Well it's been a while and so I thought I'd do a quick update on recent events. It's been a bit slow going on creating much tidelineart recently due to a heavy workload, but hopefully that will change soon. I did however get the opportunity to go for a lovely long walk in Kent on Sunday and get lots of inspiration as well as picking up some great bits of driftwood.
Old pier heading towards Egypt Bay Kent
The first exciting thing we found was an entire dolphin skeleton nestling in amongst the seaweed. It had obviously been there for a good few months. I've reported the find to the Zoological society of London, as per the requirement, but think they will have trouble finding it. The skull is pictured. I also came across a more delicate skull of a bird - the species of which I haven't worked out yet. Any clues gratefully appreciated!
unidentified bird skull - Egypt Bay - july 2013
message in a bottle competition - launched from "Seafront" in Zeebrugge in August 2003 - found near Egypt Bay in Kent 10 years later. Sweltering in the sun, and still excited about the dolphin find, we proceeded to look for messages in amongst the many hundreds of discarded plastic bottles. Amazingly, we found messages - but the most exciting was a message in a bottle from a museum in Belgium, www.seafront.be, which launched some messages 10 years ago when it first opened. We were lucky to be able to read it as there was no top, the plastic was brittle and there was water in the bottle, but we were able to get the gist, and the number of the bottle was 222. I've written to them, but no answer as yet. The person who organised it has probably long forgotten about them, or even left the company! Still, pretty amazing that it survived that long. one of the messages that we found was completely sunbleached and unreadable, so just a tip, if you plan to send one - type it up, or do it in pencil. Ink will not last the weather! So that's it. A good day was had, and if you have not read it yet, here is a great article in the Greenwich Visitor, all about mudlarking and tidelinart http://www.thegreenwichvisitor.com/ . Talking of mudlarking, here is David in the Thames Mud. Apparently it does wonders for your feet. I'll take his word for it! X
the marvellous rejuvenating properties of the Thames mud is widely renowned :)