Mile 189 - Gwynn Cr, Neptune SP / North access, Cummins Cr - September 10, 2017

Report Details

I was on the beach between 7:25 ad 9:45 am Low tide was about 1.1' at 9:30 am. As for humans, I saw 7 people overall, 2 groups of 2, and one group of 3. Two dogs. The only activity I observed were just people waking around, enjoying and exploring. One couple approached me and asked what I ws doing. I saw 4 cars between the parking lots at Gwynn and Cummins Creeks. I've already described the shoreline wildlife in a previous section, but the obvious large wildlife was the mixed flock of gulls loafing at the mouth of Cummins Creek, Band-tailed pigeons, turkey vulture, black oytercatcher, and of couse lots of inverts on the beach, and lots of inverts and macroalgae on the rocks at both ends of the mile. The drift line was light with little debris or litter. I didn't see any dead birds or mammals. No obvious recent man-made changes, but typical erosion on the cliffs. I had 4 photos to upload. Looks like it only allows one. I that correct? How do I add more than one?

Conditions

Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: N. Tide Level: 1.1 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 7. Number of dogs: 2. Walking or running: 7. One car in the Cummins Creek parking lot when I arrived at 7:25 am and one there when I departed at 9:45. No cars at Gwynn Creek when I arrived and two cars there when I departed. The only other observation I have on human activities is that there was some monofilament line line snagged on the reef just south of Gwynn Creek. I removed some of it.

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 4.

Notable Wildlife

Always a mixed flock of gulls loafing at the mouth of Cummins Creek. The drift line was full of sea gooseberries and some jellyfish fragments too, mostly sea nettles and I noticed one I think is Aequorea. Drift bull kelp and feather boa was present too. There were 25-30 and-tailed pigeons on the cliff and in the edge of the spruce forest just south of the Gwynn Creek access. Of course, lots of interesting intertidal invertebrates on the reef on the south side of Gwynn Creek and on the rocks on the south end of the mile too. Lots of Pisaster of all sizes. On the beach just south of Gwynn Creek, right around the low tide line, 1.1', I noticed one purple olive. There were plenty of large mole crabs on the beach. A turkey vulture coasted by, heading south. On the rocks on the south end, quite a bit of healthy looking surfgrass, and I did notice a single black oystercatcher. More intertidal macroalgae than I will take time to mention here. I include a few photos to give a sense of what I'm talking about here.

Stranded Marine Mammals

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea). The drift line was pretty light and not loaded with plastic debris or litter (photo attached)

Natural Changes

There is always some erosion along the cliffs south of Gwynn Creek and on much of the south end, south of the Cummins Creek parking lot. The base of the stairs at Cummins Creek gets eroded from big surge and high tides, so that's noticeable. The base of the stairs on the Gwynn Creek side seemed to be in good shape, though I didn't look closely.

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