Tomorrow will be the first day of spring! I think we are all more than ready though it looks like the cold will be with us for another week or so. I’m concentrating on the light and the daily arrival of migrant birds to help keep me in spring mode.

One of the things that happens at this time of year is one big spring cleaning out in nature. You even see this at the beach.

Whelk egg cases and skate egg cases have been tossed up all over the beaches. The long segmented tan or gold colored strand is one kind of whelk egg case. Sometimes you can open one of the little compartments and still find tiny whelk shells but mostly the cases are empty.

There are lots of old raggedy feathers left behind. Looking at this one you have to wonder how that gull was even flying.

And the shells of all sorts of mollusks like this whelk wash ashore, creating sweet vignettes against the still cold sand…

And other times all the shells are gathered up together in big piles….I always like to think of these days as the days nature does her spring cleaning….now, if only I could be motivated to do the same!