Sand Ripples at Ventry Bay

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A wide and shallow river flows over the sandy beach at Ventry Bay on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. I do not know its name. Characteristic ripple marks are made in the wet sand around the margins of its wandering channels, showing the influence of the freshwater currents modified by the sea water tides. As you walk away from the fast flowing water, the overlapping ‘leaf’ patterns made by the river currents gradually transition into the parallel ridges of wave-induced ripples that are more typical of the intertidal shore .

Limestone Walls

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Dry stone walls on The Burren

The stark landscape of The Burren in County Clare, Ireland, comprises fields of Carboniferous Limestone rock pavement with sparse and specialised vegetation divided by walls of precariously balanced rocks. Moss and lichens cling to the limestone boulders and bent thorn trees miraculously survive with their roots among the stones.

Knotted Wood

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Maybe it was something to do with the way that the planks were drying out, or something to do with the type of timber that had been used, but the cracked knot holes were really distinct in both shape and colour on this wooden pier, and looked like some crazy kind of deliberate decoration.

Rochefort Slacks Water Ripples

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The wind was blowing really hard across the navy blue water surface of slacks trapped behind the shingle banks at Rochefort Point. Rochefort Point is a short walk from the Louisbourg Fortress in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The ripples were tight packed and narrow, travelling at speed. The water was actually a brackish brown but reflected the clear blue of the sky resulting mostly in dark blue hues. From some angles and in certain lights the sun shone through the ripples revealing the reddish colour of the water. The low standing crests of the waves were so distinct that it seemed as if the water was viscous.

Cerne Summer Riverside

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The river banks along the Cerne near Charlton Down are almost impenetrable with thick mid-summer vegetation, dominated by the pink flowers of Great Willow Herb and the invasive Himalayan Balsam, as the adjacent fields have been stripped bare and ploughed after the barley harvest.

Thames Dock Water Ripples

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Thames Dock Water Ripples 1 -11: Rippled river water surface pattern and texture in an abstract artistic image derived by digitally altering the colours of a photograph so that the blue represents the reflected light.

Seatown Ammonites

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Lots of serious fossil hunters go to Seatown in Dorset to find fossil ammonites that have fallen to the beach from the cliffs. The cliffs for the most part are composed of Green Ammonite Member which is part of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation laid down in the Jurassic Period. The ammonites that are most commonly found in this type of rock are Aegoceras, Androgynoceras, Liparoceras, and Oistoceras. I haven’t found any decent fossils of the type I could pick up and take home, but there are plenty of fossils and ammonite impressions to be seen lying in pieces of rock on the shingle beach where people with hammers have broken them open. These pictures show some of the specimens that I found on my last visit. I am not sure which species they represent but maybe some local geologist may be able to look at these images and tell me what they are.

Seatown Mud Tracks & Trails

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The soft smooth almost liquid muds that flow down the cliffs at Seatown after rain, pool and sink into the shingle on the beach. It doesn’t take long to see amazing networks of tracks and trails on the mud surface. These are made by a myriad of small invertebrate seashore creatures like worms, snails, and sandhoppers as they walk across, burrow, and tunnel into it, foraging for food and seeking shelter from exposure. The number of distinct track marks is amazing and I have no idea which mark was made by which animal (that is a whole new project requiring the collection of some mud samples for identification of the occupants of this habitat). Large bird footprints from crows and gulls show that these areas are also good places for them to feed on the creatures in the mud.

Images can be seen in greater detail by clicking on any photograph to view in the gallery, and then clicking “View full size” below the picture.