Old Whiteford Boat Wreck

I revisit things I have found on the beach to see how they change with time.

I hadn’t walked along Whiteford Sands for quite a while. My last visit was a few months ago – in December, I think. I was surprised at how much the seashore had changed when I went there again a couple of weeks ago in mid-March. There have been some very striking large scale changes as a result of the winter storms (and I will talk about what has been uncovered very soon).

I have photographed the remains of the small wrecked boat at Whiteford many times over the past ten years. Despite the major transformations to the Whiteford Point area over winter, the little wooden boat wreck remained untouched. This time the planking of the upturned hull was mostly covered by dry sand. However, part of the keel or mast-housing was still above ground. The timbers a little more weathered and etched – providing a great place for yellow lichen to flourish. The rusting old ironwork staining the adjacent timbers but the rivets still holding all the pieces together. The wreck looked very picturesque against the pristine wind-blown sand and the cold blue sky.

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Rusty Pebbles at Whiteford

Vast swathes of pebbles on the beach at Whiteford in Gower are coloured orange – or at least they were the last time I looked. (The beach sediments there are very mobile so it cannot be guaranteed that you will see exactly the same thing on each visit). These coloured pebbles are found in a band stretching from the base of the sand dunes at the eastern end of the beach towards the disused Victorian Whiteford Lighthouse.

The pebbles seem to be coated in rust rather than rusty because of their intrinsic composition. I guess the first couple of times that I noticed the orange pebbles I vaguely thought that they were stained by rust emanating from the decomposing remains of the old iron causeway that linked the lighthouse to the shore. You can often find pieces of the iron framework of the walkway – sometimes supports still in situ and other times single pieces of the structure lying free.

However, lately, I have been discovering more and more about the Quaternary geology of the Gower – a relatively recent geological period dating from about 2.5 million years ago to the present. This includes the Pleistocene with a variety of glacial, peri-glacial and inter-glacial deposits; and the recent Holocene (from 11,800 years ago) with peat and submerged forests, marsh, dune, beach and alluvial deposits. As I read more, I am gradually reaching something of an understanding about some of the natural phenomena that I observe and photograph on Gower beaches. So I now tentatively consider that the rusty pebbles are not related to the dilapidation of the old lighthouse but are the result of a much older natural geological process.

I have already mentioned in Jessica’s Nature Blog the remains of the submerged forest at Broughton Bay which lies to the west and adjacent to Whiteford Sands. These ancient tree trunks are embedded in peat deposits. While I was reading George (2008), I learnt that the peat decomposes to form a hard ferruginous layer called an iron-pan or hardpan. This has led me to wonder if the iron compounds that coat the pebbles at Whiteford are derived from an iron pan layer.

Supporting evidence for this idea comes from the presence of ancient tree trunks emerging from black peat deposits close to the rusty pebbles – similar to those stumps found at Broughton. The old waterlogged wood is also stained with rust – as you will see from the photographs below. Additionally, slightly higher on the beach, closer to the dunes, the shore is strewn with pebbles around which orange-coloured watery ‘tears’ rise to the surface and weep across the surface of the sand – making me think they might originate from a concealed ferruginous hardpan below.

Then again, I suppose the rust could come from buried decomposing munitions as the beach was used for firing practice in the Second World War!

Reference:

George, Gareth T. (2008) The Geology of South Wales – A Field Guide, G.T.George at gareth@geoserve.co.uk , ISBN 978-0-9559371-0-1, p 70.

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Driftwoodgrain Patterns

These wonderful textures, swirls, whorls, and grooves – sometimes dotted or patched with black or white – are natural abstract patterns of woodgrain (growth layers) decorated with encrusting lichen – photographed on a single large heavily-weathered and etched driftwood tree trunk washed up on a basalt-covered beach of the Oregon coast.

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Art and Nature – David Nash at Kew

Two Falling Spoons – bronze sculpture by David Nash (2006) in the Temperate House at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

One of the great delights of this year has been my discovery of the exhibition of sculptures by David Nash at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. I have visited three times in the last couple of months. David Nash has carved the works with chain-saw and axe from dead trees in the gardens. The sculptures frequently bear the marks of their making as well as of their intrinsic natural structure. Many pieces are deliberately and spectacularly charred black. Whilst all the works are hewn from wood initially, some pieces have subsequently been cast in bronze or steel – and it is often difficult to tell of which material a sculpture is comprised just by looking.

The works invite the viewers to think about their own and the sculpture’s relationship with nature. The sculptures are enhanced by their setting, whether indoors as in the Temperate House among the palms and ferns, or outside amongst the majestic mature trees. The sculptures distill the essence of their verdant surroundings – almost requesting that we compare and contrast the shapes, textures, patterns of the natural with the man-made structures as well as examine the thoughts and emotions that both invoke in us.

To find out more about the work of David Nash, and the exhibition at Kew Gardens, click on the following links:

Details of David Nash at Kew – A Natural Gallery

Keep up to date with the exhibition

Nash-inspired art courses & talks by the artist

Sign for the David Nash, A Natural Gallery, exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Red and Black Dome by David Nash (2006) in the Temperate House at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Pyramid and Sphere – bronze sculptures by David Nash in the Temperate House at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Red Throne – a bronze sculpture by David Nash (2012) in the Temperate House at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Plateau – bronze sculpture by David Nash (2011) in the Temperate House of Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Red Frame – redwood sculpture by David Nash (2008) in the Temperate House at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Signs to the David Nash ‘A Natural Gallery’ exhibition at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

Woodgrain & knots on wreck timbers

Old timbers provide a fascinating array of  textures, patterns and colours. These photographs show some details of the planking on an old boat wreck on the beach. The grain of the wood has opened up with the weathering process. In the knots, the wood has split into radiating segments like the muscles in the iris of an eye. Most of the paint has been abraded by wind-blown sand but a few layered flakes of pale blue and pink colour remain. The brightest colouring results from the corrosion of large iron rivets or nails. The rust has seeped out into the surrounding timber and stained it bright orange and in some places has given it a varnished texture. 

 

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Woodgrain patterns on driftwood

Here are some beautiful woodgrain patterns I found on a piece of driftwood at the beach. The pale, muted shades of grey, beige and even a touch of pink and orange are arranged in variety of subtle irregular stripes. The surface of the wood was an even, smooth, satin texture in some places; or with the fine ridges and grooves of the grain undulating and wavy like hair; or with sub-rectangular projections in other parts. The deeper cracks and fissures in the wood were filled with the contrasting lighter colour and grainy texture of wind-blown sand.

 

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Driftwood on Rhossili Beach (4)

Is it just my overactive imagination, or does this piece of driftwood washed ashore on the sand at Rhossili Bay look like a prehistoric Mososaur or some other kind of sea serpent?

 

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Submerged forest at Broughton Bay

The ragged tree stumps and roots, strewn over the seashore at Broughton Bay on the north coast of the Gower Peninsula, are the remains of a birch tundra woodland that once covered the ancient land surface. They lie in position, just as they were growing before they were inundated. Ten thousand years ago in the Pleistocene Period, a large river, fed by tributaries such as the Loughor, occupied what is now the Bristol Channel with its Atlantic waters. The last extension of the ice sheets in this area, during the late Devensian Period, had been about 8,500 years earlier. As the ice receded up into the valleys of South Wales, the climate had warmed up and allowed vegetation to flourish. The sea level at that time was about 22.5 metres lower than it is at the present.

By the beginning of the Neolithic Period 5,700 years ago, however, the sea level began to rise because of the increasing volume of global meltwater and  its accompanying land subsidence. The forests and peat bogs of the coastal margins were submerged and buried in sediment…..until the 1980s when the remains began to reappear on Gower shores as the surface sediments began to erode away. Now, large expanses of Broughton beach have been stripped of sand showing the strata and entrapped woodland beneath.

Wood from these ancient forests is visible on the seashores of  Swansea Bay and Port Eynon on the south Gower coast as well. Large blocks of peat dating from this time also wash up on the sand at Whiteford – the next bay to Broughton. The plant species already recorded include silver birch, hazel, alder, elder, deergrass, rushes, irises and spurges. As I understand it, no full investigation of this palaeo-environment has yet been conducted. I hope that full attention can soon be given to this valuable evidence before the rapid rate of erosion destroys all that is readily accessible between tides. 

 

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More winkles on wood at Whiteford

The storm waves shift the sediments around Whiteford Sands. They scour the sand away from some areas and dump it in others. The base of this ancient piece of wood seemed to be embedded in sand during the summer. The storm has washed it away to reveal a layer of  cobbles and pebbles holding it fast. Hundreds of winkles have survived the violent waves (presumably by hiding under stones) and emerged to climb up the deeply grooved and water-worn timber. The winkles feed on a fine coating of microscopic algae. The parallel vertical lines or ribs of the wood grain transform into the most interesting convolutions and patterns. The rough texture of the wood contrasts with the smooth glassiness of the surface water in the pools covering the stones.

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