It looked a little brighter when I got to Goodrington beach.  It was quite warm and rather windy – the beach had [...]]]> The weather had not been that good for a few days so despite it looking a little grey and rather thundery I decided I had to get out.

It looked a little brighter when I got to Goodrington beach.  It was quite warm and rather windy – the beach had few folk on.

Given some blue skies, daytime and August the one above is unusual.  It was taken wide angle and I’ve not cloned anyone out!

While the weather was not really good for the beach there were plenty of folk making the most of the water.  It is regatta week and there were races going on out in the Bay and a number of people heading back into Paignton harbour.  The little blue sky that there had been had gone by then and I decided to head to the pier before turning back and heading home.

Although there was some evidence of lightness in the sky and there were a few folk around on Paignton beach (though not many as can be seen) there was also some rain in the air and I headed home.

The low tide made the sign on Paignton harbour wall unnecessary for [...]]]> The weather was quite good and it was the last of the really low Spring tides of the season.  It seemed worthwhile exploring the shoreline to see what might be exposed that would not be on normal low tides.

The low tide made the sign on Paignton harbour wall unnecessary for a while at least.

However it also allowed maintenance work on the anchorages on the harbour floor after a winter of storms and bad weather.  The lattice work of chains on the harbour floor where being tested and replaced where it was needed.

The very low tide gave a clear view of the spring that comes up through the sand on Paignton beach.  Depending on the flow of water the effect of it can been seen at high tide but getting close enough to see it properly requires a low tide.  The flow depends on the recent rainfall and there has been quite a bit recently so the spring was bubbling up strongly.

At the pier the shellfish and barnacles on the supports were very evident.

At Preston (the north end of Paignton seafront) there were many shellfish exposed both in large groups and singly.

In pools there were anemones (though not quite as colourful as elsewhere in the Bay), urchins and a variety of seaweed.  I did avoid as much disturbance as possibly preferring to leave flora and fauna undisturbed.  As can be seen above I did see starfish, there were a few around.  I am fairly certain this is a Common Starfish (Asterias rubens) .  There were a few around that were almost out of water however they were close to the edge of the sea at the point it was turning so would have been immersed again shortly after I took the picture.