Beach flotsam

[Resurgam]

                     I often come across all sorts of dead animals whilst detecting the sands at Talacre; all maner of dead birds, dead goat, jellyfishes, starfishes, seals and now this. I assume that this is all that is left of some kind of sea creature; perhaps a "Ray"?

[TheLoveDoc]

Yup..... your right enough fella, its the tail end of a Thornback Ray  The fishermen discard that bit after cutting the wings off to take home for food 

[Resurgam]

                                 Thanks for the id m8; it never ceases to surprise me, the things that wash up in this area! The other year, there were thousands upon thousands of  starfish and a while back I found a smallish octopus.

                                  I think it is the geographic location of the beach that makes it a catchment area for all sorts of  items. I believe that wreckers used to work the location, stripping valuables from any corpses that would also wash up here. 

[Chef Geoff]

Pardon my ignorance but is/was Talacre a popular beach and have you studied the longshore drift for it as it looks pretty exposed

[Resurgam]

                          I'm no expert on the matters that you mention, but I think that the flow of the River Dee into the estuary has some effect  on the tidal system at that point and may upset the general long shore drift, but I do stand to be corrected.

                         

[Dryland]

Geoff , who's this longshore drift fella, is he a member of DW

[detectingly]

Geoff , who's this longshore drift fella, is he a member of DW

Longshore Drift is just about the only thing I can remember from geography lessons at school 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longshore_drift

[Resurgam]

                                Wow, thanks for the link; there is an awful lot to digest in it. From what I can see from the concentrations of WWII projectiles, shrapnel, and copper fragments, the drift at Talacre moves from west to east but may be influenced by the flow of water from the River Dee.

                               The village that we now know as Talacre is built on land recovered from the clutches of the sea, after a two mile dike was built some time in the eighteen hundreds. A local cemetery had to be extended to accommodate the many bodies that used to wash up in the area. Most of the dead critters that I come across tend to be east of the lighthouse, where the direction of the beach changes slightly. 

                              Strangely, I have detected from the Point of Ayr to Presthaven Sands on many occasions and I have never found a single Victorian coin!   

[jcb (THE THIMBLE) jones]

bit of useless info ,it used to be illegal for a fisherman to take the whole ray/fish from the beach as the female of the species have got very prominent genitalia and many old salty sea dog had their wicked way with a ray ,dont know if it is still in force

[Cymro]

Hmmm - my brother in law used to reckon that's why you only saw a ray's (and skate's) wings displayed in the fishmongers . . .

Sounds a bit fishy to me . . .  

[jcb (THE THIMBLE) jones]

yes and skate forgot about them ,yes a bit fishy indeed 

[dances with badgers]

oh jcb i feel sick lol
octopuss much better shag