Sketching from the Strandline

I had intended to write a post about illustrating birds of prey, but perhaps I will do that once I have finished my owl drawing.

Instead, I will introduce you to a few mysteries of the strandline, that area on a beach where natural and man-made debris gathers after the tide has gone out.  The position of the strandline on the beach can vary according to what type of tide there has been.

You may wonder what mysteries I am referring to, especially as it is April 1st !

I visited our local beach at Meon shore which overlooks the Solent between the mainland of the south coast of England across to the Isle of Wight.  I never tire of visiting here, as one side of the road is the shore and the other side is where Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve is located.  Regular readers of the blog have no doubt heard me mention this place before.

 The tide going out revealing the shingle spit and looking across the Solent to Fawley Power Station.

Can you spot the Turnstones ?

 The sun shone brightly to reveal the beautiful shades of green on the Spiral wrack seaweed

  Now for the first of the mysteries .....

As I wandered through the tidal pools out on the shingle spit, I always walk along head down looking out for Snakeslock sea anemones, but no luck today.  What I did notice was several small gelatinous blobs bobbing around in the water.  A photo wasn't possible but I managed to illustrate one in my sketchbook (bottom left above).  Apparently they were the egg masses of the Green leaf worm, which is common on British coasts in a variety of habitats.