Seashores and the survivor

SEASHORES 

 

Lets talk about the Seashore... Most seashores offer abundant sources of food and excellent prospects for survival. Even where they appear bleak and barren, there is food to be had. Coastal waters are the home of many life forms-- Seaweeds, fish, birds, molluscs and the plankton that support the marine animals. Inland lakes and water ways of all kinds will also team with life, with the exception of the Dead Sea and other areas of extreme salination, and those heavily polluted by man.

     Coasts can range from sheer cliffs to long and gently sloping beaches. From the sea a towering cliff offers no opportunity to escape the water. Even a stretch of beach at its foot is likely to be cut off by high tide in tidal waters, though it could offer a few hours of respite before swimming off to find another landing place. All kinds of shore, however, offer resources to exploit and there are few better places to be stranded.

Sandy Beaches...  Sandy Shores tend to be gentle and sloping. The tide goes out a long way, revealing large areas which are the habitat of burrowing species, let below the exposed sand. They include many worms and molluscs and they also attract feeding birds. Look for signs of buried mullucs. It is usually easier to spot the marks left by the syphons of buried bivalve under the shallow water at the sea's edge.

   Where the sand is not inundated by the tide and is blown into dunes, it may be possible to find fresh water and it is here that plants will grow.

  Sand is easily blown by the wind and gets into everything. Dunes also tend to be full of aggravating insects, so don't choose them for making camp or building shelter, if you can move beyond.

Muddy shores and estuaries....  Where a slow moving river joins the sea it deposits sediment, rich in nutrients, forming large mud flats. These can support many species of worms and mulluscs and provide a rich feeding ground for birds and animals.

Rocky Shores....  Rocky shores, if their cliffs are not too sheer, trap pools of water when the tide recedes. These pools may team with life. Rocks form a strata to which the many univalve shells can cling, and anchor for weed and sea urchins and crevices where octopus and other cephalopods can live.

   Soft rocks, such as chalk, marl and limestone, erode quickly and their surfaces are smooth, but hard rocks fracture in chunks and provide good nesting sites for birds.

 

Pebble Beaches...   Stretches of pebble beach, often found between sandy and rocky sections of the shore, sustain least life. The continual movement of pebbles makes a difficult habitat for most plants and animals.

 

Tides....   Tides vary considerably according to both location and time of year for they are caused by the counter-gravities of the sun and moon. In enclosed seas, such as the Mediterranean, they range over only a few meters. The Bay of Fundy, Between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, has a difference of 52 feet between low and high tide.

   A line of debreis along the beach; a change in appearance and texture from the long dry sand to that which is daily inundated; weed, shells, and color changes on vertical rock faces, all these will help to indicate the level to which the water is likely to rise.

    Always check access to and from a beach or rocky shore. Keep an eye on the rising water level so that you do not run the risk of being cut off. Tides not only scour the beach but throw up valuable flotsam and jetsam, often providing fuel for fires and may leave large fish stranded in rock pools along with their inhabitants.

 

          That's all for today....

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