Thursday, January 19, 2012

Natures Miniatures

Hello,

I'm still holidaying but relaxing nicely. The great thing about relaxing is your free to let your mind wonder and I have certainly done that. I have had lots of ideas for our DH and can't wait to get back to it.

In the meantime I have some little pictures of some of natures tiny things I found whilst wondering the beach. First of all I have some tiny little shells that where imbedded in the wet sand. These are common to surf beaches, I don't know if any of you have come  them in your travels but I think they are very sweet. I'm not sure they are to scale, the ones on the right of the pencil are possibly but I thought I would show you anyway as the variation of colours are delightful, nature never ceases to amaze me.

I would like to mention Deborah from http://petitpunt.blogspot.com/ who inspired me to look at natures tiny things.



As I was wondering the beach I noticed from a distance a mass that seemed to be moving across the shore line. As I approached I realised they were soldier crabs moving towards the water. There seemed to be thousands of them. I ran to get my camera but by the time I came back the numbers had diminished, there were still hundreds but they had turned back away from the water. For those that don't know, soldier crabs bury themselves below the level of the sand. You don't often see them, usually the only evidence of them is in the early hours. 




You can see tiny little balls of sand scattered over the surface of the hard surface on the beach and an occasional scatter into the holes they create as you approach. The crabs shovel the sand into their mouths and remove all the organisms then expel the sand leaving the tiny balls on the surface. 






They vary in size, the largest seem to be the size of your thumb nail the smallest your pinky. Very cute little things, as I approached they cork screwed into the sand and waited for me to go. They are different to normal crabs as they have a bulbous body and they  can walk forwards as well as sideways. Clever little things.



As I was getting in close to take the photos I could feel something under my feet and it was a little crab trying to get to the surface, quite a funny feeling. I do wonder about these little creatures, the tiny little snails that must have lived in those little shells. We are not supposed to collect shells from the beach as it inhibits the natural eco system. They are up against so much and they have no idea.

Happy Minis

Fi x



17 comments:

  1. Hi Fi, I'm glad you are relaxing, especially after your all-but-peaceful Christmas. The shells are so pretty and the beach looks amazing. I'm Checking In now with an ETA of tomorrow afternoon - make up the spare bed ;-) x

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    1. Hey Hun.........

      Bed made, brolly up, patch of sand ready and a glass of the areas finest.........red or white?

      ML Fi xx

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  2. We do get them on some of the beaches in South Africa, my Mom-in-law had quite a collection as she lived in Cape Town for more than 20 years. Somewhere in a tin I have a collection of really tiny ones that I still want to frame for my the boys room in my Victorian dollhouse, they are so perfect, yet so small.

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    1. Hi Elga,

      They are not on all beaches here either, it would be interesting to find out what sort of environment they live in.

      Putting a collection of them in a frame sounds like a lovely idea.

      Fi x

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  3. Hi Fi, love the tiny shells, am thinking of getting a little diplay case for my library, and would like some little shells of my own, I haven't come across many yet though, Deal beach is all shingle, so hard to find many shellsthere, and usually broken, Picked up some small ones when I was on holiday in Dorset a few years back, but they would be like sea monster shells in dolls house scale!! ;)

    Interesting to hear about your crabs too.

    Enjoy your hols!

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  4. Dear Irene,

    You have such a great sense of humour, I laughed out loud when I read that. I'm going to send you some!!

    Fi xx

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  5. Hi Andy,

    Well mission today is to collect some tiny shells for you. They will be easy to post. I'll send you a message with my email so I can get your postal address.

    I get a kick out of natures little surprises too, apparently they move towards the waters edge depending on tidal changes. Its amazing how creatures rely so well on their instincts.

    Fi x

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  6. What a fun adventure! Those little crabs are too cute for words. When I was growing up we used to catch tiny 'crayfish' from Lake Minnetonka --they look like little lobsters. Perfect for terrorizing your little sisters!

    The photos of the sea are so pretty --what kind of blue would you call that? --Azure?

    Enjoy the rest of your holiday, Fi!

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    1. Hi john,

      I'm glad you like my crabs too!! The sea is a true Azure, these days I would probably use a mix of Prussian and Cerulean to get that colour, or possibly ultramarine but I prefer the first. They originally made Azure with lapis lazuli but in more recent times the for mentioned are used. They are my favourite colours, Prussian blue has a beautiful transparency........oops I'm babbling......excellent colour observation John A+ go to the top of the class.

      Now that you are the student of the day, I will not believe that you could be so naughty as to chase your little sister with sea creatures!!! Hehe!

      Its funny to hear you mention Lake Minnetonka, we hear about such places in movies and TV, what a lovely place to holiday.

      My pictures of the sea are there to show the little balls of sand and the crabs in clusters but i didn't explain that well. I have better images of the Ocean, I'll do that another day.

      Fi xx

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  7. Fi - your seashells remind me of a rhyme by that prolific poet, A. Nonymous:

    Come walk with me
    Along the sea
    Where dusk sits on the land
    And search with me
    For shells are free,
    And treasures hide in sand.

    David.

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  8. Hi David,

    Thats a gorgeous little rhyme.

    I have an idea of where I might use it - if I may?

    Fi xx

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  9. Nice pictures.
    What a beautiful life you have there.
    As a child I lived near the beach, now I still live near the sea,I love it.
    I still have shells and stones from childhood in a box.
    My Father took from his work around the world, shells with him home, to me and he told me that I could hear the see in the schells when I put them to my ear.

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  10. Thank you Alexandra,

    I admire your life very much also. I have only been to Holland once and I enjoyed it very much. Such a historical and artistic environment.

    How lovely that your father collected them for you. It is very special to have shells from around the world. Let me know if you would like some from Australia.

    Fi x

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  11. Hi Fi,
    Montreal looks pretty lame after reading your post. All you see when you look at outside is snow and ice.
    I think the shells look small enough to work in miniature, I've seen some big mother-shells so I'm sure you could use them. They are so lovely.
    Enjoy the rest of your holiday! Can't wait to see more posts.
    All the best,
    Giac

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    1. Hi Giac,

      The great ting is I went back to the same place and found some really tiny ones,that are defiantly to scale, so I can use the larger ones as special specimens.

      sadly we're off home tomorrow...... ; (

      Fi x

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  12. Wishing you a very happy AUSTRALIA DAY also.......enjoy x

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