Stormy starfish carnage

The Safari wasn't able to get out early doors this morning and had to wait until lunchtime before venturing forth to the seawall. There was a reasonable number of gulls on the beach mostly Black Headed Gulls rather than Herring Gulls, it's usually the other way round by a mile at the mo. We couldn't find anything in amongst them but could see they were working their way through a particularly dense stretch of a long strandline.

There wasn't much happening out at  sea so we decided to take a shuffy at whatever the gulls were looking for.

It was pure carnage down on the sand, victims of the storms of the last several days.

What we couldn't see from our elevated vantage point was just how many Common Sand Stars there were, there must have been thousands of them, some still just about alive or at least very slow in the bitingly cold wind.

Looking at the strandline more closely we noticed there were quite a few Bristle Stars lurking there too.

Not only Bristle Stars but also some Cushion Stars too, it shouldn't be but it is amazing what you find when you start to look closely - just how much tonnage of life is out there? Everyone should really be looking at their surroundings closely at all times, there's just some much to see.

 Some of those Common Sand Stars were pretty sizable compared to our size 9s

Sat a little way apart from the rest of the carnage was a nice bright Queen Scallop encrusted with Dead Mans' Fingers, a relative of the anemones.

We posted a general pic of the carnage on Twitter and ended up with a bit of a challenge from LM another marine biologist friend

 Here's our tally
1 - Pod Razor
2 - Bean Razor
3 - Curved Razor
4 - Rayed Trough Shell
5 - Thin Tellin
6 - Common Cockle
7 - Necklace Shell
8 - Comon Sand Star
9 - Brittle Star
10 - Sea Potato
11 - Masked Crab
12 - Shore Crab
13 - Sand Mason Worm cases
14 - Fan Worm cases
15 - An unidentified worm (slightly top right of centre - any ideas anyone?)

Earlier this morning we learned that the Limpet was back in town although we should have received the message yesterday, the wonders of modern technology ehh!

So with a few minutes to spare we had a quick look, we were told roughly were it was. It didn't take long to find, stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Made a bit of a hole in the Enteromorpha there hasn't it.

Go on let us into a secret - where has it been for the last however many months? It's only inches from where we last saw it but it's not been near there in recent weeks - as far as we've been able to search at least.

Cold out there again in that cruel wind but a good bit of exploring well worth getting chilled to the bone for.

Where to next? It's the weekend and we've got a certain natty version of Goldcrests as a target.

In the meantime let us know who's all washed up in your  outback.

That sure was an icy blast

The Safari had a bit of a shock this morning. Nothing much was happening on Patch 2 not many gulls on the beach having been disturbed by dog walkers, the sea wasn't much cop either, very choppy and not much out there bar the Common Scoters. 

A little later back in the office a pale bird shot past the window, we thought it might have been the elusive Song Thrush from the other day but no it wasn't that, rummaging around under the hedge picking up the odd stick here and there was a Collared Dove (P2 #38) and pretty much a mega at work. Once back at Base Camp we checked our records and discovered it  was the first we've seen on Patch 2 since 2010!!!

The rest of most of the morning was spend on a very windy beach exploring what the storms have brought in. The strand-line was extensive and our two small children soon got to grips with the multitude of shells. We'd sort of promised them some Starfish, Common Sand Stars, which the gulls had been gorging on earlier...they must have done a lot of gorging as we failed to find any. 

Lots of good stuff out there. Plenty of Dead Men's Fingers sponges, this one found on the way back to the wall stuck to a Scallop.

Did you spot the Pomatoceros triqueter worm's head poking out of it's tube.

Also doing a bit of peeking out is this Hermit Crab from its Barnacle encrusted Moon Snail shell hidey-hole.

While we were looking for bigger starfish we started to find their smaller cousins the Brittlestars. Some were quite sizable for this species but all were missing large amounts off their limbs.

On the right of the Brittlestar we there's another sponge Halicolona oculata using a Fanworm case (whose name we have forgotten - DB help us please) as a holdfast.

A good haul all round.

Isn't our beach brill!

Where to next? Not sure what might happen this weekend, possibly not able to get any safari-ing done but we'll see.

In the meantime let us know who's peeking out of what in your outback.

Picking up where we left off

The Safari had a good count of over 980 Common Scoters moving south this morning with more still coming when we had to leave and we didn't count the ones on the water so well over 1000 present today. A flock of 10 Great Crested Grebes sat together was good too see along with a single and another going south. Also going south were several auks sp, a Guillemot and three Razorbills. Red Throated Divers were good too with a couple nicely close enough for a good study and two more heading south - do the birds know something we should know? A Goldcrest was in the bushes by the car park when we arrived at work, a rarity in itself but we're quite sure yesterday's 'mystery' bird wasn't 'just' a Goldcrest.

Later we joined the beach clean and was very pleased to see such a big turn out. As we walked up the Prom the beach looked nice and clean as the tide ebbed off the wall (passing the Police dissuading a potential suicider out on the way) but at the end of the hour the group had collected 40kgs of rubbish, mostly small pieces although a lost/discarded sopping beach towel helped push the kilogramage up a bit.

Still that 40kgs of rubbish that won't be veing washed back out to sea. Well done everybody and shame on those who dropped it in the first place!!!

At the death a Peregrine flew over us and headed straight out to sea until it was too far away to be seen!

Whilst waiting for the tram back to the office this Starling landed close by and sang as he walked about looking for litter to break in to.

After lunch we had a group of tiny tots on our usual beach looking at the shells and other great stuff to be found there. 

Off shore a trawler was working, not sure which one as it doesn't seem to have a transponder. It's very close in! You can just make out a small flock of Common Scoters in front of its bow.

The youngsters did sterling work despite their very few years bringing back all sorts of good stuff. The best of which was this enormous Edible Whelk and the small but bright red Queen Scallop.

They also found two of the biggest  Beadlet Anemones we've ever seen, not jsut here but anywhere on our travels! Common Prawns and Brown Shrimps were netted and just a solitary Sand Goby although it has to be said they need more practice with their netting technique - must be hard when you're not as tall as the net handle!

Most of the usual suspects were found, Common Ottter Shells, Pod Razors, Common Razors, Common Cockles, Edible Mussels, Rayed Trough Shells, Banded Wedge Shells, Thin Tellins, plenty of live Periwinkles and a lone Tower Shell, a nice mix for their first beachy adventure

Where to next? A weather change is apparently due but how will it affect Patch 2?

In the meantime let us know what the tide washed in in your outback.