• Home
  • about
  • about the photographs
  • Rhos-on-Sea
    • St.Trillo’s Chapel
  • Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve
  • Bryn Pydew Nature Reserve
  • Mynydd Marian
  • Coed Pwllycrochan Wood
  • Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve
    • Grey Seals in North Wales
  • Great Orme
  • Llanddwyn Island & Newborough Warren
  • The Wales Coast Path
  • Wildflowers of Coastal Paths, Cliffs and Dunes

everyday nature trails

everyday nature trails

Tag Archives: lichens on rock

Between the rocks and the sea wall

19 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, nature photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

crystals in limestone rock, lichens on rock, limestone rock, moss on rock, rhos-on-sea, riprap breakwater, sea wall

On days when the wind blows in strongly from the north-east, blustering across the Irish Sea and whipping up the waves into foamy ‘sea-horses’, strolling along the promenade can be challenging and I have to admit, not that pleasant. On such a day I was heading towards Penrhyn Bay hoping to catch sight of Rock Pipits and to photograph Pied Wagtails, both of which I had seen recently on and around the sea wall there. The strength of the wind took me by surprise and if I had gone out with the sole purpose of taking an enjoyable walk I may well have reviewed my plans and set off elsewhere, but as I’d never seen Rock Pipits elsewhere, I was keen to see some.

Fortunately there is an alternative walk-way that was created when the original sea wall was constructed: a ledge, about 3′ (1m) wide was created on the wall’s seaward side placed about half-way up its height. In the 1980’s further protection from the wild winter seas was required and the breakwater, consisting of an immense pile of enormous rocks was piled in front of the wall. The rock pile rises higher than the walkway ledge, thus creating a sheltered passageway between the two structures. There is no view from there, the dark seawall encloses one side and the length of the summit of the rock pile the other, so other than for shelter from the wind I would not normally choose to walk this way.

A length of the rock breakwater running from Rhos-on-Sea to Penrhyn Bay in front of the sea wall

The piling of large rocks, also known as riprap, at the base of vertical Edwardian and Victorian sea walls is frequently used as a secondary defence mechanism to prevent them being undermined. Riprap works by absorbing and deflecting the impact of waves before they reach the defended structure. The size and mass of the riprap material absorbs the impact energy of waves, while the gaps between the rocks trap and slow the flow of water, lessening its ability to erode soil or structures on the coast. 

As I walked along, wondering where the vast amount of rock had been taken from, I began to see this confined, shaded and slightly claustrophobic space in a different way. I was drawn to individual rocks that had interesting surface patterns, crystals or layers of other types of rock or minerals and wished I knew what they were. I recognised too that a micro-climate exists here that is helping to create a habitat for an interesting number of plant species from vascular plants to mosses and lichens.

Limestone rock with a tracery of worm-like squiggles and touches of pink colouration. The pink stuff may be a lichen.

The rocks themselves are predominantly locally-occurring limestone and it is humbling to reflect on the fact that eons ago they would have been forming the sea-bed and now carry evidence to ancient life forms.

The beautiful crystals in this picture may be dolomite or perhaps quartz and the purple may be fluorite.

An interesting crystal-like deposit

A ribbon of mineral(s) marks this rock

A macro view of a patch of a Xanthoria sp of algae

A yellow-coloured species of algae

Cushions of moss

Plants have begun to colonise some of the spaces between the rocks and somehow manage to grow at the base of the rocks where they make contact with the sea wall.

A fern squeezing out from between two rocks

Ivy-leaved Toadflax - Cymbalaria muralis

An enlarged view of the delightful little flower and leaves of the Ivy-leaved toadflax

A tiny flower, enlarged, that I think may be English stonecrop-Sedum anglicum. The spiky leaves in the background are of a separate plant, quite possibly Thrift.

Red Valerian is an intrepid and highly successful uninvited coloniser that originates from the Mediterranean region

Red valerian has very pretty flowers that here were attracting several small moth-like insects that I think may have been Owl Midges.

Growing up between the rocks and the sea wall, I have yet to identify this plant

As they frequently do, my walk turned out to be unexpectedly interesting and I did get to see my Rock Pipits, which will be featured in my next post that will be following very shortly.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Like this:

Like Loading...
Follow everyday nature trails on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

MOST RECENT POSTS

  • The Wilds behind the Sea Wall August 18, 2020
  • Midsummer Hillside July 15, 2020
  • Midsummer Woods July 5, 2020
  • Tiny Tree-top Dancers May 3, 2020
  • The Birds and the Bee-flies April 6, 2020
  • Kinmel Dunes-Twyni Cymnel February 9, 2020

OLDER POSTS

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR?

SPECIES COLLECTIONS & IDs

The following are my species collections & ids and a work in progress I hope to be able to keep adding to.

BIRDS

SIGHTINGS LISTS BY AREA/HABITAT

BUTTERFLIES

Butterfly collection & id

BUMBLEBEES

Buff-tailed bumblebee

Bumblebee collection & id

HOVERFLIES

Hoverfly collection & id

BEETLES FOUND ON FLOWERS incl. Ladybirds

Click for more beetles

MY WILDFLOWER BLOG: where the wildflowers are

Snowdrop

Snowdrop

Winter Heliotrope

Winter Heliotrope

MY SPANISH BLOG: nightingale trails

The Walk of the Monarch Butterfly-Sendero de la Mariposa Monarca

The Walk of the Monarch Butterfly-Sendero de la Mariposa Monarca

Wildflowers and Nightingales

Wildflowers and Nightingales
Follow everyday nature trails on WordPress.com

Social

  • View teresamaygreen’s profile on Twitter

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 382 other followers

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
%d bloggers like this: