Here's the latest instalment of Ray's Rambles:
One of the advantages of being an aging volunteer at Titchwell is that over the years I've been able to spend a lot of time with a succession of extremely nice young ladies. (They may have a different view!) A few days ago I found myself unexpectedly walking along the beach towards Thornham Point with three of them. Their sharp eyes spotted an odd-looking creature on the tideline, it turned out to be a brittlestar. It looked like a small, very slender starfish and it was still alive but badly damaged having lost most of it's five 'arms'. As I walked back from the Point, - sadly, alone, - I added three more species to the Rambles list, so that it now stands at 947. There were several large barnacles (balanus balanus) scattered amongst the sea-weed, and a big piece of driftwood riddled with great shipworm, I also came across a spiral shell (or red whelk). This is quite similar to the common whelk, but the shell lacks the deep ridges of the latter species. On Jan.29th, sea-watching was really interesting, with five long-tailed duck, slavonian grebe, great northern diver and two harbour porpoise being the stars. I have noted 225 species so far this year, but it's going to be a long haul to get to 1000. Those young ladies are going to have to look harder!
Ray Kimber.