SEAWEED PART TWO

I know it's a bit odd to post a whole load of pictures without saying anything about them. However, while I'm not wanting these to get too dislocated from the time they were taken, I don't want to mislead by labelling them wrongly either.

At the moment, my printer isn't working properly. When it's back to normal, I'll take these pictures to the Nature Centre and ask for help in checking what's what! Then - I'll return to these seaweed posts and add labels.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy seeing these plants as much as I do.

Last week, I posted photos of leaves and fronds (I expect there's a better technical term - that's something else I need to find out) which had been detached by the sea or the season from wherever they have been growing during the year and had been washed up on the beach by the sea. This week, we're looking first at sea plants attached to rocks on the beach.

Like this

And here's a close up. Aren't they remarkable?

The plant above has found a place high on a rock. I don't know if it's ever covered by water or just spray-washed. It's the kind of thing I'd find it hard to check in person. I can hardly sit at the foot of the cliff and wait for the tide to come in. By the time I knew the answer, I'd be drowned - so I wouldn't be able to report back to you. I need to find a book!

And here's an independently minded individual which sits like a King of Shellfish (see them?) on its castle. This plant must be happy to be submerged by the tide. What a strange life!

In other places many varieties crowd for space.

I was going to count how many there are on this rock but realised I was getting confused. At different stages they change appearance. For instance, leaves which are flat grow the balloon-like bits (technical term to be learnt!) which are fun to pop and make it look like a completely different plant. I'm also uncertain how much colour is affected by light. Can the same plant change colour depending on the light available to it?

There are other confusions. This little snail looks bright and vulnerable.

Draw back - and we can see why bright yellow turns out to be good camouflage.

Flat Periwinkle (Littorina obtusata) on Fucus vesiculosus

It's also interesting to find leaves out of context. Amidst this pile of this and that seaweed a . . .

a Sycamore leaf!

It's non-stop variety and colour. Story books give the impression that seaside and seaweed are almost synonymous but that's as daft as expecting to find apples in spring or snowdrops in summer. The sea and its contents (don't quote me!) seem to have their seasons too.