Tag Archives: sand

Magical Calm Before the Storm

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I have said that the weather was kind to us on my walk this week. It can be seen here on the expansive beach at Whitford, that there was the potential to be caught by an impending storm. Fortunately the wind favoured us and took this huge bank of dark cloud off to the north east.

calm before the storm

calm before the storm

The scene felt other worldly with the calm humidity and the simplicity of the open space. The haze blurred the details of what land could be seen and the “canvas” was reduced to indistinct sea and sky in muted colours. The old Victorian iron built Whitford Lighthouse was an enticing object just out of reach in the water and a small flock of one of my favourite birds flew as if in slow motion along the length of shore, mixing their calls with the skylarks. It was magical!

Larks and Oystercatchers

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Still beach scene
calm before the storm
Oystercatchers
Whitford Lighthouse

Bay Campus – Reviewing the Walk

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During my walk this week at Swansea University Bay Campus there were some beautiful sunny spells which allowed me to enjoy the campus at its best. However, below is the proof that bad weather will set in eventually! Even when the prospects look good for sunshine, these unpredictable days can so easily change and suddenly bring in wind and rain, even hail or snow.

dark clouds

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Definition of Pattern

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If the Swansea Uni students using the new Bay Campus have the chance to enjoy the beach in front of them, they will find, as I did on my walk this week, that some of the sand of the beach is made up of what appears to be old coal dust. This is entirely possible of course, given the industrial history of the area.

beach with black sand or coal dust

What I enjoyed about this aspect of the beach was the contrast in colour betweenContinue reading→

Reviewing the Walk – Colwyn Bay

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My walk across Colwyn Bay beach was fairly brief but gave me some sense of the place in favourable conditions. The low sun revealed classic line patterns in the sand and it seemed to me that these were reflected in the patterns of the encrusted fence that surrounded the old pier.

Colwyn Bay

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Familiar Patterns – Lines in the Sand

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The sand of Colwyn Bay beach was full of linear patterns familiar to anyone living near the sea. As the sun dipped lower and lower on my walk this week, the patterns became more pronounced and however often I may have seen these kinds of sand patterns, they are not something of which I could ever grow tired.
sand patterns

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Collecting Seaweed

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My short walk this week across the beach at Colwyn Bay in North Wales presented some fabulous patterns. The dilapidated state of the old pier was protected by these barriers which have clearly been there long enough to gather a healthy collection of seaweed.

seaweed and fencing

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Fun and Games on the Beach

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The sky may still be murky on this Swansea Bay walk, but the dogs are having great fun playing games on the beach. Walking along the tide line, it was great to watch them and see how much they enjoyed it. The patterns of tracks they left in the sand were mostly chaotic, but now and then there would be clear arc of paw prints showing a dog’s direction as it chased a stick or ball.

Other fascinating patterns were also to be seen in the black sand or coal dust covering part of this eastern end of the beach.

dog tracks

Playing Fetch

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Beach Finds

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All sorts of stuff had been washed up on the beach to entertain me on my Swansea Bay walk this week. Everything from a colourful tree stump to a limbless doll. The sand, too, gets washed up into some interesting drifts – I can only imagine the state of the windows of the apartments on the promenade. Having lived on a seafront in the past, I know how quickly the salt and sand builds up in the Winter months.

Beached Wood