Fairy-lights on the River Leri, 2003

Description

Mike recalls an early morning walk near the mouth of the River Leri, which ended in seeing something unexpected!

Recollection as follows:

"Being out and about in the countryside you certainly see variations of form or behaviour in nature at regular intervals, but if you think about it, it’s not that often you see something you have never seen before. Two of my sons, a friend and I trudged down the river bank at 3.30 in the morning on the first day of September, the dogs leading the way through the darkness as usual. When about half way down the river towards the estuary, we noticed that everywhere the dogs trod, small areas of the ground lit up like sparks tracing their steps and then went out as soon as their feet left the ground for the next step. The lit areas were very bright and each point of light seemed to be about the size of a match head. Of course when we looked, it wasn’t just the dogs feet, ours were producing the same effect. There had been a very big tide during the night and I can only presume that whatever it was which caused this curious effect (probably some form of phosphorescent algae) had been left there as the tide retreated. None of us had ever seen this before and I haven’t seen anything like it since!"