Saturday 26 April 2014

Seafoam





Seafoam
No, you haven't travelled a couple of kilometres down the road, but like the name suggests sea foam is a regular part of the beaches here in Melville as well (especially after a big storm!).

As a result of the last couple of stormy days, I haven't been able to get down to the beach to find our mystery animal from the last post, but I have gotten some good guesses as to what it might be. It is not a moose or a puffin, but I thought those were great guesses.

I have never seen a puffin, although there are many places in Nova Scotia you can go to catch a glimpse of them. One of the most famous nesting sites is Donelda's Bird Island in Cape Breton.




Sea foam is however, quite common along all beaches in the world and forms with agitation of the water, which is then blown ashore by strong winds. Which, if you have ever been to Melville on a stormy day, we get no short supply of! 

Here are a few pictures of the sea foam that has settled on the beach today. 



It is also my brother's golden birthday today, so if you see him around Melville make sure to wish him a Happy Birthday!

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Mystery Animal

Another beautiful Melville sunset ending the Easter weekend!
Mystery Animal
So the other day Raven I were walking along the beach in Melville and I saw the coolest animal, one that I had never seen before in my life! I unfortunately did not have my camera with me at the beach, so despite the many opportunities this animal gave me to take it's picture (hint #1), I am now on a mission to get it on camera and on Melville Sunsets for you all to see!

When I returned to the house, I did a bit of research on the animal, because it was particularly aggressive towards Raven (hint #2) and found out that they can be quite fatal towards dogs. As such, if you are in the Melville area with your dog, keep a close eye on them and if they tend to run and not respond to you when distracted, keep them on a leash! I'll be monitoring that area of the beach and keeping Raven distracted away from there until there is no threat or danger to her well-being as we continue to explore Melville.


Here is a picture of where the animal meandered off to once Raven left the area and it realized that I was there and not giving up trying to cross the brook that divides the beach (hint #3).


As we walked down to the other end of the beach, I captured some more pictures of the shoreline erosion that happened over the winter. More mud too!







So if you want to take a guess at what mystery animal I saw, comment below and stay tuned for a picture (hopefully coming soon!).

An open oyster shell I found a little further down the beach (sadly, no pearls).
Lobster season in Melville is still a little ways off, but the winter storms tend to bring lots of buoys to the beach.  



Wednesday 16 April 2014

'M' is for Mud!


'M' is for Mud! 
It is Spring here in Melville, which basically equates to mud season! Raven and I headed out for our first walk in Melville since Christmas and with so much pent up excitement in four months of Melville withdrawal, it was only natural that she taking a running leap off the banks, soar through the salty wind blowing off the straight and SPLAT! Right into the aftermath of a mini-mudslide on the beach from the shoreline. You may have heard recently in the news about the fatal mudslide that took place in Washington and the accompanying article determining your areas risk of mudslides.








In my efforts to rescue Raven from her mis-adventure, I ended up almost knee deep in mud myself and decided to abort the mission encouraging Raven to get herself out of her muddy mess!




She did manage to free herself and we continued to romp around Melville, although a little more cautiously. In the field, free of mud albeit a little soggy, we found a golf ball, but it did not take long for it to succumb to the mud of Melville either…




I cannot remember the roads in Melville ever being this muddy. They are so soft in fact, that you literally 'bounce' when walking on them in rubber boots. So if you need some motivation after that long snowy winter, walk around in Melville and you'll get a little "Spring" in your step! 


Just be sure to bring a towel or you'll be out in the garage with Raven until you dry off!