Whenever I’m down in the swash or threading my way through backshore driftwood, or anywhere in between, I’m searching for things the currents, winds, tides, and surf deposit on the beach. This year the drift was full of treasures. Some had human origins, and there were plenty from marine, estuarine, and terrestrial sources too. Unravelling their stories is irresistible, and some remain mysteries. Below, arranged chronologically, are a few discoveries that caught my attention last year.
A crate for your wrack line treasures | January
World traveling liquor bottle with no message, just a head of wheat inside | January
Lots of plastic in the drift line | February
Velella and raindrops | March
Hagfish trap funnel | April
Bladder chain, Stephanocystis osmundacea | Coquille Point, Oregon | May
Clouds and rocks in the mirror | Coquille Point, Oregon | May
California beach hopper, Megalorchestia californiana | May
Island in the sand | Coquille Point, Oregon | May
Harbor seal pup returns to sea | Coquille Point, Oregon | May
Leathesia marina, an epiphyte on Sargassum | May
Lost line | June
Looking down on the wrack line | June
Olivella biplicata trail | June
Lost crab buoy | June
A pioneering dunegrass, Elymus | July
The Dungeness molt is on | July
Wrack line | July
Drifted ashore on a lost buoy line; the gulls couldn’t be happier | July
Pictured rove, Thinipinus pictus | July
Moon jelly, Aurelia | September
Drift Fucus | September
Favorite landmark | September
Drift eelgrass, Zostera, one blade with red fringe, Smithora naiadum | September
Big drift log, big float, lost gear | September
Bleached root wad, taller than me | September
Traces of a curious coyote | September
Lobed compound tunicate, Cystodytes lobatus | September
Rose-purple frills | September
A rose-red beauty | September
Sprophylls, Pterygophora californica | September
Fan-shaped blades and a blue-violet iridescence; must be Gloiocladia laciniata | September
A pioneering dandelion | September
This drift bull kelp almost forms a treble clef | September
A gull’s interest in drift Postelsia is solely on the holdfast | September
October
Beachgrass, Ammophila arenaria; an Ammophila monoculture in the background | October
Locals only | October
Fat gaper condrophore | October
Sea nettle, Chrysaora, fragment | October
Fall tides supply new materials | October
Macoma sp. | November
Probably dog winkle, Nucella lamellosa, eggs; sea oats | November
Red Phalarope; the fall storms are tough on them | November
Blue buoy fragment | November
Big wood littering the backshore | November
Sea rocket, Cakile edentula, perched on the backshore shelf | November
Glow sticks, offshore fishing gear | November
Steel belted | November
Almost high tide | December
Pyrosomes are pelagic colonial tunicates | December
Drift bull kelp | December
That’s a view of the 2016 wrack line though my eyes. It’s just a sample; if you want to see more floats and buoys, drift algae, carcasses, bottles, drift line inhabitants, and other beached drifters, browse through Wrack Line 2016 or any of my Wrack Line pages.
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I remember my brothers always chasing me when with Bull Whip Kelp when I was a little kid, this was down along the shores of Victoria,BC…I’m finally not afraid of them (the bull whips)! lol… Lovely array of shore finds (except the human kind) That bottle would of been interesting, any note in it?? I wonder if anyone ever found mine I tossed into the sea over 30 yrs. ago…….
Your finds in all these photos are great and so interesting to see.
Again really beautiful photography on your part Steve.
Thanks! You’re kind to say so.