Friday, 11 November 2011

11th November


 A flying visit to the south of the barricades to see what is happening but all the action is north towards the ness.The seas are quite wild and have thrown a lot of plastic onto the shore so, though no time to stop long, it doesn't take long to collect a bag of rubbish. A lot of plastic bottles and containers this time - including from France and Holland, probably recent discards off ships.
Still the seaweed...

low tide:
time of arrival: 11.54 hrs
weather: cloudy, wind SE 15mph (est), temperature 10c
marine litter: bottles, containers.


 






Wednesday, 2 November 2011

2nd November


A sunny day with lively seas. An industrial-scale operation is being undertaken beyond the barricades and the bags are multiplying, lying in formation beneath cliff.
It is low tide and a large heap of sand is piled up just by the water - has this been imported for filling the bags or has it been collected at the site? Will it be used before the tide washes back up the beach??
There are signs of a fresh earth fall from the cliffs north of the works.
An unusual amount of seaweed remains at the high water mark.

The Coke can washed up with the weed (an all too frequent sight sadly) reminds me of the often forgotten global benefits of an Enviro-marketing TM approach to brand marketing... Once washed up, never forgotten.

Among the items I collect is an ancient Eden Vale tub and a 'Fleet Foot' rubber sandal, made in Canada. An internet search turns up the ads below. Fleet Foot was a brand of Dominion Rubber. The rubber shoes were manufactured from 1911 at St Jerome, Quebec, forty miles north of Montreal. In their heyday in the 1950s, 37000 rubber shoes were produced all over the world.  The newspaper ad is from the Montreal Gazette, June 11th, 1924! I would love to know the age and history of my new old sandal...

low tide: 09.21 hrs 0.6m; high tide 16.18 hrs 2.6m
time of arrival: 10.07 hrs
weather: sunny, wind SE 21mph, temperature 14c
marine litter: mostly larger pieces and heavier plastics; a headless teddy bear, three sanitary towels and, unusually, no identifiable foreign packing.




























Tuesday, 25 October 2011

25th October


 
A grey day with big, steely seas... There is an unusual amount of seaweed washed up on the shore. A mysterious triangle of posts has emerged from the shingle north of the works - what purpose do they serve?* 

Meanwhile, beyond the barricades, the diggers are busy filling the geo-textile bags with shingle and sand and banking them up beneath the cliff.

Amongst my finds, a large and much-pecked polystyrene tray - most of the peck marks are on the underside of the tray - it has obviously been floating upside down across the sea. This everlasting floating bird-feeder will be a useful resource for my next exhibition...

*I investigate the meaning of the posts when I get home - they are markers for where the shingle is permitted to be taken for filling the geo-textile bags.

high tide: 08.48 hrs 3m; low tide 15.07 hrs 0.3m
time of arrival: 12.05 hrs
weather: overcast, wind SE 12mph, temperature 14c
marine litter: a typical 'north sea' mix of the usual culprits including 4 sanitary towels. Also a large and much-pecked polystyrene tray.













Wednesday, 12 October 2011

12th October

Work here has been continuing apace. The shingle shoreline seems like an industrial landscape - yet is ploughed like a field as 'erosion response works' continue... 
Very little marine litter to be found.

high tide: 10.41 hrs 2.9m; low tide 16.53 hrs 0.3m 
time of arrival: 11.37 hrs
weather: cloudy with sunny spells, wind 9mph W, temperature 16c
marine litter: minimal.