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Author Archives: solwayshorewalker
‘Trains and boats and … cranes’: the Port of Workington
Once upon a time you could – it was said – walk from one side of the Prince of Wales dock to the other across the decks of ships, and the Port of Workington employed 150 people. Now, there are … Continue reading
Posted in ports, The 'Energy Coast'
Tagged coal, containers, dock, gypsum, Iggesund, ships
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Tyrean Purple dye, Philip Henry Gosse, and the Bell Rock lighthouse
Puzzling about the link to Solway Shore-walker? It is the dog-whelk Nucella lapillus, the ‘boring mollusc’ of an earlier blog-post. On page 182 of Natural History: The Mollusca, published in 1854, Philip Henry Gosse writes: ‘From Mr Stevenson’s interesting account … Continue reading
Posted in shells
Tagged dog-whelks, Gosse, lighthouse, Seaside Pleasures, Tyrean Purple dye
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Dune walk (with one diversion)
My guided shore-walks are ‘vertical’, from the bottom to the top of the shore – we usually spend a lot of time looking at the animals near the low water mark, with diversions on the way back to see the … Continue reading
Posted in dunes, sand, tidelines
Tagged butterflies, dunes, lugworms, marram, sand, sandmartins, shore-walks, tideline
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Boring molluscs and bevelled edges
Dog-whelks, Nucella lapillus, were clustered on the mid-shore rocks in late April; singles, twos and threes, they were apparently uninterested in the barnacles beneath their feet, but were there to socialise or, more specifically, to meet partners of the opposite … Continue reading
Posted in shells, tidelines
Tagged dog-whelks, Gosse, mussels, Natica, shells, shore-walks, tideline
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Sculpting sand
Sand is naturally sculpted by wind and water: lifted and swirled to create ever-changing dunes, or washed to and fro and compacted in a shifting pattern of ripples. If the topography and environment change over geological time-scales, the sculpting, the … Continue reading
What’s an AONB?
“Most people don’t know what an AONB is – but it’s exactly what it says, it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.” The important word is ‘beauty’, of the outstanding and natural type. Graeme Proud is the Ranger/Volunteer Co-ordinator for … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, tidelines
Tagged conservation, hot potatoes, litter-picking, rubbish, strandline, volunteers
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Tidelines
At its highest point on the shore, the turning tide writes a description of the day. Tidelines are historical records: of the lives of plants and animals, and of their deaths; of weather – storms and floods – local and … Continue reading
