Mile 200 Report
Big Stump Beach, south Patterson SP
May 1, 2023
On Saturday, Apr 29, there was a volunteer cleanup event organized for a Girl Scout Gold Award with SOLVE starting a Patterson State Park.
Report Details
On Saturday, Apr 29, there was a volunteer cleanup event organized for a Girl Scout Gold Award with SOLVE starting a Patterson State Park. I attended for 2 hours and saw many volunteers walking near the park and south on Mile 200. When I left, there were bags of trash collected by the volunteers and a couple of abandoned crab pots. I picked up a bucket full of trash - flip flops, styrofoam, plastic pieces, plastic water bottles, beer cans, and some rope. I had hoped to walk my mile this day but instead returned two days later. There were 6 cars in the parking lot this Monday morning and the weather varied the whole time I walked the mile - cloudy, then rainy and finally sun. Patterson Creek was flowing nicely and there was an abundance of sandpipers feeding in the creek near the ocean. As I walked south, I saw a couple of Mallard ducks in the ocean, some Whimbrels feeding on the beach and near the ocean (so nice of them to stop by on their way migrating north) and a pair of Black Turnstones. About midway through the walk, I saw 3 turkey vultures feeding on a bird carcass. Unfortunately, I did not see any snowy plovers like I did last time. The high tide line had a few sticks, lots of rocks, some shells and crab body pieces. The beach was fairly clean but I did see a few plastic water bottles even after the big cleanup on Saturday. The vertical wooden log on the dune that I use as a reference for finding one of the paths to 101 was not there anymore. I did find the path using GPS, but the dune was way too high to reach it. I saw lots of erosion on this dune. One of the sandstone bluffs with graffiti (Chris loves Staci) has a large piece of rock crumbling from the bluff. Near Big Stump, most of the debris that I saw last time had been cleared from the sets of stairs that lead from the cottages and beach houses to the beach.
Conditions
Temperature: 48 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 5.6 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 10. Number of dogs: 2. Walking or running: 9. Other Activities: 1 collecting driftwood.
Concerns
Disturbances: Shorebirds moving in response to humans/dogs
Vehicles
Notable Wildlife
Whimbrels, Sandpipers, Black Turnstones
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 1.
Driftline Content
Small rocks, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces.
Natural Changes
Erosion of vegetated foredune, Visible retreat of solid bluff. large piece of crumbling rock from the bluff
Report Images
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