Be sure to “click the arrows” in this interactive 360˙ virtual scene to navigate from one scene to the next, to take a virtual walk on a Northumberland shore beach.
I’ve had the pleasure of walking this beach since I was very young. It amazes me how much more I notice now I am older – perhaps Carolyn has something to do with that. Yes, I think so. As I stand here, what you don’t see is how fast the tide is actually coming in. Athough this is the Northumberland Strait and the tides don’t move as fast as on the Bay of Fundy, the flatness of the beach accentuates the sense of speed.
A walk on the beach here on the Northumberland shore when the tide is out is something special. It’s mid-July and the herons are increasing in numbers. Here’s one we saw this day, but soon it may be possible to see as many as sitxy at once.
The video above has a great close-up of the willits scouring the shore for food. Although they are timid, if you don’t move too fast you can get relativly close to photograph.
Rock crab are also easy to find on the beach. As their name suggests, they prefer to be close to rocks and not always on the open sand. You can watch video of a rock crab underwater in this post.
As big as 2 dimes, this little guy was sure feisty – willing to take on us big humans. Notice how big the grains of sand are?