Saturday 15 January 2011

Texture

Andy and I had been planning all week to go to Dungeness today, and I was not sure yesterday if I would want to go. I had a good sleep though so we went. I am so glad we did as it was good to get out in the fresh (very fresh!) air for a little walk. There were lots of strange things on the beach-things that looked like little bumpy brains, very smelly things like soft bones, sabre toothed fish bones, weird giant sea woodlouse remains and lots and lots of starfish. The poor things must have been washed up onto the beach in rough seas. I think some of them were still alive but I am not sure. All of the pictures today are of textures. Soft
Lily gives the seal of approval to the finished blanket-I did have some fleece Anne-thanks for the tip! It was quite hard to sew up as it was very thick and heavy but it'll do.
Spiky
These thorns looked striking in the sun-hurray for the sun. Such vicious points!

Bobbly
These egg sacks were all along the beach-more than I have ever seen before. I still do not know which fish they belong to. I must find out!

It is a whelk egg case. I found out here. It says in this report that if the egg cases are grey then the whelk have hatched, but if they are yellow then there may be eggs still inside. They are found during the January breeding season. They were definitely yellow. I wonder if they can still hatch when they go back into the sea at high tide.


Bumpy
This orange thing and lots more like it-except more yellow and quite brain like-is a mystery to me. It is soft and porous looking. Any ideas?

Grained
This was a lovely shaped piece of wood-it made me think of a foot. I left it behind as it was very damp and I worry that tiny creatures may be living on it, and I will take them away from all they have ever known, and immerse them in soapy water! Terrible!

Ridged

Smooth

Slimy

Stippled
It is encouraging to think that there are lots of creatures living just off the coast-but as Andy pointed out there are less now. I have never seen a real starfish before, but would rather have seen live ones! I had a quick look for reasons for the dead starfish and it could be storms, the fact they have spawned and are exhausted, or they could be moving around to try to find new sources of food-mussels. All these are old stories but it seems it happens and that nobody really knows. Did anyone ever find out why the birds fell out of the sky in Arkansas?

Reflective
Nearly home and we spotted this cab with a great number plate.
I was in a queue and had my camera handy, so no risk was incurred!

6 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

Way to go Lily! That's exactly where I would be too!
Your fingertips look pretty cold, Sarah, but I like all your finds. You could do the River of Stones project easily!

I don't get the cab number - does it mean something? (Or am I just dumb?)

Kat

Janine said...

Cats! What would we do without them?

Thank you so much for taking us with you on your beach combing trip! I loved it! That orange thing kind of reminds me of the inside of a sea urchin. Kind of anyway. Those Whelk eggs are interesting to see. All of it was! Thank for sharing!

Are you using your Pogo?

Gabbi said...

A lovey day, I especially like the cab at the end... would love to visit your part of the world one day!

Kat Mortensen said...

It didn't seem unusual to me because I thought all the British cabs must have to have the "CAB" on the plates!

Kat

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun day! I haven't been to the beach in forever! We use to find starfish on the beach a lot when we had our beach house.

Lily looks right at home on the blanket!

→lisa said...

Lovely beach photos (with the possible exception of that dessicated fish head).

I remember seeing lots of live starfish clinging to rocks in British Columbia. They're a beautiful shade of purple over there!