vlog March 2024,

This month I explored Mid wales coastline. I had discovered there was a beach where a rare phenomenon occurs , after stormy seas sometimes you could be lucky enough to see the remains of an ancient petrified forest.

this is due to the storms removing layers of sand from the beach, where a forest once stood , the conditions of this forest were just right for a mixture of clay and peat to petrify the trees as the sea levels rose. sometimes the tops of the stumps are visible , other times whole root systems get exposed, along with ancient bronze age walkways and hearths and other signs of past human activity is also visible.

The stumps are fascinating to wander around. The  would have belonged to species of oak, birch and ash and were flourishing around 4,500 years ago according to carbon dating. they would have stopped growing and been reclaimed by the sea shortly after that as the sea levels in the bay rose. The level of detail and erosion is really unusual. some of the stumps look like they could be of trees alive only yesterday where as others show signs of being buried under the see for thousands of years. i was especially facinated by the stumps that had sea creatures and barnacles and shells growing on them.  its a really beautiful but eerie sight. all the stumps are different and the root systems especially are really cool to look at.

It’s about 5 minute walk from the North side of the beach to find the stumps – if the sea has been stormy enough to reveal them, this tends to happen in winter and spring. other times of the year these stumps are recovered in layers of sand and hidden away until the next stormy sea reveals them again. Unfortunately due to global warming this seems to be happening more often and more severely. We were lucky enough to go after a decent storm and were greeted with many stumps and lots of roots visible.

The town had some nice beach walks and also a pretty little train station.

Theres is also a mythical link to this forest and a Welsh Atlantis and I explain that in the you tube video linked below.