Just the moon, or those who dwell there?

The moon might cause earthquakes on Earth, new evidence shows
The Independent
The moon could cause huge earthquakes because of the stress it puts on our planet, according to new research. Scientists have long suspected that the moon might play some part in the major earthquakes that strike across the world and often cause huge ...

Coconuts, turtles, ocean quahogs - discover the mysteries of Sefton's shorelines

Flotsam and jetsam from the seven seas can – and does – wash up on Sefton’s sandy beaches, such as Southport, Ainsdale and Formby, and the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership has decided to celebrate the fun and mystery of beachcombing with a one-off festival day in October.

Coconuts covered in goose barnacles, Kemp Ridley’s Turtle, octopus, exotic Triggerfish and the shells of the enigmatic Ocean Quahog have all come ashore in recent years – but you never know what you’ll discover on the tideline.

The free Beachcombing Festival will take place at Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre from 10am to 3pm on Sunday, October 30.

But if you can’t get there (like most of us) explore the seashore nearest you for amazing finds.

Memories?

A gigantic fireball lit up the skies in Cyprus in the early morning hours of Friday local time, causing not only an incredible burst of light but also a boom so loud that the ground shook. Authorities don’t believe the meteor hit the Earth and more likely exploded in the sky.

Remember:

• http://beachcomber-alex.blogspot.co.uk/2007/10/aurora-australis-unleashes-southern.html
• http://beachcomber-alex.blogspot.co.uk/2007/08/heavenly-firework-display-may-have-been_01.html
• http://beachcomber-alex.blogspot.co.uk/2007/10/thousands-watch-spectacular-fireworks.html

Beachcombing with heart

Beachcombing isn’t about stuff; it’s about people. We are connected to one another through our love for nature, walking beaches, appreciating the ever-changing tides and the wave-worn treasures we sometimes find and always appreciate as gifts from the sea, gifts we sometimes are more than happy to share with our beachcombing families.

See the touching story and remarkable finds, when the author lost her sea pottery finds:
http://www.splicetoday.com/writing/beachcombing-family

 

 

Makes my collection look sad!

Beachcombing in America!

Is there a simpler summertime pleasure than strolling a beach to collect the shelled treasures that wash ashore? Well, only eating ice cream in bare feet, perhaps, though those can go hand in hand. Follow our lead for the best beaches for beachcombing across the USA and get ready to fill your buckets with sand dollars, shark’s teeth, sea glass and more.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/america/2016/08/26/best-beachcombing-beaches-around-usa/89358988/

Beachcomber think’s he’s found balloon adventurer's gas canister

A beachcomber believes a large gas tank that washed up on the West Australian coast is from the hot air balloon Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov famously used to fly around the world.

In July, Mr Konyukhov, 65, broke the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth in a hot air balloon, landing safely at the small WA town of Bonnie Rock, 11 days after launching from nearby Northam.

 

Beachcombing is a longstanding tradition on Texel, the largest of Holland's West Frisian Islands

What washes up on the island's shores? Apparently airplane propellers. Jars of money. Mammoth bones. Lots of messages in bottles.

The nearby shipping lanes, strong currents, and steady winds make Texel a magnet for anything adrift in Northern Europe…..

http://www.coastalliving.com/travel/other-coasts/treasure-island-texel-netherlands

Mudlarking

“the sound and smell of dying centuries” of the "river highway"  [It’s basically a book review, but interesting]
http://www.splicetoday.com/writing/london-in-fragments-a-mudlark-s-treasure

 

Stubby Squid

A species that looks like a cross between an octopus and a squid, but is most closely related to a cuttlefish. "This species spends life on the seafloor, activating a sticky mucus jacket and burrowing into the sediment to camouflage, leaving their eyes poking out to spot prey like shrimp and small fish,"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEhYJEQmExE

New Jersey beachcomber finds mystery U.S. Army ring

Viral search for owner highlights life of man with a metal detector

http://www.phillyvoice.com/new-jersey-beachcomber-finds-mystery-us-army-ring/

I always wanted to know what a sand dollar is!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-instagram-takeover-pamela-doyle-oceanluvngal-1.3677435

So I looked it up, guess this one is more of a biscuit

The term sand dollar refers to species of extremely flattened, burrowing sea urchins belonging to the order Clypeasteroida. Some species within the order, not quite as flat, are known as sea biscuits

There’s beachcombing, and then there’s beachcombing!

Volunteers collect tons of marine debris from Alaska shores

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article90622802.html

FAMILY EXCURSIONS - Beachcombing

Yesterday's Island/Today's Nantucket (blog)

Beachcombing is simply searching the shores for items of interest. I find myself collecting seashells each time I go to the beach. There is always a shell ...

Wowie! I’m moving.

Tim Davies has collected more 2000 coins and other items with his metal detector after last weekend’s storms, at Ettalong Beach.

This we heard, remember?

The 'song' of ancient stars

Scientists in Britain have recorded rhythms of a 13-billion-year-old star cluster. The 'music' is captivating, and it is also instrumental in furthering our understanding of the origins of the Milky Way Galaxy.

You need to take care in Tassie waters

Dragon over Edinburgh

Please vote now : παρακαλούμε να ψηφίσετε τώρα

Greek islanders who have been on the frontline of the refugee crisis are to be nominated for the Nobel peace prize with the support of their national government.

Of the 900,000 refugees who entered Europe last year most were received –scared, soaked and travelling in rickety boats – by those who live on the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

The islanders, including fishermen who gave up their work to rescue people from the sea, are in line to be honoured with one of the world’s most esteemed awards. Eminent academics from the universities of Oxford, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell and Copenhagen are drafting a submission in favour of awarding the prize to the people of Lesbos, Kos, Chíos, Samos, Rhodes and Leros.

Sign the petition at https://secure.avaaz.org/en/nobel_prize_greek_islanders_21/?pv=73&rc=fb

It was a near thing!

Το καλοκαίρι - δε φεύγει απ’το μυαλό

This is what I found on our beach!

Not my cat, Mavros, as some of you will know, he is black!  And some may have guessed!

Kaboom: Russia has an unsubtle plan about how to deflect asteroidsKaboom: Russia has an unsubtle plan about how to deflect asteroids

Could Russia's plan to 'nuke' doomsday asteroids save the world from apocalypse?

Russia is working on a scheme to save humanity from asteroids by blasting them with nuclear weapons.

This is seen as a better option than simply blowing them to smithereens - a tactic which could end up showering Earth with radioactive comets.   Oh yes, I remember that bit!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/could-russias-plan-nuke-doomsday-7197313

Stargazing

British television with a brand new project – Pulsar Hunters. We need your help to discover unknown pulsars. These are the dense, fast-spinning cores of dead stars. Get involved in the biggest Zooniverse event of the year at www.pulsarhunters.org.

As the neutron star spins, beams of radio waves from its magnetic poles sweep across our line of sight so it flashes like a cosmic lighthouse. Radio telescopes can be used to detect this very regular 'tick-tock' of a spinning pulsar. But discovering new pulsars is like finding a needle in a haystack. We must search for their faint, repeating signals hidden among terrestrial radio interference from devices like mobile phones, radars and telecommunications equipment.

Have they tried throwing stones?

So, I'm being facetious!  NASA has set up an asteroid defense team to protect the Earth from potentially threatening celestial bodies that could strike our planet, damage our environment and even wipe us out, the US Government’s space agency announced last week.

http://marketbusinessnews.com/asteroid-defence-team-do-protect-earth-set-up-by-nasa/120417

So I didn't like it looked like a potato! (See below)

Stones of strata

This morning I found all three of these stones.  The top one is better than this, {I know, looks a bit like a potato!} but the other two are quite good I think.  I was wondering whether to photograph them or what, when I remembered that I had scanned Karagiozi when I first found him and it turned out well.  - Today's Find (Actually it was the day before I started the new blog, but I wanted to be dramatic.)

Probably more from Eastbourne, but I like the colours and patterns.

Bits of Eastbourne Pier still washing up at Hastings! [?]

Work of wind and waves.

Artwork! Found on the beach, as is.

Happy New Year - decorations washed up from under the deep sea party last night.

Planet Earth could be at higher risk of a space rock impact

Centaur, or giant, comets Earth are likely to fall apart into dust and massive fragments that will flood the inner solar system with cometary debris and would make inevitable impacts on Earth.

And the answer?  Fling the stones that put the stars to flight!

I hope you saw it too!

On Christmas Day, there will be a full moon, the first since 1977.

This full moon, the last one for 2015, is called a Full Cold Moon because it happens during the start of winter.

A full moon on Christmas won't happen again until 2034.

Comforting? I think not, but interesting

Star Wars: How to build a Death Star, according to Nasa

On an asteroid you have 'all the building blocks you would need to build your family Death Star'
"It could provide the metals. You have organic compounds, you have water - all the building blocks you would need to build your family Death Star,"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/star-wars-how-to-build-a-death-star-according-to-nasa-a6771466.html

Beachcombing!

Well, perhaps not, though it is on the beach.  It is from old stuff from the Pier, where it is being rebuilt after a fire.  See http://hastingspeerlesspier.blogspot.co.uk/  for lots of information

We have two beaches!

And one is mostly sand, the other one is rocks and sand, then sand, then along by the beach huts it is pebbles, and then sand.  I’ll try to get some photos later.

That’s funny!

Our pebbles come first, then the sand, and mostly only at low tide.  How about you Sandy?

I like mine better–and it is the Greek colours

(Alright, I did play around with it a bit!  But it was on the sand, above the pebbles, on our beach.)

 

Sand art

Mermaid’s jewellery at low tide.

You think that’s spooky!

I have just been reading Falconer’s Lure too!!!!!!  We have to read H is for Hawk for school, and I thought, well, I know lots of it from Falconer’s Lure, and I was checking something, and just started reading it again.
Do you think maybe Alex should read it too?  JIC?  Alex, you can buy it from, no you can’t, I just checked, and http://www.ggbp.co.uk/ don’t seem to have it any more, then I checked Amazon, and you definitely can’t afford their prices! Sorry.  Anyway, it probably doesn't mean anything.

A funny thing happened ……

And I am glad we are back up, so to speak.  Anyway, I was reading Falconer’s Lure (Sandy will know what I mean, even if you don’t Alex!) and Peter said:

“I read an absolutely terrifying book once about the moon being pushed out of its proper path and crashing into the earth.  I s’pose it could happen!”

Isn’t that a bit spooky?

Not exactly beachcombing–but what a find!

A spate of shipwrecks recently found near a group of Greek islands has given researchers new insights into how trade routes and sailing technology evolved in the Eastern Mediterranean. And with more exploration planned, additional discoveries are still likely.

The find is remarkable both for the sheer number of wrecks in the small area and the range of time periods the vessels came from.

The earliest wreck dates to the Archaic Period (700-480 B.C.), while the most recent is from the Late Medieval Period (16th century A.D.). Ships from the Classical Period (480-323 B.C.) and the Hellenistic Period (323-31 B.C.) were also found, though a majority—12 of the 22—sailed and sank at some point during the Late Roman Period (300-600 A.D.)

Ask the right people…………...

Scientists are keeping a close eye on a big asteroid that may pose an impact threat  to Earth in a few decades.

The space rock, which is called 2011 AG5, is about 460 feet (140 meters) wide.

It may come close enough to Earth in 2040 that some researchers are calling for a discussion about how to deflect it.

Apologies for the lack of posting!

Due to Google’s increased security, we (me, Sandy and Lexie) were locked out of the blog.  Google said we were using it from a device not used before, which was not true in the case of any of us!  But it seems to have fixed the problem now!

Are they still at it? Giant asteroid heads towards Earth – see it from your backyard

A giant asteroid is hurtling towards Earth – and stargazers should be able to see it from their own backyard.

Καλά Χριστούγεννα και Καλή Χρονιά [Syntagma Square]

My mudlarking finds

Firing on the Foreshore

Pots made from Thames river clay were fired in two bonfires constructed on the foreshore from Thames driftwood - an ancient London tradition going back more than 5,000 years.

(Last year the tides must have been more favourable, as it seems to have been happening at dusk, which would be that much more atmospheric – maybe next year, maybe we could all do it?)

Firing pots

Then the tide comes in

Mudlarking by the Thames

This is the urban equivalent of beachcombing - looking on the beach for 'treasures' washed in by the sea – and today, for the third time, I spent several hours wandering around, picking up things and photographing others.

It was a special ‘open day’ as part of Totally Thames, the totally pants name for what used to be the Thames Festival.

Have a look here for finds that will make you green with envy – well, they do me!  https://sites.google.com/site/thamesandfield/river-finds-1

Here are a couple of my photos

Remains of a cartwheel

Used to anchor ships pulled up onto the beach for repair.