For me the first sign of true summer arriving around here isn't the deceptive burst of hot weather we get in May. Rather it is the first song of the Swainson's Thrush, and this year I heard that call today for the first time.

Aine and I were down at Deep Bay (or Mannion Bay it was known in the past) during a super low tide today (1.2 feet) and we saw a number of interesting things. Of course, we recorded a podcast for you so if you find yourself at the beach, have a look for the things we found.

In no particular order we saw:

• A chiton
• Japanese and native oysters
• Herons, Glaucous-winged gulls, mallard ducks, crows, Canada geese and a family of common mergansers
• A closed green sea anemone
• The cockle pictured above
  

We also talked about seeing ghost shrimp and gunnels which are eveident if you search around the foreshore in front of the CNIB camp on Snug Point.


Deep Bay walk podcast