The change in seasons and perhaps the easterly winds have swept piles of seaweed up onto the shore. I had a pick through it and only found two species in the piles. One was made up of long strands, like incredibly long bootlaces and it was quite heavy too. This one turned out to be Thongweed (Himanthalia elongata).
This algae (seaweeds are algaes not plants!) starts off as a button like blob growing on the lower part of a rocky shore where the rocks are only exposed at the lowest spring tides. The strands grow out of the blob during autumn and winter, reaching up to a metre long (3 and a bit feet) by the next summer.
The strange thing about so much of it turning up here is that it doesn't grow near by. The blue parts of the map (see right) show where MarLIN (the Marine Life Information Network) has it recorded as growing.
It may have been brought down along the coast on the currents or perhaps it came from a bed of Thongweed that grows out to sea. I'm sure someone that understands the marine world could explain it but Thongweed doesn't usually turn up here!
The other seaweed is Knotted Wrack (Ascophylum nodosum), this is one of the ones with the blobs in like bubble wrap that it's always so tempting to burst!
This species does grow locally (see map on right) and turns up quite often at Landguard.
My next challenge to myself is to work out what the mushrooms are that grow here.