SEATON SANDS 31 JULY 2019.

6-40 pm
As Beach  Buoy had entered the Car Park, a wall of orange- clad joggers headed his way, they passed safely and headed off on their "Fun" run.

A two Dog night tonight.
A hazy night.
A warm night.
Wild Sea.
The  Little Tern watchers were on duty.

A little dog chased a Seagull and would maybe would have caught it  if he had remembered to bring his Jet-pack.. 

The haze cleared for a while.
Three Black Labradors ran to the water's edge as one.
They saw Beach Buoy and the two dogs and headed their way. 
They looked like a three-headed monster with twelve legs and three wagging tails.
Beach Buoy's mates saw them off. 

It seemed like a November Sea in July.

Baby Seal....

Beach Buoy...

SEATON SANDS 30 JULY 2019.

Feet and Paws hit the sands at 6-52 p.m.
The Little Terns had their excellent minders on the Promenade.
Beach Buoy had two dogs for company tonight.
There was a strong breeze from the south.
The tide was well out, the sea was choppy.
All in all it was a lovely refreshing evening.
Two Metal Detectorists walked and scanned the strand line as they went.

Beach Buoy and the dogs headed south, passing as they did so, the five crows who seem to have become beach bums.
These wanna be seagulls bounced around as they searched the seaweed for supper. 

Beach Buoy spotted a small bird running up the beach towards the strandline.
He couldn't believe just how quickly it was running.
So quickly that it must have some road-runner somewhere in its genes.
Beach Buoy half expected Wile E Coyote to come running into view, only to have his run cut short by an ACME Anvil dropping on him from a great height.
Suddenly fifty or more of the speedy little birds
made themselves noticeable as they too made a dash for the strand line.....
and then another fifty or so did the same.

The beach was ....... shhhhhhhhhhh

They headed back.
The village wore a big cloud hat like a carnival bonnet.
Beach Buoy could see a smiley face in the hat.
Can You?
Gulls sat around in the beach-trapped water, looking like shabby and washed-out hook-a-ducks,

As they neared the car park, a line of car windscreens looked
forlornly out at sea.

BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS 29 JULY 2019.

7-45 pm.
The sun had decided to show up a little late in the day,
but its was most welcome.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog paused for a while at the Promenade Wall.
Plenty of twitchers on duty for the Little Terns.

The tide was well out as they followed their long shadows south.

There was hardly a cloud in the sky.
The tide was so far out that when you stood at the water's edg, you could almost count the scales on the Sea Serpent's back!
The tide has just turned.

Sea water was still draining from the beach.
Soon the sea would come to meet and greet it.

People were still scattered around the north end of the beach.

Meanwhile up at the south end.....

Sun.

Sand.

Sea.

Stubborn Dog.

Sunset.

BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS AND SEAHAM HALL BEACH, 28 JULY 2019.

6-20 a.m.
The beach and car park were deserted.
As Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog left the van, a small council sweeper-upper truck started to sweep the car park clean.

They wandered down to the water's edge with the chatter of Little Terns to their left and the rumble of the sea, straight ahead.
The tide was out, but heading in.
The sun was warm, with a lovely breeze from the north.
There was a fine net curtain of haze out at sea, shrouding the horizon.

There wasn't a soul in sight... they headed south along a virgin strand-line, after a double check to the north.
Beach Buoy beach-cleaned as he walked.

Large Seagulls stood in the morning sun, looking like a photoshoot  for a sou'wester advertisement.
Beach Buoy was happy it was a day off.
In reality it had a holiday feel about the day, which isn't a bad thing.

Beach Buoy is not a number.... he is a free man.

"Believe in Unicorns." it says
Yes and the beach clean fairy is real too!
This was one of two balloons with long ribbon attached. 
Beach Buoy stood facing the Sea Serpent and soaked up the sunshine.
He turned and watched a lone Oyster Catcher peck at the wet sand with its long beak.
It reminded Beach Buoy of Eric Morecambe doing his Jimmy Durante impersonation.
SITTIN' AT MY PIANO
Full of sun he headed for the Pier with its Rock pools and Sand Martins.
Out of nowhere a jogger appeared.
"Morning!" he called out as he turned at the Pier then headed back to the north.
Before long the 7 am club were on the scene 
Mari the Poodle came for her neck scratch.
Beach Buoy had stuffed a beach-found tennis ball into his back pocket.
Neck scratch done, Mari was off chasing her new tennis ball along the beach.

The beach was beginning to fill up now with people, dogs and the north sea as it claimed back the sands.
Four Oyster Catchers flew south; it looked like Jimmy Durante had found his backing band?

Beach Buoy left the new found busy behind and headed back to the van.
They went to the promenade and binned the beach clean, then leaned and sat  on the promenade wall.
The 7 am club arrived and some chatting with Beach Buoy took place.

Later in the day it was a misty Seaham Hall Beach.

Beach Buoy found  a few pieces of sea glass,
he gave them away to a man with a bucket for his sea glass.

Beach Buoy.

SEATON SANDS 27 JULY 2019.

7 a.m.
Beach Buoy had parked the van in his preferred spot in the Car Park.
There was light rain.
A Black-headed gull walked in a deep puddle in the uneven Car Park surface, perhaps rehearsing  for tonight's performance of ...
Wingin' in the rain?
Beach Buoy had faffed on a little bit so it was 7-08 when he reached the beach.
The 7a.m. club were already on their way to North Gare Pier.
An Orange Ship slipped out of the Tees as if in an attempt to brighten up a dull morning.

The tide was well out giving people room for different lines of travel and different lines of thought.
Everyone gets something different from the beach.

Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog headed South and crossed diagonally to the water's edge as they did so.
The tide was coming in, creating temporary deserted islands of raised sand on the uneven South end of the beach.
A late arrival for the 7 am club played catch-up and overtook Beach Buoy in an attempt to join the others. Her brown dog came over to say hello as they passed.

The Nick Darke film mentioned how two pieces of Parquet flooring ended up near each other on the beach.
Today Beach Buoy found some pairs of items on the Beach.
The photographs were not set up, they are as found.
The items were beach cleaned.

First two shoes.

Two Bubble wands.

Two Bucket Handles.

By the now the fine rain had all but stopped.
An invisible but audible boat crossed the bay.
Five crows hopped like Kangaroos over the beached seaweed as they looked for breakfast.

The 7 a.m club were heading back and Mari the Large Poodle came trotting over to Beach Buoy.
The Sea-soaked Dog looked him in the eyes as he gave the Big Friendly Dog a neck scratch and asked her if she had had a good time in the sea?
The dog couldn't speak.... of course! But her eyes told the story of how she had swam with mermaids and frolicked with the sea serpent..... and then she was gone.

They headed to the Pier and the rock pools that lay randomly around it.

They headed back.
They were a good twenty five minutes walk from the Little Tern Site when all of a sudden a Tern started to dive bomb the pair.
It dived around a dozen times.
There must have been a young bird nearby?
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog carried on walking; the bombing stopped.

It was Grey but beautiful morning.

Stubborn Dog looked Beach Buoy in the eyes and asked...
"Can I swim with the Mermaids and frolic with the Sea Serpent too?"

"When the time comes sunshine.... we both will."

BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS 25 JULY 2019.

It had been too hot.
It was 8-06 pm.
The Car Park was very busy and cars had overflowed onto the old crazy golf and putting green site.
The summer long fair must have left the barrier open?
The Sun had been hidden by cloud and it was ever so muggy.
Beach Buoy headed for the beach.
It was a mass of footprints, it looked like a sheet of planished gold.

The sun returned.
Beach Buoy had been down the water's edge with his beach pal; Stubborn Dog.
Lazy day trippers had left a mess, cans and bottles scattered around.
Beach Buoy picked up what he could.
It was so warm, it was just Jeans and T- shirt tonight for Beach Buoy.
Shorts? what are those?


There was a fresh breeze off the Sea.
Gulls seemed to be enjoying an up draught ?
They circled high up in the sky, like vultures waiting for another little dropping day tripper to bite the dust (sand.)
An abandoned Beach Ball rolled down the slope of the beach. It reached the sea and defied gravity and rolled back up the slope as if it had found the water too cold and not to its liking and ran to find a towel.
Perhaps a breeze helped it return to its starting point?

They passed a couple with a greyhound who had a Basketball.
He may have been quick around the court but was rubbish at the bouncing of the ball.
He was  also not that good at stopping the ball rolling down the same slope that had momentarily claimed the Beach Ball. Its owner had wet feet from retrieving it from the sea on more than one occasion.
There was a rumble like thunder but it was more likely to be  some of riverside industry venting off?

They headed to the dunes to avoid a group of six dogs, all off their leads.
The roar of the sea and the rumble of the industry became muffled by the sandy banks of the dunes.

Eventually they cut back onto the beach through a gap in the dunes created by a Storm Surge a good while back.
A barefoot couple walked the water's edge with two dogs.
One Large and one small.
(The dogs, not the people.)
The larger dog must have bought a treasure map  from up on The Front as it was digging for gold at every opportunity.
A piece of driftwood distracted him and he was off with it as though it was indeed made of gold and jewels.
"Mine all mine!" he seemed to say as he trotted off triumphantly.

A man sat up in the dunes with his dog watching the Sun lower both in the sky and in temperature.

For a while the sky was gold then finally the Sun seemed to turn red with embarrassment
  at all of the trouble it had caused today.
It finally went behind a cloud as if to hide its blushes.
Peeking now and then to see if anyone was looking.
They headed back to the van.
There was a can of non-alcoholic beer in the van's fridge with Beach Buoy's name on it.
He had changed his name, it was now Budweiser for the night. 
This can would be recycled.



BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS, 24 JULY 2019.

8pm.
Once again it was boiling, the Car Park was packed and the devoted twitchers stood watching the Little Terns.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog headed for the sea.
Mams, Dads and kids tip-toed their way back to the Car Park from the cooling sea as barefoot, they negotiated the stoney part of the beach.

Groups stood chatting.
Groups sat chatting.
People walked to the water's edge, then off came the shoes.
It was a little like an open air shoe shop.
Beach Buoy imagined the conversations.
"Do you have these in a seven?"
"Do they come in brown too?" 

Out in the Bay, two small ships, almost identical to one another , passed between  The Gares and looked as if one or both were powering away from a mirror.
The sea was calm with just a few small waves breaking at the very last second, almost an after thought 

They headed up to the dune edge for a sit and think.
Beach Buoy surveyed the scene and Stubborn dog fell asleep.
Small Black Flies hovered around like miniature drones; they were just as annoying.
The Red Hot Sun turned a shade of Lemon, as it did so a lovely breeze picked up from the south.
This fresher air was packed with the scent of Sun-dried seaweed.
BEACH BUOY

SEATON SANDS 23 JULY 2019.

It was a very hot day.
Beach Buoy waited until 7-30 pm to go down to the beach in the hope it would be cooler and quieter.
The Car Park was extremely busy.
The kids were all off school now, so no school nights for a while.
Beach Buoy had taken a cup of tea with him; a bamboo cup with lid.
He thought it better to drink it there instead of in earshot of the tv soap's utter and constant drivel.
He sat in the back of the van to drink the tea before setting off for a cooling beach walk.
The van has blacked out windows, so the lady who parked alongside in her black Audi who hit the van with her door and then again with her handbag was unaware she had an audience.
Stubborn Dog slept as tea was drunk.
Then it was time for the beach...or not.
Stubborn Dog went on strike on the promenade and laid flat.
He was carried to the beach.

Beach Buoy placed him on the sand.
A short drag through the sand made it clear that they were going nowhere.
Beach Buoy picked his tired beach mate up and headed back to the busy promenade.
He placed the complex dog on the promenade wall and rested against the wall.
There was a refreshing breeze blowing off the sea.
Maybe the dog wasn't so Stubborn after all?
It was the coolest Beach Buoy had been all day.. and no it didn't mean the sunglasses!
 

They both watched the world go by.
It was a busy scene.
Beach Buoy left later on at about 8-45pm and there were still sixty or more cars in the Car Park.
The twitchers were doing a great job involving promenade people in their Little Tern Task.
A line of people took turns to look through the twitcher's tripod mounted binoculars.
The thoughtful twitchers had even thought on the bring some small steps so that children could view the tiny birds.
Here is a link to a site up North.
-long-nanny-little-tern-site


A child ran behind Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog.
Her Father shouted "Isabel!"
Beach Buoy was so tempted to add....
"Necessary on a bicycle?

Time to go.

BEACH BUOY.
😎