September 25, 2010

Temperature: 60 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: W. Tide Level: 3.0 feet.

Number of people: 1. Walking or running: 1. I rowed down the Lower Fourmile Creek and across the New River at nine this morning. There were large flocks of ducks on the river which took flight as my dinghy approached the mouth of the creek. There was no breeze, and it was sunny when I set out, but a mist so thick I could scarcely see the dunes from the wet sand came over the shore during the space of an hour. The air temperature was mild, I guess in the low sixties. The river was very low and full of vegetation. When I pulled up on the west bank I was surprised to see the tracks of a person who was wearing shoes and of a dog. I saw more of these over on the beach but never saw who made them. I suspect they were less than one day old. Beyond the sand dunes the beach was level until fifty to one hundred feet from the water,and then it was sloped fairly steeply. The waves were up to four feet trough to crest, or perhaps slightly taller on occasion. The water was not cold. The wet sand was fine, but I did find some courser sand up where the beach was dry and level. The water line had hundred of jellies, some pretty large including one over five inches across. Most were clear but there were yellow and brown ones, too. I saw only a single gull during my jogging up and back along the mile. There were less than a dozen crab parts but these included two pretty large pinchers. I saw one mussel shell or perhaps two. There were less than a dozen oyster shells along the mile. For the first time there were lots of little white feathers, an inch or two long, right at the edge of the water. They were white and shaped like a parenthesis. There were occasional large clumps of bull kelp as well as individual strands. There were occasional pieces of another type of seaweed which is green and in flat ribbons up to six of eight feet long. There were also small pieces of a seaweed that looked a little like red lettuce. I saw at least two floats up on the dry sand, one quite large. There was one sneaker and two pieces of paper. First time I can recall seeing paper litter. When I recrossed the dunes, I was disappointed to see two established gorse bushes, each about two feet high and several feet across. This was the first time I had found gorse bushes on the west bank, but I had previously reported little sprigs growing there.

Litter

1 gull over surf, lots of ducks on New River, many jellies on wet sand.

Unusual concentration. Hundred of jellies, at least one every six feet or so.

Seaweeds and seagrass, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Shells, Small rocks. Feathers, small, white and shaped like a parenthesis, one to two inches long.

Gorse bushes on west bank New River

None noted

Odd to see footprints on this normally desolate mile. First time I've ever seen those feathers, and there seemed to be more jellies than usual but less shells. Only one gull and not other birds spotted along the entire mile.