May Tides

Warmer weather and low tides make for a pleasant stroll on the beach.
The newly exposed sand has the same appeal as a pristine snow covered field.  They both invite us to mark our passage with footprints.  The difference on this warm day is that bare feet are the best option for mark making on the beach.  You feel the sand squishing with each step and if your stroll is long enough you may even up with smooth clean feet.  It beats an expensive pedicure.

 For a short time the ocean seems miles away.  In the distance there is a tidal pool between sand bars.  In the foreground, the inter tidal area has a heavy crop of sea lettuce and barnacle covered rocks.  Small crabs that didn't scurry fast enough to keep up with the receding water are hiding underneath the sea weed.

Patches of sand are dotted with small holes indicating the presence of calms.  The crows and gulls have learned to dig out the small butter clams but the creature that made this hole is a bit too large for a crow to tackle.

 Near by a clam digging gull is now trying to open a small butter clam by dropping it over and over onto the rocks.

Clam shells are abundant on the beach after a storm whips up the sandy bottom.  Freshly exposed clams have intricate pattern on their shells but the patterns fade over time.  The shells are collected by beach combers of all ages.  Some of them are used to create temporary art installations on the beach.

shell collection with crab

The old stump in the photo is often decorated with shells or rocks depending upon the availability of materials and the preferences of the "artist".  In this version it carries a variety of shells.  Over the winter the wind and waves will remove most of the shells and every summer a new artist will discover the stump and re-decorate it.

It is common to find piles of broken shells that represent human activity rather than the action of the waves or gulls.  It seems to be another of those natural urges that happen when we are presented with a breakable object (the shell) and a tool to break it (a stone).  There doesn't seem to be any logical reason for breaking up the shells but the activity is so common it must relate to some primal urge.  In any case someone used a cache of broken shells to create the patterns on the tree stump shown in the photo below.


Here's to the artists who have chosen shells as their medium.  Their "environmentally friendly" works may be short lived but they give us insight into the human spirit.

April, Officially Spring Now

chairs waiting for warmer days

While it is officially spring now it is still a bit too cold to sit very long near the water nevertheless someone has decided it is time to put out the red chairs.

alone again

 The beach is largely deserted now.  The visiting gulls have moved on along with the Brant geese, seals and sea lions.  There is hardly a trace of the frantic activity that accompanied the herring.  It is quiet again without the barking, squawking and muttering of the recent visitors.

Now you can hear the pair of local eagles calling to each other, the rapping of the woodpecker, the ravens throaty croaking and the calls of the smaller birds.





For a short time children free from school take over the beach.  They have some primal urge to build sandcastles but it is too cold to wade out onto the sandbars where the damp sand can be packed so they improvise with materials available beyond the tide line.

fortress with tunnel

The construction can be quite elaborate and even a miniature engineering project.  The one to the left includes a basement dug out of the sand.  The "roof" includes sticks and stones.  The one on the left is a "starter" castle or perhaps a prototype.

"starter" rock castle

             








The urge to build quasi shelters on the beach doesn't stop when you grow up.  When you can lift the logs (with the help of a friend or two) you can make much bigger "castles".

shelter with extensions

The structure pictured above is large enough for a small child to sit in.  The roof may not stand up to a good wind but the artistic extensions suggest the builder might have a future as an architect of iconic buildings.

March and Herring Season

gulls enjoying herring roe

The northward migration of birds peaks in March and coincides with the herring mating season.  There is no better example of the inter-connectedness of natural phenomena than the herring spawn.  It attracts predatory fish, birds, sea mammals and humans who are all dependent on this tiny fish.

   

bones from herring

Flotillas of sea lions dot the water.  They look like small log booms with flippers raised now and then like the crook of a branch.  Their calls are mixed with the barks of local seals that are bobbing up and down just off shore.  Pods of migrating ducks and Brant geese are also floating nearby.  They are timid and much quieter than the raucous gulls and rarely set foot on the beach.

Thousands of gulls crowd the beach like white confetti.  The local Glaucous gulls are out numbered by close relatives in different sizes and body shapes.  When disturbed the flock lifts as one giant cloud and shifts up or down the beach to another spot.  This happens every time an eagle takes flight to try its hand at fishing.  When the visiting gulls finally move on the beach is littered with white feathers.  I've never seen one of the local eagles attack a sea gull but these are not taking any chances.  A moving target is harder to hit.

fishing fleet waiting off shore

The fishing fleet follows the herring up and down the coast.  The boats sit off shore waiting for the "opening shot" when they are allowed to drop their nets.  Then there is a short period of frantic activity that is accentuated by the circling and wheeling and screaming of the gulls.  They drown out the droning of the Dept of Fisheries plane that is monitoring the whole process.

turquoise water

The roe changes the reflective properties of the water near the shore.  In the sunshine, the ocean takes on a greenish-blue or turquoise hue that makes it look tropical.

The bite of the cold wind is a reminder to keep your jacket on.  It will be several months before the water is warm enough to enter voluntarily.

herring eggs on sea lettuce

The photo to the left shows what the fuss is all about.  The seaweed along the tide line is coated in eggs that will never hatch.  Smaller birds and scavengers will gradually find most of them,  The rest will rot.  After the birds have left we will have that lingering fishy aroma to remind us of  the little herring.

February

Winter is still in control of the weather and he has drenched the coast with cold rain backed by gales.  The sun has managed to get control a few days here and there between storm fronts.  When that happens the walkers emerge and head for the beach.  But the tides are relatively high at this time of the year and a beach front stroll depends upon the sun and the tides cooperating.

Winter is a time of change for the beach.  The wind and wave action have their most dramatic effect at this time of year.



The wind driven waves have scoured the ocean floor and thrown sand up onto the beach.  The rocky areas that were prevalent in the summer are smoothed out with only pebbles showing here and there.  By July the waves will have clawed back the sand and left a rocky strip between the upper shore and the sand bars visible at low tide.  Crossing that rocky strip can be a balancing act or an exercise in pain control if bare feet are involved.

foam sand pebbles

           

a few more logs

The waves also bring with them a new batch of logs and tree stumps.  Some of the logs bear the marks of a lumber operation far across the water on the mainland.  The logs tend to shift position along the beach over time but most are here to stay until they are no more.  They turn silver-grey, acquire bumps and wrinkles along grain lines and grow an assortment of vegetation.
All of the logs are not are carried to this place.  Some are remnants of trees that once grew along a much older shoreline.  

Douglas Fir tree roots

  Every winter the waves attack the land at the edge of the shore.  They carve away the earth exposing the roots of the shrubs and trees that grow along the edge of the forest.  It may take years but gradually the undercut areas give way topping anything growing there.

Douglas fir mid section

Douglas fir top section

The three photographs show an ancient Douglas Fir tree that has been toppled in a storm.  It is one of the many large older trees in this forest.  It would have been a sapling 150 years ago and would have grown far much farther inland than today  It fell with an explosive noise. 

midden from ancient clam collecting party

The action of the water on the shore also reveals signs of older human activity such as this midden.  This pile of butter clam shells was discarded by a group of clam diggers sitting on the beach many years ago.  It is old enough that a layer of earth formed over top of the shells and it became part of the forest floor.

Slowly the water is taking back the land and reshaping it.

Introduction to the beach

view towards mainland mountains

This blog is about a beach.  It’s a 2 kilo-meter stretch of sand and rocks along the ocean.  It starts at a protected river estuary, runs past a rural settlement and along the edge of a forest then forms a flat curving bay where the land is covered with grasses and low growing vegetation.  The forest and bay area are parkland.

The beach is on the west side of an island facing the mainland so it is somewhat protected.  Here the ocean floor is relatively flat with large but shifting sand bars that are exposed at low tide to create miniature aquariums or swimming pools that are attractive to small children and dogs.

The park is a favourite with campers.  The summer months belong to families with small children.  In the spring and fall older adults and retirees take over the campsites.  The winter months are for the hardy few who enjoy rain and the more ardent bird watchers.

Like all natural phenomena, the beach is subject to cycles.  It has a short term cycle that follows the seasons and much of this blog will look at the short term cycle.  It also has a long term cycle that isn’t always so easy to discern but there are clues if you look for them.

The vast majority of people who come here treat nature with respect but they still leave behind traces of their activities.  There is some human need to make a mark where ever you go.  The blog will look at how that plays out on the beach.

January in the fog

There isn't much to see on a foggy January morning.  The atmosphere suggests whispers, hidden secrets and ghostly beings.  A group of ducks are feeding in the shallows.  You might be able to imagine them in the photograph.  A loon is calling out there on the water. An eagle comes out of the fog to settle on a dead tree and a pair of gulls glide towards land.  High overhead some Canada geese are making their way eastward.

Welcome to the beach