Sand, Sea and Shells.

We went for a walk to one of my favourite Beaches. It is a long stretch of beautiful sand , and the day was perfect with sunshine and a clear blue sky. The wind was another matter , it was icy cold! In fact it was so cold we took a different footpath to gain some shelter behind the sand dunes, a walk we had not taken before. We found the Gorse with its sweet smell of coconut, a whole area blooming with the bright yellow flowers.

The beautiful yellow gorse with the Lakeland hills in the background.

We walked past several small ponds, some had ducks on, some were full of tadpoles and we also saw tiny violets growing in the sand. We also saw sheep with young lambs grazing between the dunes. We eventually climbed to the top of the sand dunes and back onto the beach with the fantastic views down the estuary to the hills.

Looking into the estuary.

Looking across the mouth of the estuary toward Black Combe, the hill we look out on to at  my village.


                                                                                             

We now made our way back along the long sandy beach where I searched for treasures. The high tide had left a huge tide line full of seaweed, shells, feathers, ropes, rubber gloves, shoes and many other interesting objects. From this tangle I chose the two lovely shaped shells which revealed their intricate form, not normally seen in a complete shell. We saw masses of seaweed but I just chose a few tiny twisted pieces.

I would have liked the fish......but left it.

The walk back to the car.

            

Now you can see how far we have just walked along the sand.

This is where I found the tiny shells by the waters edge.

I used a special ink given to me by Patrick. He made the brown ink from Oak galls which he had collected in our village. I drew the shells with my dip in pen and the ink directly drawn onto the paper. I liked the soft quality of this ink, its an old fashioned recipe.

I wanted to show the detail and simplicity of the shells by using the fine nib and the brown  ink. It is a slow relaxing technique, dipping the pen into the ink each time you want to draw a line. I am pleased with the results.

Thank you for the lovely comments I always enjoy reading them. For those of you who would like to know, this is Walney Island Nature reserve. Hope you enjoyed the walk.                                           Milly x




ps. see photograph at bottom of  blog,  the same beach.