Devon, England

Starcross Strand slipway

Launch — A public slipway on The Strand (A379) at Starcross, on open space managed by Teignbridge District Council and Starcross Parish Council, giving onto the tidal frontage.

Parking — Teignbridge District Council runs pay-and-display parking on The Strand, on the estuary frontage a short walk from the slipway, and sells a season permit valid only for this car park.

Access — The slipway sits on the A379 (The Strand) through Starcross, with a signal-controlled pedestrian crossing on the road beside it. Teignbridge District Council and Starcross Parish Council manage the frontage as public open space, and no published booking requirement or access restriction applies to launching here.

Season — A seasonal foot-passenger ferry to Exmouth calls at Starcross Pier next to this frontage, running from Easter to October in a typical year. Exeter City Council's Port Authority, the harbour authority for the estuary, publishes a running Notice to Mariners feed covering any current works, surveys or closures on this stretch of water.

Regulations — Byelaw 4a restricts powerboating to a marked area of the estuary when the predicted tidal height reaches 3.8m or more, and Byelaw 5 confines waterskiing to a marked, buoyed area. The whole estuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area and Ramsar site for birds; users are asked to keep clear of two voluntary Wildlife Refuges, including one downstream at Dawlish Warren, where landing on the Soft Sand Bay is discouraged each year between April and September. A Harbour Revision Order under consideration by the Marine Management Organisation could extend the harbour authority's charging powers to include human-powered craft on the estuary; no such charge is currently in force.

Starcross Strand slipway launches into the tidal Exe Estuary on its west shore, with Exmouth on the far bank. The estuary dries at low tide to broad mud and sand flats that support at least 20,000 wintering waterfowl and waders, part of the wider Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Area that covers the whole estuary. Powderham Castle's parkland and its restored Belvedere Tower rise on the hillside upstream, and the sand spit at Dawlish Warren closes off the estuary mouth to the south.

The Exe Estuary at Starcross

Upstream of Starcross the estuary continues past Powderham towards Turf Lock, Topsham and Exeter, about ten kilometres from the open sea; downstream it passes the harbour at Cockwood before the estuary opens to the sea.

The mud these flats expose is unusually productive: the Exe Estuary Management Partnership records up to ten million microscopic worms, thousands of snails and hundreds of shellfish in every square metre, feeding the estuary's wading birds and wildfowl. Dwarf eelgrass beds growing in the shallows feed wigeon and the estuary's dark-bellied brent geese, which arrive here from Arctic Russia every winter.

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Cofton Holidays

Caravan and camping holiday park open to public bookings, under a mile south towards Dawlish Warren.

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Conditions to check

Shallow or rocky

The estuary dries extensively at low tide, exposing mud and sand flats between the slipway and open water and restricting the tidal flow to a channel under 500 metres wide at its widest point.

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Tidal flow

Tidal streams strengthen from Starcross towards the estuary mouth, where flows can reach several knots at springs near Dawlish Warren.

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Boat traffic

A seasonal foot-passenger ferry between Starcross and Exmouth lands directly at Starcross Pier on this frontage, and moorings lie off both Starcross and Powderham.

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