Extreme Measurements!

Overview of area (Click for larger image)

For our first day's fieldwork we learned some sampling techniques and fieldwork methods. After a morning run we drove to Clarach for an overview of the whole area. Afterwards we visited the Nature reserve at Ynyslas. After a talk from Lee, we walked around the North point to see how the dune system was migrating NW towards the Aberdyfi sand bars.

A session of long jumping over the rip channels was won convincingly by Noon. Tim forgot to lift his feet up!

We then completed a sand dune transect across the dunes. This was enlivened towards the end, by the discovery of a pair of extreme geography moments on entering the dune slacks:

Extreme geography moment part 1 documentary evidence of soil moisture!

Extreme geography moment part 2 and with a pH of 5 can the vegetation survive?

We spent some time on the saltmarsh adjacent to the dunes, and practised our favourite words "floculation" and "bioconstruction" Shane and Abdullahi proved that a provisional license doesn't make you a good driver, before we driving back to Borth to investigate long shore drift on the storm beach.

Panoramic view of the Ynyslas saltmarsh

Hypothesis testing on the storm beach

We carried out sampling methods on the beach, investigating beach profile, pebble size and roundness. We noted the beach height on each side of the numerous groynes and comp[leted our work just outside the Hostel. In the evening we wrote up our results before retiring to the Friendship Inn

The following day we woke up to a raging tempest and saw that the waves were actually building the storm beach! The weather meant that nobody was keen to spend much time observing the saw tooth motion of the pebbles, or even note the standing wave clapotis effect on the groynes, so we packed and drove to Liverpool. I saw a Red Kite on the journey.

Photo gallery of the coastal day:(Click on pictures for larger image)

Embryo dunes facing the constructive wind direction	Sampling in the mobile dunes	Entering the mobile dunes	View of the Dyfi estuary looking east
Ynylas dunes have developed on fluvioglacial shingle deposits that have been reworked to form the storm beach	Management restrictions - protecting nesting birds	Management practices - boardwalk and interpretive signs	Nature reserve warden. An electronic people counter is concealed within the fence post!
Algae helps stabilize the mud on the saltmarsh	The Ynyslas salt marsh Cord grass is the dominant species	Rowenna in a wide open space	Sunny Borth and the storm beach
Stormy conditions building up the beach	Pebble sampling at Borth	The tractor	Working outside the Hostel with dinner waiting

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