A closer look at the pebble beach

the coast of Brunlanes in Vestfold, Norway is a great place to explore. it's a place i visit frequently in all seasons, this series is from last september. there is a tremendous variety and i have my favorite places spread out along the entire stretch but in between them there are sections of the coastline that i occasionally seek out to see what is special about them. most of those are places that have a lot of cottages and summer houses so i just get a quick overview and leave it at that but on this particular day i came to a small area with unexpectedly wild and rugged terrain.

nestled between some wonderfully sculpted rocks was a pebble beach or maybe it's better to call it a shingle beach, it doesn't really matter. now at first glance this pebble beach may not have the appeal of the surrounding rock but in my experience it's still a good idea to take a closer look.

this wildflower seems to be thriving where many plants could not. i am no expert but i am guessing this is a yellow salsify, a raggedy example. they are not native to Norway but they do grow around here. the ones i have seen more inland are fuller with well formed globes of seeds. perhaps the growing conditions in the salty gravel have not favored this plant but it is clearly surviving where it is a ways back from the tidal zone.

closer to the water's edge in the splash zone some seaweed and a few scattered mussels have dried on the stones

there are quite a few species of seaweed that wash up on the shore during a storm. the colors and textures are amazing, i have not arranged anything, nor have i edited these shots, nature alone has been the artist

Mussel Beach the Nor way

a different kind of seaweed and a couple of seagull feathers- a marine still life

even closer to the water in the tidal zone some piles of seaweed have amassed. i'm not sure how many different species of algae are in this photo but it must be close to 10

so much to see that is so easily overlooked and dismissed as uninteresting. it's experiences like this that keep me coming back to this coast wanting to explore