Either you find beauty in the washed up remains of shellfish or you don't. I do, I love the carapaces of crustaceans - especially when they are intact, but if you found the Dead Man's Fingers gross I guess these won't find favor. But if you stay just a moment longer, maybe I can persuade you that the Horseshoe Crab is an extraordinary animal?
A living fossil, older than the dinosaurs, they shed their hard shells and can regenerate lost limbs; they have ten eyes and spawn at the new and full moon and they just might be reincarnated Samurai warriors. But perhaps you're a quibbler who needs to remind me that the Horseshoe crab isn't really a crab at all, it's an Arthropod - a relative of spiders, scorpions and ticks.
Maybe you'd feel more comfortable if we stuck to true crabs, the ones we like to eat as soft shell crabs after they molt and leave behind the empty exoskeleton? Like the Lady Crab or
the Blue Crab or
perhaps the aggressive invader - the Japanese Shore Crab?
Just a few of the species on the Long Island shore providing dinner for the gulls.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Crab Flip
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Beach Letters: S is for...
SEAGULLS swooping low at sunset
SAND marked by the ebbing tide
SEAWEED - red, green and brown
SHELLS and smooth, shiny STONES on the Long Island Sound.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Seaweed
Seaweed. Much maligned, especially at low tide when it can stink and attract hordes of beach flies, but lovely and lively when shot as the tide recedes. Here are just a few examples of red, brown and green algae I spotted today with a very amateur attempt at identification...
There are thousands and thousands of red algae. Could this be Porphyra ? Behind in the surf is a green algae, Monostroma.
More of the Porphyra with another red algae, the dark purple Chondrus crispus or Irish moss
Norwegian kelp also known as egg wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum), a relative of the ubiquitous bladderwrack I used to love to pop as a child, and a type of brown algae. The knotty Norwegian kelp is lying poetically on a bed of Mermaid's Hair
The all-too realistic Dead Man's Fingers (Codium fragile)and more Monostroma.
Six distinct types of seaweed found in 15 minutes on a 10' stretch of Long Island Sound on a warm and sunny summer day = perfect beach life.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Lousy, Holey Hostas
Last year the Hostas were shredded by a monster hailstorm, this year it looked like slugs had got to them. Holes everywhere, neighbours out with pet-friendly snail bait, and the conditions this year have been ideal for an infestation: rainy, damp, humid weather for months. The wet weather is what makes gardening in the UK so challenging and rewarding but it's not something I've come to expect from New York's Long Island.
Having grown up a warrior in the never-ending fight against the pests I was well prepared to find lots of the slimy creatures and to deal with them. My father dug cups of beer into the ground and sprinkled salt on those that slunk lazily down the paths leaving their silvery trails behind. As a pre-schooler I was encouraged to hunt for slugs and proudly carried an old beach bucket half filled with beer and salt to drop them in. (I believe there was a reward for most slugs captured). I was ready to do battle! I searched and searched for slugs and snails, turning up leaves by day, at night peering under them by flashlight. But I found no sign.
There were plenty of holes in the leaves, even my Basil had been attacked. But no sign of slugs. Which is when a lightbulb went off in my head.
Investigation around the yard showed me that only the common green Hostas had been eaten; the giant species and the variegated varieties had been ignored. Furthermore the basil is in a huge container 2' off the ground. If it were a slug chewing on my favourite salad herb he would either have had to parachute in, master the art of trampolining without the necessary equipment, or he would have left a trail. I checked: No trail.
I went back and looked a little closer at the holey leaves. And there they were. Everywhere.
The culprits: Woodlice on every leaf, on the ground, under my plants. Not surprising really as they like moisture even more than slugs do. It's still a mystery why they are eating only the less interesting Hostas but the most pressing question was what to do about them. According to those in the know they prefer dead material to live plants so I could leave decaying plant material about for them to gnaw on, although this would probably look worse than the half-eaten Hostas. The other ingenious suggestion I read about here: Drinking straws. This I can do, after all it's the perfect solution for a cocktail drinker. Let the Woodlice War commence!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Dusk on the Dock
a little fishing
one last pass before night rolled in
the intense pink and deep navy sunset
Click to embiggen!
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Osprey in Flight
Sometimes you happen to be in the right place - the deck of the Beach Association, for example
on the right evening - calm, sunny, with a bizillion tiny fish in the bay that attract the Bluefish
and the right lens on your camera
Egret on a Rock
Not much of a sunset last night at the beach but there were compensations... more bird photos to follow...
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Another Evening, Another Sunset
This is from Saturday. I had let the battery on the Canon rebel run out and I didn't think it was going to be a stellar sunset so I only had my iphone. It turned out pretty good regardless - a little Turner, a little Rubens - pinks, orange, purple and grey-blue. Click, as always, to embiggen.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
So far...
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Beach Walk
Monday, April 27, 2009
Warm Weekend
On one of those perfect weekends that came to cheer up Spring; there was sand and summer breezes
sitting on the deck of the Bay, Friday evening watching the sun set behind Lloyd's Harbor
spotting piping plovers on the shore Saturday
a few chores like sweeping sand between the bricks on the path
celebrating the breeze with open windows and newly-hung flowing white muslin curtains
admiring the cherry blossom
and rewarding ourselves with a Bloody Mary and fresh spicy guacamole, Sunday brunch in the backyard