It's been ages since my last post here. All sorts of boring circumstances are to blame, so before 2012 gets too far advanced, I'm going to fill in a few of the blanks, starting with some recent stuff
On 15th January I missed a gathering of the Rainton Meadows photo group at St Mary's, Whitley Bay, but found myself in the area so I had a wander about, with a view to doing a little bit of seashore macro work. I'd like to have been able to photograph some of the birds that were about, but don't really have the lenses, or indeed the patience needed for the redshanks, oystercatchers and curlews. Even the usually tame purple sandpipers weren't playing.
I did find some items of interest though. Many of the rocks on the foreshore bear evidence of limpets feeding. They may look dormant when the tide's out, but when submerged they are very busy creatures, feeding on algae covering the rock. The tongue-like radula leaves a distinctive pattern as it rasps the algae from the surface.
Further out, past the lighthouse, a I found this fragment of kelp encrusted with a bryozoan (probably Membranipora membranacea). Bryozoans are an interesting group of animals, and for an introduction, I highly recommend this article on Jessica's Nature Blog http://natureinfocus.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/sea-mats-what-are-they/ which also provided an answer to my wondering what the upright structures might be.
