Who has stolen Bastion Beach?

 I went for a stroll to Bastion Beach on 18 June (at about mid-tide) to check what the big swells had done while we were away.  I had got some idea by walking down the pumping station track on the 17th: clearly the water level at the beach end had been well above normal, having knocked quite a few planks out of the boardwalk.

In summary a lot of sand has disappeared from the beach. This first image shows the wash lapping at the bottom of the steps, just after a swell had broken.  Between breaks the water would be out of this frame.

To get onto the beach, with some certainty of keeping my shoes dry, I had to clamber across the rocks to the right of the steps.  In recent times the usual level of the sand has been to the bottom of the second vertical pole.  Perhaps a metre higher,

The next image shows the length - if that is the right word - of the beach, and the width of the mouth.  I have seen an estimate of it being 100 m wide and wouldn't argue with that.

The track recorded by eBird shows my walk as ~900m return so probably 400m from the steps to the mouth.

The background offered by eBird dates from sometime in the recent(ish) past, but clearly the mouth has moved at least 600m towards the steps.  There are a few comments on various Facebook posts recording how it has shuffled back and forth over the last few decades - from the base of the steps to Harrison's Channel and back again.

The next image is a snip from the above zooming in on my track.

The light blue dashed line is the approximate edge of the water when I was there.  The dashed green line is a tide mark of debris and weed which I think marks the recent high water  mark in Develings Inlet.  The next image shows where the waves have thrown seaweed etc over the beach near the steps.

The red arrow indicates an area where the sea had been breaking over the beach: if that had been sustained it would have taken another 100m off the beach.  Here is the (near) cut through: note all the flotsam at the end of the sand.

After this walk I drove past the mouth of the Betka River.  The entire sandbar on which the Hoodies used to nest has been washed away with a vertical face to the dunes.  

A close up of the remains of the dune.

My guess would be at least a metre of sand has vanished.