Colours, textures, abstract patterns – the rusty iron wreck at Ringstead Bay has it all. Fascinating to observe from visit to visit as it shifts, breaks up, changes. These rapidly corroding remains have lain on the shingle beach for years but I have failed in finding out anything about them.
Revision of a post first published 24 October 2009
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Jessica's Nature Blog 
These are very cool Jessica. I first became fascinated by the wonders of rust on sea wrecks when I learned about rusticles years ago. (See http://www.euronet.nl/users/keesree/rusticle.htm)
Rust is often considered so unsightly yet it does have its charm, especially in such a setting.
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I know that people think of rust in a negative way, primarily because it means that something is disintegrating – just think about the discovery of a rusty panel under the paintwork of your car. It means cost, remedial action, replacement. However, if you can detatch your thoughts from any idea of possession, and view the object as an article undergoing an element-induced natural transformation, it becomes more interesting than worrying. The whole array or orange and brown hues, the wonderful deep purples that arise, the infinitely varied surface textures, the way that old rivets seem to be erupting from the corroding metal plates, make these rusty iron objects into colourful abstract sculptures.
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I find the first of these pictures especially appealing, perhaps because it combines the irregular forms of the rust itself with the still-predominant man-made linearity of the structure that is rusting. And of course the shades of red and brown are so rich.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
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Hi Jess – I like the pictures of Rusty the Wreck. One of the photos shows 3 sections – is the wreck in 3 sections or is it 3 separate wrecks. can’t recall seeing them in the past but maybe they were covered at the time – Roy
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Thank you, Steve. I find the colours, textures and patterns of rust very attractive. I’ve taken lots of photographs on rusting seaside metal objects – like the bolts in wooden beach groynes and decaying ironwork beneath seaside piers. Most of those pictures are over on my website rather than the nature blog. You are right about the appeal of the contrast between the results of a natural process on a man-made object.
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Hello, Roy. I think they are all pieces of the same wreck. There are smaller bits under the shingle at the water line. The pebbles do move around a lot so it is entirely possible that everything was hidden from view the last time you visited. I’ve noticed the bigger parts breaking up over the ten years that I have been photographing the wreck.There might not be much left as recogniseable structures after another couple of winters.
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