“To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of year, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.”
— Rachel Carson
A salt marsh is one of my favourite places in the world, and last month I visited, for about the 12th time, the marshes around Jekyll Island, GA. Below are some photos of the marsh at Clam Creek, as well as mid-island marshes seen from the biking path, and marshes along the causeway from the mainland to Jekyll, taken in the months of April, June, September, and December between 2005 and 2014, in month-of-the-year order. (Click on any photo to see a larger view.)
One of the best things about a marsh is how its colour changes with the years and with the seasons, spectactularly so.
APRIL
creek and marsh, Clam Creek, April 2012bike path, Clam Creek marsh, April 2012bike path, Clam Creek marsh, April 2012high water in the marsh, Clam Creek marsh, April 2012mid-island marsh, April 2012causeway marsh, April 2012causeway marsh, April 2012whimbrel at causeway marsh, April 2012
JUNE
sea oxeye daisy (Borrichia frutescens) at Clam Creek marsh, June 2006Clam Creek marsh, June 2014bike path and bridge, Clam Creek marsh, June 2014bike path and bridge, Clam Creek marsh, June 2014male painted bunting, Clam Creek marsh, June 2014singing song bird, Clam Creek marsh, June 2014pink flowers, Clam Creek marsh, June 2014monarch butterfly, Clam Creek marsh, June 2014mid-inland marsh with reeds, June 2014
SEPTEMBER
grasses, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2005bike path at Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2008deer along Clam Creek bike path, Sept. 2008Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013great egret hunting, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013 … look at the purples!Clitoria ternatea (butterfly pea), Clam Creek, Sept. 2013Lippia nodiflora (matchstick plant), Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013giant foxtail (wild millet), berries, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013marsh colours, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013more, and different marsh colours, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013stormy sky over Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013 … I love thisdead trees and stormy sky, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013raccoon mom, in Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013raccoon mom, waiting for baby, in Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013raccoon baby in Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013great egret, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013tri-coloured heron in grasses, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013yellows and greens, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013marsh crab (Sesarma cinereum) at Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013long-needled pine along bike path, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013golden orb weaver spider eating something, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2013marsh fleabane with love bugs, Clam Creek marsh, Sept. 2014thundercloud over causeway marsh, Sept 20083 immature white ibis, causeway marsh, Sept. 2013lots of immature white ibis, causeway marsh, Sept. 2013marsh view from new bike path bridge near historic area, Sept 2013
DECEMBER
marsh grasses and mud, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010 … look at the colour!marsh grass, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010snowy egrets and little blue heron hunting, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010tri-coloured heron, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2010causeway marsh, Dec. 2010Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2013Clam Creek creek and marsh, Dec. 2013orange grasses, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2013a new channel in Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2013bike path, Clam Creek marsh, Christmas Day 2013bike trail and bridge, Clam Creek marsh, Christmas Day 2013canal and grasses, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2013marsh with many dark reeds, Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2013view to ocean from Clam Creek marsh, Dec. 2013
These marshes are very near the marshes of Glynn, celebrated in Sidney Lanier’s poem of the same name, from which:
“And what if behind me to westward the wall of the woods stands high?
The world lies east: how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky!”
white pelicans with babies in the Marshes of Glynn, Sept. 2013
Beautiful photos…what a memory journey.