Every year we spend a few days on the Southern Maine coast and visit some of my favorite places. This year the temperatures were in the high 60’s and on Friday it was 70 degrees! The weather gave us several very pleasant beach combing days. We started at Wells Beach where we filmed this short video. 

We then walked Laudholm Farm Beach and Rachel Carson’s Wildlife Sanctuary which are two of my favorite places to walk in Wells, Maine. We were also able to explore York Beach and it’s rich tide pools on the way home. It was a fabulous trip!

Many of the shells you see in this video are typical of what we found on Laudholm Farm Beach and Long Sands Beach in York. Enjoy!

We just spent three wonderful days in Maine; despite the heavy rain and cool temps. We managed to squeak in a walk on a beach in Kennebunkport on Monday afternoon. The highlight of the treasure hunt was finding two intact False Angel Wings! They are pictured in the photo above. (I cannot wait to paint these beauties!) We also witnessed these Least Terns hunkering down on the shore along with some Great Black-backed Gulls.

On Tuesday we visited the Vivian E. Hussey Primary School in Berwick, ME, where I read "Seashells - Treasures from the Northeast Coast". I'm thankful to Anita Haberzettl for inviting me back to visit and to talk with the awesome first graders. 
We enjoyed a marvelous walk later that day on Wells beach amidst the perfume of beach roses. It smelled like heaven!

On our way home on Wednesday we stopped at Footbridge Beach in Ogunquit. Again, we were delighted with the perfume of beach roses and were so excited to see Piping Plovers nesting on the beach and foraging on the shore. We finished up the walk with this short video. Enjoy!

Can you see the Piping Plover ? He/she is well camouflaged in the sand.

In April we were in Plymouth for an educational beach walk with the Beach Ambassadors from the Goldenrod Foundation. It turned out to be a really great field trip with lots of seashells found! We met in the parking lot at Long Beach and there I was able to show and talk about my seashell collection so that everyone was primed before we set out to comb the beach. We then carpooled in 4-wheel drives out to the field station house and from there set out on the beach to search for seashells. It was a beautiful day, a bit windy, but not too cold. The Ambassadors are in training to help with educational efforts to preserve and protect this rich environment. For more information check out their website and blog: http://www.goldenrod.org/blog/become-a-beach-ambassador-in-2015 

Here are a few pics from the field trip...

I'm in front with Dorie Stolley, Program Manager for the Goldenrod Foundation and behind us the wonderful Beach Ambassadors.

Dorie found this beautiful Sea Scallop. It's not something you usually see; never mind one with so much color! This was found on the harbor side. (Plymouth Harbor)

A European Oyster and a Stimpson's Whelk. This is the second time we have found a European Oyster here on the harbor side.

In the last video from Hampton Beach - I had these shells in an Altoid case for protection. It is hard to get a good look at them in the video so I photographed them here so you can see them "up close". These False Angels Wings are small - the larger one being an inch and a half.

This is a Ribbed Pod - also called the Atlantic Razor Clam. These shells are delicate and break easily as you can see from one side of the bivalve. The Ribbed Pod is 2 and half inches long. Blue Mussels are on the right. They typically have stronger shells and can be kept in your beach pail or a pocket!