The Fleet Observer

Discover the Isle of Portland by minibus

As a compliment to the Fleet Observer a trip on the Portland Community minibus makes a great day out.

The two hour minibus tour takes you off the beaten track to explore the island’s rugged cliffs with their seabirds and introduced wild goats, disused and working stone quarries, Portland’s uniquely built harbour, churches, villages and the fabulous array of flowers and butterflies.

The drivers are excellent guides and their commentaries are complimented by snippets of information triggered by the bus’ sat nav system.

Trips leave from the Chesil Beach Centre on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday at 11:00 and 14:00 with an extra trip on Thursdays with wheel chair access at 11:00.

Seats for the minibus must be booked by either visiting or phoning the Chesil Beach Centre - 01305 759692.

• Adults £3
• Children (under 16) and OAPs £2

The tour includes various stops including half hour at Portland Bill.

The Chesil Beach Centre is situate half way along the Causeway from Weymouth to Portland, on the Portland Beach Road (A354) and is worth a visit for children of all ages.

The walls and ceilings are a mosaic of artistic paintings and interpretive displays, showing the areas special coastal wildlife and features.

Other features of the Centre include: -

• An audio presentation telling the story of Chesil and the Fleet
• 3D models of the bank and it’s wildlife.
• A touch table for children to touch and explore all sorts of flotsam and jetsam found washed up on the bank.
• An interactive computer.
• A microscope to view a variety of slides or samples from the Fleet.
• Live cameras on the bank and in the Fleet.
• Instruments displaying wind speed and direction.
• Lots of information on the flora and fauna of Chesil and the Fleet.
• A cafe and toilets.
• Puzzles and quizzes.
• and much more.

The Chesil Centre also offers a variety of guided walks and talks for groups and families. A list of our events can be found on the Chesil Beach Website. Walks and talks can be arranged for groups by contacting the Centre on 01305 760579.

So why not pop in to have a look or just to chat to one of our team of local volunteers.

Educational trips can cover: -

• Physical features of the Fleet and surrounding area.
• Wildlife Ecology.
• Vegetation and plants.
• Food chains and webs.
• Human influences on the Fleet.
• Commercial uses on the Fleet (past and present).
• Environmental management of the area.
• Legal classifications of the area.
• Art in nature.
• History of the area.

Trips are £45 per hour. 12 passenger maximum (10 children 2 adults).

Trips can be arranged to coincide with a guided walk from one of our team, at some extra cost, to take a look at the Chesil Beach Centre or alternatively just to experience Chesil Bank, the Fleet and this area of the Jurassic Coast.

A risk assessment for the trip is available at request.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if there is something you would like to add and we will be happy to see if it can be arranged.

If you have any questions about the local area we would be happy to help.

Please note we cannot at this time take bookings via this form. To make a booking please call the Fleet Observer office on: (01305) 759692

The Fleet Observer jetty is behind the Ferrybridge Inn,
Ferrymans’s Way,
Wyke Regis,
Weymouth,
Dorset.
DT4 9YU
Going to Portland, turn right just before the Ferrybridge Inn

View Larger Map

Speciality trips include

• Chesil Bank
• The little tern colony, May - July
• The Fleets sea grass beds
• Portland Harbour - marine life, historical, geological and archeological interests
• History and geology of this area of World Heritage Site
• Early morning bird trips
• Sundowners ‘for that special occasion’
• Full trips along the East Fleet - including a stop to visit the Chesil Bank on foot
• Painting and photography

Prebooking for speciality trips is essential.
Speciality trips require a minimum of 8 passengers.

2008 Season

The Fleet Observer is now back in the water after undergoing a massive refit so now is the perfect time to come down and take a trip. 

Scheduled trip details

The Fleet Observer sails daily, weather and demand permitting, Easter to the End of October.
Trips last 1 hour and are run 6 times a day. In August an extra trip may be made.

• Adults £7
• Children £4

A discount is provided for Pebble card holders.

Whole boat and educational charters can be made.

The Fleet Observer is staffed by a team of volunteers, prebooking ensures that a skipper will be available. To book or for further information please call the Fleet Observer office on: - (01305) 759692

The Fleet Observer carries up to 12 passengers, trips require a minimum of 4 passengers. We regret that access to the Fleet Observer is not suitable for wheelchair users.

For information and enquiries concerning the Chesil Bank and the Fleet Nature Reserve telephone (01305) 760579

The Fleet Observer is run by the Chesil Bank and the Fleet Nature Reserve, for information about the reserve, the Chesil Beach Centre and other useful links please visit the web site Chesil Beach.

To find out about the latest sightings on the reserve both below and above the water visit the Chesil Diary.

Chesil and the Fleet are part of Dorset Coastlink, a network of sites and organisations working together for Dorset’s coastal and marine environments, for information on Coastlink and other Coastlink centres visit www.coastlink.org.

With a Pebble Card residents and visitors to Weymouth and Portland can take advantage of a broad range of exciting discounts on leisure and other day to day activities and products provided by businesses operating in the Weymouth and Portland area. For more information visit Pebble Card.

Chesil Bank and the Fleet are a part of Dorset and East Devons Jurassic Coast, Englands first World Heritage Site.

• The Fleet Lagoon was one of the locations used for bouncing bomb testing in the Second World War, that’s right Dam Busters!
• The view of the beach from Abbotsbury has been voted by Country Life magazine as Britain’s third best view, we would have placed it a little higher but we are biased. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2151009.stm
• The Fleet boasts the greatest diversity of wildlife of any lagoon in the UK!
• In the children’s book Moonfleet by John Meade Falkner the village of Moonfleet is based on the parish of East Fleet in Dorset. And the headland in the book called The Snout is Portland Bill.
• The Ferrybridge featured in the film the Damned, when a local stunt man was hired to drive a car off the bridge and into the Fleet.
• Chesil at Wyke and Portland is the site of many ship wrecks. The first recorded in 1641 ‘the Golden Grape’ went down with 20 men on board of which 7 drowned, members of Wyke and Portland risked weather and rough seas to loot its cargo as it washed ashore. Probably the most famous was ‘the Royal Adelaide’ which went down in 1872, off Chesil with 67 men on board, amazingly 60 survived and 2,900 tons of cargo was saved.
• Scaly Crickets Pseudomogoplistes squamiger - until recently the Scaly Cricket was only found on Chesil Beach it is thought that it was brought over from the Mediterranean on landing craft used in the invasion of Sicily. They can now be found at Sark on the Channel Islands, Branscombe in Devon and Granville in Normandy.

The environment of the fleet varies from salt waters at the Ferrybridge to fresh water at the Abbotsbury end; this allows a huge variety of wildlife to exist in a relatively localised area in fact the Fleet boasts the greatest diversity of wildlife of any lagoon in the UK making it a great educational attraction.

The Fleet is home to many wading birds every winter 10,000 Wigeon and 5,000 Brent Geese spend the winter at the lagoon.

Attracted in their thousands by the rich supply of food many birds from north and east Europe spend there winters here.

The mudflats and shallows waters attract wading birds such as Oystercatcher, Curlew, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Redshank. Cormorant’s fish for eels and flounders in the Fleet, and are often seen sitting in poles. Gray Herons and Little Egrets are also common.

Most conspicuous are the Brent Geese from Siberia and Wigeon from Russia. There are also important populations of Gadwall, Pochard, Red-breasted Merganser, Pintail, Shoveler, Goldeneye, Teal and Coot. In spring the fleet welcomes migrants from Africa who come to breed. Common and Little Terns can be seen diving into the water for immature fish.

Near Abbotsbury the lagoon supports the largest Mute Swan population in Britain and the only managed colony of nesting mute swans in the world, colony here can number over 600 swans with around 150 pairs a rare site as Nesting Mute Swans are usually intensely territorial, making it unusual to see this many pairs in proximity to each other.

The most common mammals to be found on the beach are rats and foxes. One animal you wouldn’t expect to find on Chesil is the hare, how ever they live and breed quite happily and can often be see running along the beach. There have even been seals recorded sitting on the beach and in the Fleet during the summer months.

We have a dedicated community of bird watchers and are keen to hear from anyone who may have spotted any thing rare.

There have been 300 species of flowering plants recorded on Chesil and in the Fleet, the most obvious being the Thrift which creates a spectacular carpet of pink during May giving it its local name Sea Pink. Other more rarer species include Four-leafed Allseed, Sea Pea, Yellow-horned Poppy and Sea-kale, while the principle salt marsh plants are Shrubby Seablight, Sea Purslane and Glasswort.

30 species of fish have been recorded in the Fleet including Bass, Grey Mullet, Two-spot Goby, Ballan Wrasse, Corkring Wrasse and Tompot Blenny.

Also to be found are 150 species of seaweed, 25 species of fish and 60 species of mollusks.

The Chesil Beach is an 18 mile (29km) long deposit of shingle running from Portland to Abbotsbury and situated within easy driving distance of Weymouth in Dorset. It forms a large lagoon known as the Fleet on its shoreward side; it’s this lagoon that the Fleet Observer explores.

The Chesil Beach and Fleet Lagoon are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. At its widest the Chesil Beach is 200 metre wide and 18 metre high which is fortunate for the local towns and villages as it provides protection from the fierce wind and waves of the English Channel. The Fleet is 8 miles (13km) long and covers an area of 480 hectares (thats 600 football pitches).

Chesil gets its name from the old English ‘ceosil’ meaning shingle, and Fleet from the Saxon word ‘fleot’ meaning shallow water.

Local myths would have you believe this extraordinary accumulation of shingle was thrown up in a single night by a raging sea; the real history of the Chesil Beach and surrounding area is no less fascinating. Having been the stage for smuggling, shipwrecks and in more recent times a testing ground for one of the greatest events of the Second World War.

During this time the wildlife of the region has endured, leaving us today with a fascinating and delicate ecosystem to explore and enjoy. The beach is ideal attraction for all ages wishing to learn a little about wildlife, geography or the history of British seafaring and as it forms part of the Jurassic Coast some people even come looking for fossils but to be honest a lot of people just come to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.