Anchor Head put-in (Weston-super-Mare)

Weston Bay sits where the Bristol Channel widens into the Severn Estuary, between Brean Down to the south and Worlebury Hill to the north. Because the Channel's tidal range is one of the largest in the world, the ebb governs a return crossing here far more than distance does, drawing the water back a long way from the seafront.

The shoreline here is part of an internationally protected wetland, supporting large numbers of wintering and migratory waterbirds across intertidal mudflats, sandflats, saltmarsh and rocky shore platforms.

Birnbeck Pier reaches from beside the slipway out to Birnbeck Island, about 300m to the south-east, and is visible throughout a launch here. Built in 1867 to Eugenius Birch's design and Grade II* listed, it is the only pier in the country linking to an island. Years without maintenance closed it to the public in 1994, and North Somerset Council warns that the pier and island are unsafe and in danger of collapse.

The RNLI ran a lifeboat station from the island from the pier's opening until it was forced to leave in 2014, and now operates from a temporary base at Marine Lake. North Somerset Council bought the pier in July 2023 and, with UK government and National Lottery Heritage Fund support, is restoring the pier structure; the council's stated ambition is to reopen the pier and island to the public, though no completion date has been confirmed.