Saturday 28 July 2012

ORKNEY 6: MELSETTER BAY, HOY


Even for one not knowledgeable about geology the variety of different and unusual rocks to be found in Orkney is fascinating.

 

John and I spent an afternoon on Melsetter Beach while Iain and Mairi went to pay a visit to The Old Man of Hoy.


This is one of my favourite photos.  John took this of Ishie and I walking back from the beach.


We were intrigued to find that the beach was not sand but made up of shells!  This photo is a close-up showing that we were sitting on millions of bits of ground-up sea shell!


Our eye caught these little turquoise "fossils"? in the black rocks in one part of the beach.  I don't know if they are mineral or perhaps were sea creatures at one time.


This is another example of the shell-sand and the black rock.



The sand dunes adjacent to the beach were great fun for everyone!



Meanwhile here we have "A Man on a Mission". [John's photo.]  There was a wreck nearby (part of a pier or platform) and on it was a bit of flotsam* which one little person discovered.

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*  Flotsam (or floatsome) are those items which are floating as a consequence of the action of the sea. Jetsam are those which have been jettisoned by a ship's crew (although that may float too of course). [Wikipedia]







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