Stretching from Lyme Regis towards Charmouth, East Cliff beach is a hotspot for fossil hunters scouring the shore for spiral-shaped ammonites or the glint of fool’s gold. As the 50-metre-high cliff slowly retreats and collapses into the sea, more rocks containing prehistoric fossils are exposed along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.
But take a closer look and the cliff edge reveals more sinister deposits. Plastic, metal and concrete poke out from the soil and are strewn along the beach. With every storm and tide, smaller items of waste and toxic contaminants are washed out to sea.
