On this photograph ...
... you can see two similar shapes, two snails standing near each other ... with millions of years between them ... one is alive, waiting for the high tide, the other one is a fossil, a memory or a little monument to itself, written in stone.
This post will lead you through a living open-air museum on the stretch of beautiful rocky coast, a few kilometers from my home.
Fossils will be the central part and the main stars of this post.
And because of my fascination with these little sculptures and carvings from eath's distant past ...
... I will surely exaggerate with images showing mostly the same type of fossilized shells ...
... but I'm still convinced ...
... that this abundance of similar, petrified shapes ...
... will not end ...
... in a boring ...
... and repetitive episode...
... because ...
... there is a great variety of details here ...
... every petrified remain is a bit different ...
... and the look and structures of the rocks in which are imprinted ...
... are varied ...
... and colorful ...
... and then ...
... there are some living things here ... like this lovely lizard, basking in the sun, like one of the old, expert tourists that know about this wild part of the coastline spared from the galloping Hotelization and Appartmanization.
And there are ...
... many ...
... beautiful little gardens ...
... on the rocks ...
... filled ...
... with small resilient plant ...
... that can grow in these hard and salty conditions ...
... and on these plants ...
... especially when they are in bloom ...
... you can occasionally find ...
... some insect ...
... or even little land snails ...
... very near to the sea ones.
Some creatures though, are not connected much with the plant.
This minuscule jumping spider is patroling very large ( from his point of view ) stretches of barren rocks.
And so is this, also minuscule cicada relative, that is mimicking his postures and movement.
These little moths are also very common here, camouflaged on the rocks ...
... while this one came here caught by the wind and looked lost and not on favorable terrain ... and while we talking about the wind ... I think is a good moment to break a bit this macro view and take a look at the larger picture ...
... introducing the forces that continue to shape these rocks ...
... the wind and the sea.
Some of the greatest masterpieces ...
... of this wind&sea modeling...
... can be found here, at the edge of the sea ... among the shiny pebbles ...
... when the tide is low.
And here they are ...
... Elegant little fossils that look like tattoos on the stones ...
... for me ... these are like real precious stones.
But some of the bigger stones ...
... also have their jewels ...
... and wonderful details ...
... like this yellow spider hanging from the ceiling of a little red cavern ...
... decorative ...
... lichens ...
... and even the moss carpets in some places.
And of course ...
... the main attraction ...
... the great number ...
... of similar ...
... but at the same time ...
... different enough ...
... fossils ...
... you can ...
... always ...
... find ...
... something new ...
... and a bit different ...
... in ...
... this ...
... big collection.
Occasionally ...
... after the rain, you can find pools of stagnant, mildly salted water ...
... ideal habitat ...
... for some larvae ...
... including ...
... those of the mosquitoes. But the most interesting thing here ...
... at least for me ...
... are these minuscule Coleoptera under the surface that moves in a peculiar way... look's like they are walking on the surface, but on the opposite side of the surface and are enveloped in air bubbles.
And I always must stop to admire the elegance of the simple bubble :D
And with a few photographs of this little larvae ...
...we'll end this little story inside the story ...
... about the small pools of stagnant water.
But the main post ...
... continues ...
... with ...
... its ...
... various ...
... details ...
... of ...
... rocks ...
... with ...
... all those ...
... pretty peculiar ...
... resilient ...
... plants ...
... and the occasional insect.
Although rarely able to see some of the animals here ...
... you can ...
... often ...
... come across ...
... traces ...
... of ...
... their presence ...
... here ...
... on the colorful rocks.
And now ...
... with ...
... some ...
... more ...
... rocks ...
... stones ...
... and ...
... fossils ...
... which ...
... are...
... actually ...
... also ...
... rocks ...
... and ...
... with ...
... these ...
... other little details ...
... of this place ...
... it's time ...
... to bring ...
... this rocky little post ...
... to ...
... an end.
Have a good day ...
... or night ...
.... wherever on the planet you are.
( As always in these posts on Steemit all the photographs are my work )
On this interesting little fossil ...
... you can see very good an interior of an ancient seashell ... and now ... the definitive end :) THE END
I don't understand how a post--or a book--can be 'too long'. No one is forcing us to read, or to scroll. We have complete control over what we see. More is more, indeed. More choice, more variety, more opportunity to skip over what we find less appealing and focus on what we find most interesting.
I love your long posts. Being able to consume something in one sitting is not a test of its quality. The abundance must be hard work, but the wonder of your display is in no way diminished by abundance.
What I marvel at mostis your eye. I'm sure people walk the same coast and just see rocks. You see life on a continuum. You see mystery, and history.
I'll be back to look again. The beauty of a long post such as this is it will be here later, and tomorrow. A luxury for me. Hard work for you.
Great job.
:) thanks ... I don't dislike them when they are finally done ... but the preparing and organizing the many photographs :) makes me dislike the process of creating them a bit ... especially in these summer days when I can't wait to go outdoors again, to swim and snorkel, or just in the garden to play and laugh with cats ... and this post construction goes on ... and on ... and on :) in winter will be less painful .
My daughter was contemplating working next summer at an unpleasant job. I told her that summer was precious. Once it was gone, it could never be reclaimed. I advised her to use her summer more wisely. Sounds like you and I share that value :)
:D Absolutely!
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Thank you :)
Fascinating stuff! The photos are spectacular.
Thank you :) This is my favorite summer place. When not online I'm mostly hanging there.
did you collected all of them in one take?
a lot of great images here, but it is too much, really.
i have got overload apparenntly on 50-60%.
(sorry to say that, but.... it is specific of how the brain
is working... not me to blame!)
:) in two sessions, yesterday and the day before ... except for the lizard pictures and the sea with pretty big waves, those are old photos from 10 or more years ago made with another camera ... this place is filled with well-displayed fossils and is easy :) to collect them in pictures
understand... well, me thinks sometimes less is more :=)
Hehe me to ... I'm not fond of this long scrolls making and is a pain to organize and publish them, but I noticed the tendency of bigger rewards on them than the short or half-long ones ... so ... :D Here they are from time to time ...
probably, thats correct observation!
and also +5c - chances bigger it is not applied to any challenges...
:)
Wooow, beautiful, beautiful photos!
Fossils, reptiles, and spiders…There are spiders of the same kind in Japan! They have very unique behavior and are very adorable😍
Thank you for sharing!!
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True, these jumping spiders have very cute faces when seen up close.