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In Pictures: Sun, storms and Mother Nature’s fireworks – a year on our coastline

The best pictures from Britain’s beaches during 2023.

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Sun rise

Britain’s coastline is a place people flock to in good weather and bad, all year round.

The past year has seen the coast drenched in sun, battered by storms and provided a front-row seat for nature’s fireworks – including the unmissable Northern Lights.

Ferry in stormy seas
The start of 2023 saw stormy seas rage around the coastline, with ships forced to battle massive waves and swells, including here at the mouth of the Tyne on the North East coast (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Windswept beach
In mid-February, Storm Otto left walkers on Tynemouth beach surrounded by sand whipped up by the strong winds (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Northern lights
There was a spectacular display of the northern lights off Whitley Bay in March, showing Mother Nature at her colourful best (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Beach volleyball
Spring finally arrived in time for the Easter weekend in April, with people enjoying the warm weather on Bournemouth beach (Ben Birchall/PA)
Mist
But the warmer temperatures came at a cost in some parts, with the coastline at Deal, Kent, shrouded in mist (Victoria Jones/PA)
Portobello beach
May saw the hottest day of the year at the time, with sun worshippers flocking to Portobello beach near Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)
Dogs
Much further south, all creatures great and small seemed to enjoy the warm spell on Bournemouth beach (Andrew Matthews/PA)
Kayakers
A month later and temperatures soared, with it later confirmed to have been the hottest June on record for the UK. Here, kayakers kept cool in calm conditions at Cullercoats bay in North Tyneside (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Stormy seas
But it was a different story in July, when wet and wild conditions brought stormy seas, with huge waves crashing over the pier at Tynemouth (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Surfers
The unsettled summer continued into August, but stormy seas brought joy to some on Longsands beach on the North East coast (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Sunbather
September was a tale of two halves, with sun worshippers back on the beaches during a heatwave in the early part of the month – which later made way for Storm Agnes (Victoria Jones/PA)
Stormy seas
People walking along the seafront in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, used their coats as shelter during the storm (Danny Lawson/PA)
Large waves
The sheer power of the sea was evident along huge parts of the coastline in October, as Britain was battered by Storm Babet. Here, waves crash over the harbour wall in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Northern lights
On Bonfire Night, nature provided its own fireworks in some parts of the country, including here over Bamburgh Lighthouse, Northumberland (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Snow
Early December snowfall resulted in a scene fit for a Christmas card along the coast at Seaton Sluice, Northumberland (Owen Humphreys/PA)
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