Once again, there was a long gap since we were out: this time
it was another small but sturdy group consisting of Lexi and Kayla,
with Fiona to help and Jess the dog to keep us in order. I was hoping
to take advantage of the low tide, but it wasn't low enough to see
the brittle stars, or maybe it was too early in the year. Anyway,
we had a good search along the shore and found some interesting
things among the rock pools and stones. I was surprised to find
so many small dog whelks there, I can't remember them being so numerous.
After we covered the shore line we moved to the top of the beach
and had a look at the rocks.
We found some good glacial striae - fine scratches on the rocks
caused when the glaciers moved over, I'm always surprised to see
such fine detail survive on rocks which have been pounded by the
sea. We were also able to see the difference between the local metamorphic
rocks and bands of volcanic rocks, which were very black and blocky.
We crossed the road very carefully, there wasn't much traffic, and
walked back along the edge of the wood. Fiona and the girls went
up to look at a nice little glen that I thought might have a pool,
but they didn't find one. However, there was a marvellous oak tree
the roots of which were growing around a rock, and the two explorers
posed for a picture there, but I can only see one on the photograph,
better luck next time. By this time we were getting a bit hungry
so we returned to the car and had our wafers at the picnic table
while some other visitors left with two Weimeraners, which Jess
had not been able to meet.
After the wafers the girls returned to the beach and were called
back just as they had discovered a strange object: they thought
it was a dead sea snake and I wasn't surprised it was dead since
they only grow in the tropics. To my shame I didn't go back and
look at it so we'll never know.
We did a detour to see if the upside-down tree was still there,
and found it growing well and then we crossed the road again and
looked at the Douglas Fir and the Cryptomeria tree. We found several
small white flowers, some of them were Wood Sorrel but I failed
to identify the others and forgot to take a picture. Just by the
flowers the girls found a fallen tree with little blisters oozing
resin with a nice smell. I reckoned this was a Grand Fir and I mentioned
that Iain MacPherson at Ardtoe once told me they used a mixture
of resin and tar to make a glue for wood joints.
We found several small trails that might have been made by badgers
or otters and followed one of these up into the forest where we
climbed by the side of a lovely burn with lots of waterfalls and
pools.
Coming down we found a little open box on a tree, which might be
used as a nesting box but there was nobody home when we looked.
Finally we returned to the car and came back to the Tearoom where
Amie, who used to be an explorer long ago, brought us our lunch.
I have picked out Kayla's picture of the burn in the wood.
John
Dye
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