Author Archives: solwayshorewalker

The art and science of seeing seaweeds

Posted on December 18, 2025 by solwayshorewalker

When I was an undergraduate I collected these green and red seaweeds – algae – on a field trip to Liverpool’s former Marine Laboratory at Port Erin, Isle of Man. We were shown how to float the more delicate species … Continue reading →

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The ‘lava flows’ of Harrington

Posted on July 31, 2025 by solwayshorewalker

As I write this, the twelfth eruption in four years of lava and magma is occurring on the Reykjanes peninsula in the South-West corner of Iceland. Webcams, aerial videos from drones, and photographs capture the flows and colours and forms … Continue reading →

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Snippet 16: A beautiful ‘flower’ on the Allonby shore

Posted on May 30, 2025 by solwayshorewalker

Tubularia: its delicate tentacles wafting in the current, its stalks swaying gently, its body glowing crimson-red despite the sediment-laden tide. It’s not a plant, it’s not a sea-weed: it’s an animal which is related to sea-anemones and jellyfish, and a … Continue reading →

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The Highly Protected Marine Area of Allonby Bay: the story so far…

Posted on June 18, 2024 by solwayshorewalker

‘We should be excited that Allonby is the first inshore HPMA in England! It’s something to celebrate.’ Indeed it is! It was a small get-together – only five of us had come along – to discuss how much we knew … Continue reading →

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‘Compelling and interacting stories’: the inhabitants of a Solway smallholding

Posted on April 1, 2024 by solwayshorewalker

“A list of animals … could become tiresome, but it is necessary to grasp the true richness of nature. Think of it as not so much an inventory as a catalogue leading to compelling and interacting stories…”  (Richard Fortey, 2016. … Continue reading →

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‘The Fresh and the Salt. The Story of the Solway’

Posted on March 7, 2024 by solwayshorewalker

Today, World Book Day 2024, the paperback edition of my ‘Solway book’ is published. The hardback came out in 2020, during lockdown – which was not the best time to be bringing a book into the world! But despite that, … Continue reading →

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Floating cows and snarling dogs: William Mitchell of Maryport

Posted on December 7, 2023 by solwayshorewalker

There is a self-portrait of William Mitchell (1823–1900) in Maryport’s Maritime Museum [1], painted in 1899. Most of Mitchell’s other portraits are rather lacking in life, but he clearly knew himself better than his other subjects: the lower part of … Continue reading →

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A Solway smallholding: update 2023

Posted on October 26, 2023 by solwayshorewalker

Six o’clock, and the rooks and jackdaws are wheeling in the darkening sky, shrieking and cawing in a cacophony of sound, their attention focussed on the garden below. The football-rattle clatter of vigilant magpies adds another layer of sound. Like … Continue reading →

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Neaps and Springs: high highs, low highs, and high or low lows.

Posted on May 4, 2023 by solwayshorewalker

During the biggest Spring tides of the year, often in September, the height of the water in the Solway Firth might change by almost 10 metres – that’s nearly 33 feet – during the course of one tidal cycle. And … Continue reading →

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WeBS counts and webbed feet

Posted on March 11, 2023 by solwayshorewalker

“You can tell barnie poo from pinks’ poo because the pinks’ is greenish,” Frank bends down and points to the soft cylinders of pinkfoot goose poo that are scattered on the cropped turf. “Barnies’ are brownish. But they all have … Continue reading →

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