stronger rocks behind. This results in caves.Sometimes, as the waves smash into the caves, they squash the air inside the caves and it finds a way though weak rock in the roof. The place where air comes through the top of the headland is called a blowhole. They are quite rare.
If caves form on two sides of a headland, then the caves may erode through and meet. When this happens, the sea can get right through the headland. It results in an arch. Arches are much less common than caves.An arch eventually wears away and the roof collapses. The seaward side of the arch is then all that is left of the former position of the headland. It stands up as a tall pillar of rock to show where the coastline has previously been. The pillar of rock is called a stack.
Stacks are sometimes given other names, such as needle rock when they are very thin, or stumps, when they are no longer tall and in the last stages of being worn away.4 processes of erosion that help this happen are:Abrasion – a “saw” effect. Beach material is hurled / thrown against the cliffs.(This is caused by the force of the waves which are in turn caused bythe wind etc…)Hydraulic Action – a “hammer” effect.
Water compresses air into cracks on the cliffs andforces them wider.Corrosion / Solution – chemical decomposition of the cliff. (acidic water etc…
)Attrition – beach material is bashed together so it reduces in size.Wave cut PlatformsWaves erode the base of cliffs by hydraulic action, abrasion and solution. This results in a Wave Cut Notch at the high tide line. The cliff is undercut by stress and tension on the cliff so therefore it will crack and collapse. This is repeated and the cliff retreats landwards leaving a gentle sloping wave cut platform. The platform cuts across no matter what type or structure the cliffs have.
Some pools may form where solution occurs on dissolvable and if there’s a crack in the rock. The wave cut platform is covered in debris. As the platform widens the waves break further out to sea so they have to travel over a wider area and so the energy is dissipated therefore erosion at the headland is reduced.Headlands and BaysThe coastline consisted of parallel bands of hard and soft rock which were perpendicular to the sea.As a result of differential erosion, the bands of soft rock were eroded much more quickly than the bands of resistant rock to form bays and headlands.The headlands will be eroded back as a result of wave refraction. Caves, arches, stacks and stumps will form which will eventually be eroded away. The bays will advance as deposition will take place at their heads to form Bay-head Beaches.
Eventually, the coastline will become straight again and the whole process of differential erosion will resume again resulting in an irregular coastline.Sea DefensesThere are 7 main types of sea defenses:* Sea wall – Made of stone or concrete. Reflects waves and withstands waves breaking on it but is very expensive per meter.
* Revetment – A sloping concrete wall that is laid like a carpet along the coast, this sea defense is cheaper that the sea wall but still expense.* Gabions – Strong wire baskets filled with stones that gradually get covered with grass and sands, fairly cheap.* Groynes – A low wall built out in to the sea that traps sand and reduces erosion, can be very expensive depending on the length of the beach as they have to be 200 + meters apart.* Rip-Rap – Large interlocking man made boulders which protect coast by breaking up waves, still expensive.
Beach rebuilding – Replaces materials lost by erosion each year, cheap but Regular replacement needed* Offshore breakwater – located in the sea below water mark. may be dumped interlocking materials or concrete wall, protects shore from all waves, Very expensive per meter.Is it the physical landscape that attracts people to Swanage/Studland?When we where at Swanage we took a number of different pieces of data.First we did a car park survey which was located above the beach and behind the tourist information centre, here we listed the last to letters of the number plate, we did this so we could then see where the cars have traveled from to get to Swanage.
Next we done the first urban environmental evaluation matrix, we done this by standing in one place along the high street and rating the conditions 1 -5, we took this piece of data to see what the conditions of the high street are because if the conditions where bad then this would not attract people to the area.Then we did the first beach environmental quality index. We do this because if the beach was dirty then it will not attract people, we done this by rating the quality of the beach and its conditions.After we walked along the beach and done another beach environmental quality index.Next we walked back to the high street and did a pedestrian count this is where we recorded how many people we saw and how old we think they where, we did this by counting the amount of people there where within 5 minutes and the put them in to the age category we think the fit into, this is useful as it tells us how many people visit Swanage for the high street.After completing the pedestrian count we walked along the high street and recorded the names of the shops, we did this because if all the shops sold low quality goods then it would not attract shoppers to Swanage.Next we asked 10 people to fill in our questionnaires, we done this to find information like where they traveled from to get here and for what reason.
After we did another urban environmental evaluation matrix.Then we went back on to the beach to do two quadrats, we did this by throwing a quadrat over our back and writing the % of sand, stone and pollution, we collected this data because if the beach was polluted then it would not attract people to Swanage.After we walked along the cliffs towards Old Harry Rocks and did a field sketch of the rocks, the walked towards Studland.At Studland we do a urban environmental evaluation matrix first, the a Car park survey by south beach and the we done the pedestrian count, then we traveled to the beach and done a Beach environmental quality evaluation matrix, we walked along the beach and done the second Beach environmental quality evaluation matrix, then we done then 2 quadrats in different areas and the last urban environmental evaluation matrix by the shop. As we walked along the beach in Swanage I did an extra pedestrian count to see if there where more people visiting for the landscape or to shop I also did a pedestrian count on old Harry rocks and the beach in Studland.A = Major Shopping Units e.
g. Department stores, B= Clothing And Shoe Shops, C= Convenient Stores, D= Furniture And Carpet Stores, E= Specialist Shops E.g. Jewelers, Electrical, F=Personal Services E.g. Hairdressers, G= Catering And Entertainment E.
g. Pubs, Hotels, J= Professional Services E.g. Banks, Doctors.The graph for my retail survey show that there are more of Convenient stores than any other, this might be to do with the tourists as they know that they will what to eat, this survey help me to answer the question “Is it the physical landscape that attracts tourists to Swanage and Studland?” as if the shops are not very good or the services then people would not visit the area of the shopping.1= Poor 5= BestThe graph for my beach environmental quality index shows that the areas we studied where clean, if the beach was all polluted with glass every where then people would not visit Swanage / Studland for the physical landscape they would only visit for the shopping, these results would not be very accurate as they are my opinions.
1= Poor 5= BestThe graph for my urban environmental evaluation matrix shows that Studland site 2 was the cleanest and the best, if there area was in poor condition the people would not visit Swanage / Studland for the shopping they would visit for the physical landscape e.g. the beach and the rocks, again these results are my opinions and are not accurate.The Graph for my pedestrian count shows that more people visit Swanage beach rather than Studland beach but it also shows that more people visit Swanage / Studland for the landscape rather than shopping. This helps me prove my question because it tells me the amount of people in the area, I can see that there are more people on the beach than in the town in Swanage which proves that tourists are attracted to Swanage / Studland for the physical landscape rather than shopping.The question was “Is it the physical landscape that attracts tourists to Swanage and Studland?”I think the answer to this is yes because when we was visiting Swanage / Studland I noticed that there was no way as many people in the town as there was on the beach.
I can use the results from my Pedestrian count to support my answer as they show that more people visit the beach then the shops.So in conclusion my question is right as more tourists are attracted to Swanage / Studland for the physical landscape.Within this coursework I have described the methods we used, within this section I will say the problems we came across and how we could have improved them and how we could do it differently:* Car park survey – problems we had where there was not enough cars and the new registration plates meant we cant find where is from but the biggest problem was that the registration plate didn’t tell use where the people have traveled from it only tells us where the car was registered. We could improve this survey by going to a bigger car park or asking people where they have traveled from. If I was to do this again I would go to a bigger car park or waited long to collect the data.* Urban Evaluation – Problems we had where that we did not space out the time between each evaluation we done and the results where our opinions and we only did them in parts of the town. We could have done more areas and we could have done the urban evaluations at the same time.
If we did this again I would have done more areas and to have a specific time which had to be done in.* Beach Evaluation – when we done this there was big gaps of time between each one so there could be more litter later in the day. We could improve this by doing all the beach evaluations at one time.
If we did it again I would do these at lunch and do one after another.* Quadrats – we had a big problem when we done this as we didn’t have and quadrats so our teacher made a square on the sand and our teacher choose the areas where the results where taken. We could improve this by taking the quadrats with us so the results will be more accurate.* Pedestrian Count – the problem was that we only did one pedestrian count in the town of Swanage / Studland and not on the beach and the rocks so we cant tell if people visit for the physical landscape and not to shop. I did extra pedestrian counts on the beach and the rocks to see if more people visit Swanage / Studland for the physical landscape or to shop.* Retail survey – we did not have much time to finish this so could not complete our results.
We could improve this by lowering the amount of shops we had to collect data on. If I did this again I would allow more time to collect the data.* Field sketch – when I did this I have a big problem as I didn’t have a pencil so I could not draw very accurate. If I did this again I would make sure I had a pencil.* Questionnaire – the questionnaire was unfair as we made the questions and we asked who we wanted and we could as 10 people of the same age category. We could improve this by asking the first 10 people we see to make it more random and if we did it again that is what I would do.
The results we took when we visited Swanage / Studland were relatively trust worthy but some where not, the results I took where not always reliable and some times biased as in the questionnaire we asked certain people and in the quadrats its our opinions and may not be reliable, when we visited the weather was good as it was sunny which means there would be more people out, this will mean when we do the pedestrian count the amount of people will be higher, I only visited Swanage / Studland once so the results would not have been as fair as the could have been.The climate is an important factor because if the climate is low then people might look to go abroad to seek hotter temperatures. Although if the temperature is averagely high then Swanage and Studland might attract a greater number of tourists, another factor would be if Swanage and Studland focused on advertising, this would make tourists aware of the location and would therefore attract more tourists. They could also build hotels and new facilities which would again attract more tourists.If Swanage was on a holiday program then it would attract loads of tourists.If people feel secure and safe in their jobs then the economy will be strong, people will then have more money and will be able to afford to spend more on holidays, they might be able to travel abroad, which can be cheaper if the pound is strong.
