Shells on my mind
This afternoon I have been on Weymouth beach, partly because during the breaks in the snow it was a glorious day, but with a chill enough wind to keep the beach pretty much empty, but also because I wanted to gather some European Oyster (Ostrea edulis L.) shells -specifically the right (flat) valves - for a spot of experimental archaeology
The English Channel, looking quite lovely i think
While there I also added the Oyster Drill or Sting Winkle Ocenebra erinaca L. to my reference collection, and picked up a Slipper Limpet Crepidula fornicata L. (the damn yank invader I wrote about before, of which there were many) which I thought I would deposit with the BaRAS reference collection.
A fairly typical death assemblage on Weymouth beach. Crepidula fornicata L. predominates. In the centre of the picture, obscured by a pebble and some seaweed, is the underside of a Common or Edible Cockle (Cerastoderma edule L.), and it looks like there might be a Common Limpet (Patella vulgata L.) towards the right of the picture
On Friday I spent some time familarising myself with the reference collections at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. I was able to confirm most of my own identifications for my reference collection, and by some lucky chance the Curator of Biology, Rhian Rowson, was able to take home some of my tiny tiny land and freshwater snails for her husband Ben, who is a malacologist at the National Museum of Wales, to confirm (or correct quite probably) my identifications. The museum vaults are a crazy place, and I was a little phased by opening a drawer I had expected to contain pretty snail shells only to be confronted with row upon row of dead parakeet.
While I was there, Mark the Assistant Curator (who I swear is younger than me, what the hell have I been doing all these years?) who is very into spiders, told me about an introduced species who seem to be thriving in Bristol, with very distinctive green fangs (chelicerae). Say hello to our new neighbour,:
Well, I'm off to site tomorrow, which is exciting!
The English Channel, looking quite lovely i think
While there I also added the Oyster Drill or Sting Winkle Ocenebra erinaca L. to my reference collection, and picked up a Slipper Limpet Crepidula fornicata L. (the damn yank invader I wrote about before, of which there were many) which I thought I would deposit with the BaRAS reference collection.
A fairly typical death assemblage on Weymouth beach. Crepidula fornicata L. predominates. In the centre of the picture, obscured by a pebble and some seaweed, is the underside of a Common or Edible Cockle (Cerastoderma edule L.), and it looks like there might be a Common Limpet (Patella vulgata L.) towards the right of the picture
On Friday I spent some time familarising myself with the reference collections at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. I was able to confirm most of my own identifications for my reference collection, and by some lucky chance the Curator of Biology, Rhian Rowson, was able to take home some of my tiny tiny land and freshwater snails for her husband Ben, who is a malacologist at the National Museum of Wales, to confirm (or correct quite probably) my identifications. The museum vaults are a crazy place, and I was a little phased by opening a drawer I had expected to contain pretty snail shells only to be confronted with row upon row of dead parakeet.
While I was there, Mark the Assistant Curator (who I swear is younger than me, what the hell have I been doing all these years?) who is very into spiders, told me about an introduced species who seem to be thriving in Bristol, with very distinctive green fangs (chelicerae). Say hello to our new neighbour,:
Well, I'm off to site tomorrow, which is exciting!