Low Tide

With a new moon last night, today saw a 4m spring tide, so much of the foreshore, and features like Bogha Caol Aird (pictured) were exposed shortly after midday. Bogha Caol Aird is a skerry, a line of rocks running parallel to the land, joined to the beach by a low shingle bank.

Trevor Potts' Ardnamurchan Campsite stands immediately above it. Despite yesterday's Bank Holiday, the number of visitors has fallen off, as can be seen from the lone tent pitched in a field which has, at times this summer, been crowded.

We took a walk along the rocks, looking for nothing in particular but finding a surprising number of spiders stringing their webs across the rocks close to the sea. Given the high tide that's due tonight, and a bit of wind to create some waves, which isn't forecast, this chap would be unlikely to survive.

Poking around in the rock pools we found these creatures, each about three or four centimetres across, some resembling green olives and others green toadstools. Our rather inadequate guide to the seashore contains nothing resembling them. Does anyone know what they are?

The last fading thrift are still in flower. They look worn out, as if they know their year is ending and they face the long rigours of winter - wind, rain, and a constant battering by the sea.