Tuesday 17 January 2017

Just like it says on the tin

I've written before about things in nature that have names which tell you exactly what they are (A Weed By Any Other Name, 28 June 2016).  And I've learned a couple more of theses while out walking in the last year (I know, there's a lot of scope). We spotted this flower near Lyn Idwal in Snowdonia. It looks remarkably like cotton:


Turns out it's called, er - cotton grass.

And these dramatic flat rock platforms, formed by the action of the waves and which are exposed at low tide:


It turns out they are called wave cut platforms. They are formed by wave erosion removing the upper rock layers and occur where sedimentary rocks (in this case limestone) retain their original horizontal layering. The photo shows one of the largest examples on the north Anglesey coast, at Traeth Bychan ("little beach") between Benllech and Moelfre.

Hopefully I will learn many more obvious things as we stumble our way up hills and along coastal paths in 2017.

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