Such a lovely day, lovely memories, from Porthmeor beach where clear rivulets trickled down the shore over clean pale sand with black flecks and created delightful patterns in the flow.
https://natureinfocus.blog
Jessica's Nature Blog 
Lovely criss-cross pattern
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The close up photo, exquisite. And the bigger ones remind me of when I was very young, at a beach for the first time, and noticed how my feet planted in the surf, made the water divert into patterns as the wave ran out. I found that absolutely fascinating, and your photos brought it back to me.
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If you like the criss-cross patterns in this post, Hamish, perhaps you would like to see this short video of similar beach stream patterns in motion that I posted some time ago:
https://natureinfocus.blog/2011/07/04/changing-ripple-patterns-in-a-beach-stream-1/
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Thank you, Claudia. I am pleased that my pictures brought back memories of your childhood. I have often videoed the changing, moving, water patterns on the beach, and this one shows how the on-shore wind was constantly changing the pattern in the water as it flowed across the sand. You may see a similarity in these types of water pattern to those left in the sand in other images posted here. It is easy to see how the ever-changing water patterns, in both the sea and beach streams, are related to the ripple patterns left on the sand:
https://natureinfocus.blog/2011/08/26/changing-ripple-patterns-in-a-beach-stream-3/
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Yes, I’ve noticed the same thing, water leaving a mark on the beach, or bank in my situation, as for me it is creeks that I have in my daily life. I am always amazed at the complexity of natural processes – they are always many layered and with many implications (getting philosophical about it, I guess).
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Thank you, Claudia. It is intriguing to discover what might have been going on in the past, that has resulted in the fascinating natural features that we see all around us today.
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Beautiful and surprising pictures. The river Dart near where I live “sculpts” the mud into landscapes as it recedes with each tide
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Thank you, Philip. I love the way tidal river mud is shaped and changed with every tide in quite a different way to the waves creating ripples on a beach. I must pay the River Dart a visit. I took some pictures of the drainage landscape in mud when I was up in Hull a few years ago.
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