Tag Archives: sand

Perspectives Viewpoints and Angles

Posted on by

As I proceeded further along the beach towards Port Talbot on my walk this week, I became more and more excited by the patterns I was seeing. I kept walking backwards and forwards and around in circles to view the patterns of ridges and ripples in the sand from different angles, enjoying them from different viewpoints and finding new perspectives. As I said earlier in the week, I may be becoming obsessed with sand as a natural art form.

Sand Patterns

Sand Patterns

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Sand bank
Sand Patterns
Sand Patterns
Sand Patterns
Sand Patterns

Sculpted by the Flow

Posted on by

I was surprised to find such distinct sculpting of the sand by the flow of the ebb tide on my walk this week along the beach at Crymlyn Burrows in Swansea Bay. The sand banks were noticeable on the beach but even so, the flow of water that created these deep ridges must have been fast. Perhaps there was some other environmental influence of which I was not aware.

sand patterns

Sculpted by the Flow

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

The first shot in the sequence below is a particularly interesting mix of flowing sand and flowing water patterns. I guess the sand on the upper edge of the sand bank started flowing with the water it held after the sea had subsided to a level to allow this – fascinating nature yet again!

Sand Patterns
Sculpted by the Flow
Sculpted by the Flow
Sculpted by the Flow

Patterns in the Sand

Posted on by

I think this is a sand piper!? The name would be appropriate if only for the patterns and colouring of its feathers reflecting as they do, the patters on the beach.

You can see both these birds and the sand patterns on many beaches – I could say any beach but it wouldn’t be true. The patterns of ripple and flow on any part of any beach may have a similar structure but they are all quite unique and dependent on the local surroundings, weather conditions and so much more.

One of the things that appears to influence the patterns on the beach in front of Crymlyn Burrows in Swansea Bay are the sand banks that have built up and no doubt change continually.

Sand Piper

Sand Piper

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Sand Piper
Sand Piper

My Walk this Week – Swansea Bay 360

Posted on by

My walk this weak is in Swansea Bay on the beach in front of Crymlin Burrows and Swansea Uni Bay Campus will reveal what may be turning into an obsession with sand.

The tide was as far out as I have ever seen it and as I stood in the middle of its seemingly vast expanse and turned around the full 360 degrees I could see that the sand in this part of the bay is much more sculpted by the tide than it is in front of the city itself. This is not revealed much in these panoramic shots but I will post some of the patterns created in the sand through the week.

Swansea Bay

The soundscape of the beach is quite different to the wild blast of wind blowing on Colwyn Bay in my walk last week. Listen below to the ambience with the occasional distant sound of birds or voices from a small group of people and the faint backdrop of traffic.

Swansea Bay Ambience

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Swansea Bay – Mumbles
Swansea Bay – Hills
Swansea Bay Campus
Swansea Bay – Port Talbot

Leaving the Beach and Reviewing the Walk

Posted on by

Reviewing my walk this week I realise that the railway line running across this bridge separates not only the beach from the town, but also something of the wind as well. The beach at Colwyn Bay in North Wales is a wide open expanse across which the wind can blow unimpeded until it reaches the railway embankment above the promenade. However, this barrier does not run the full length of the bay by any means and so I imagine, like Swansea’s seafront in the south of the country, the sand gets blown far into the streets nearby.

The soundscape below illustrates the point at which the wind starts blowing – just as I cross the road to the promenade at the pedestrian crossing. My favourite sound in this soundscape is towards the end – the rhythmic rattle of metal on metal in the wind before I return to the road.

Leaving the beach

Leaving the beach

Colwyn Bay Soundscape

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Glimpse of the bay
Running into the wind
Crossing to the sea
Colours in the Sky
Paragliders in the surf
Paragliders
Wild and Windy
Looking out to sea
Wind blown sand
Sand Drift
Sand Haze
Sand and Tide
Dark Sea and Weathered Fence
Pier Structure

Patterns of Natural Sand Art

Posted on by

The wind on my walk this week on the beach at Colwyn Bay had been going to town (so to speak and literally!) when it comes to creating patterns. Not just the wind of course – its take the combination of wind and sea to create these particular patterns. In the first image they appear to have been brushing each others hair while in the second there has been more apparent friction with the sand ripples developing a multitude of blisters

Rivers of Sand

Sand Hair

Sand and Tide

Sand Blisters

Sand Drift and Textures on the Beach

Posted on by

The sand in Colwyn Bay was filling more than the gaps between rocks and it wasn’t long before my shoes were filled as well. Where the surface sand had dried it was easily blown by the wind, creating a strange sense of movement on solid ground. The sand drift smoothed out textures as it caught on rocks and other beach features and appeared as a haze higher up the beach as it flowed across a concrete groyne.

sand drift

Sand Drift

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Wind blown sand
Sand Tangle
Sand Drift
Sand Haze

Tilting at the Wind

Posted on by

No tilting at windmills here – just tilting at the wind as I nearly get blown off my feet. The power of the wind and the sea is not imaginary and it is remarkable that the youngest member of the family looking out to the horizon in the second image below isn’t being rolled up the beach like the foam of the waves.

On the gentle incline of Colwyn Bay beach the waves may not be very big, but that doesn’t mean the weather is any less wild. A number of the photos I took that day had an horizon line in danger of falling off the edge but whilst it is easy enough to correct this, leaving the first image below as it is helped to emphasise the nature of that environment at that time.

Wild and Windy

Tilting to the Wind

Looking out to sea

Looking out to sea

Sea foam

Sea foam