Tankerton slipway
Tankerton slipway sits on the shingle beach at Tankerton, on the eastern side of Whitstable, at the foot of Tankerton Slopes. The beach opens onto the Kentish Flats, a shallow plateau up to 6 to 8 metres deep on the south side of the Thames Estuary where the Swale meets the open sea, drying at low water to mudflats worked for native and Pacific oysters within the Swale Estuary Marine Conservation Zone. The Street, a shingle-and-clay spit, runs about half a mile out from the beach and disappears under the flooding tide. Offshore, the forty-five turbines of the Kentish Flats wind farm stand about six miles out, with the Maunsell forts visible further along the coast.
The water and the shore
Above the beach, the north-facing slopes are a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation, carrying Britain's largest population of hog's fennel, a nationally rare umbellifer, and around a fifth of the UK's population of the Fisher's estuarine moth, which depends on it. The vegetated shingle below carries yellow-horned poppy, sea kale and sea holly, and the mudflats support wading birds including ringed plover.
Oyster trestles and beds lie on the flats offshore, part of the wider Whitstable oyster grounds, within the Swale Estuary Marine Conservation Zone that reaches seaward to the end of The Street. Dinghies and catamarans from the adjacent sailing club cross Tankerton Bay through the sailing season, and the beach itself is cut by a line of timber groynes controlling longshore drift along this open, unshielded stretch of North Kent coastline.
Nearby
A cafe on the promenade at Marine Crescent, beside Tankerton Bay Sailing Club and directly above the launch.
A caravan and camping park about a mile east at Swalecliffe, open to public bookings; the operator restricts bookings where most of the party is aged 17 to 25, and single-sex groups of three or more under 25, and closes for February.
WebsiteConditions to check
The Street, a shingle-and-clay spit, runs about half a mile out from the beach and is quickly covered by the incoming tide; the RNLI has repeatedly reported people and anglers being swept off it by strong currents into deeper water.
The Kentish Flats, where the Swale meets the Thames Estuary, are a shallow sub-marine plateau up to 6 to 8 metres deep, drying to extensive mudflats off Tankerton at low water.
Tankerton Bay Sailing Club, immediately beside the launch, sails dinghies and catamarans most weekends and some weekdays from late March to early November.
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