9th. September. WRABNESS For the 1200th General
Meeting the Club had chosen Wrabness as its meeting
place. All 32 members assembled at the Railway
Station in glorious sunshine for what was to be a
day to remember. The party made its way to Jacques
Bay - near this bay it was noticed that there was a
large signpost reading 'H.M. Prison, Wrabness', but
no working parties were seen!
The tide had just started to go down, and the
party made its way in the direction of Mistley until
a suitable place was found to sit and observe. As
the tide went out, waders started to arrive. A
number of great crested grebes were noticed in the
distance, a solitary cormorant flew in the direction
of Shotley, and soon a group of duck was observed;
these were wigeon and one Shoveler. Alighting on
the now exposed mud, we were able to see quite
clearly ring plover, turnstones and redshank. By
this time members decided to make their way back for
lunch.
In the afternoon the party made its way along
the shore in the opposite direction. By now the
number of birds had increased considerably. Two
bar-tailed godwits were identified, knot, dunlin
and small numbers of curlew. A stop was made to
observe the cliff face for geological specimens.
(The cliffs, of London Clay, yield good pieces of
Copperas, — wood and organic material changed into
iron sulphide by bacterial action in Eocene times —
which is washed out and spread along the beach.
Some crystals of Selenite were found, especially
the fine, needle-like form, and crystals of Calcite
in the cracks in the hard Septaria. The rapid
erosion of the soft cliffs was noted. — W.R.M.)
The return journey was made along the pathway
on the top of the cliff until Jacques Bay was reached
again. The tide had now gone out considerably, and
the saltings seemed to be full of birds, many of
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