Society, nature, and experience

jouissance on the margins

Peter Dickens

pp. 257-287

in: James S. Ormrod (ed), Changing our environment, changing ourselves, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

Orford Ness is an isolated 1551-acre shingle spit facing the North Sea, off the Suffolk coast of Great Britain. On the one hand, the place offers a distinct and spectacular experience of humanity's relations with external nature. The site is about 2000 acres in size and is a rare but fragile environment for rare bird, plant, and insect life. Avocet, hawk, redshank, oystercatcher, and many other migratory waders all breed there and it is the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe with a very wide range of rare plant life (National Trust 2003). It is now protected as an Environmentally Sensitive Area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.