#hartlepoollive

[henk-heijmans]

Early morning, West Hartlepool, County Durham, England, 1963 - by Don McCullin (1935), English

[lascitasdelashoras]

Colin Jones - The Steel Works, West Hartlepool, England

[nando161mando]

[Hartlepool, UK]

Just Eat couriers in Hartlepool are going on strike!

Last week JustEat removed the 50p per order bonus for riders, who are already struggling with low pay during a cost of living crisis.

Support the riders outside KFC in Hartlepool Marina at 11am tomorrow!

@antifainternational @anarchistmemecollective @kropotkindersurprise @radicalgraff

[felucians]

UK poc, take care of your mental health as well as your safety. Check in with your friends, family and local community.

We all need each other right now

[xanderjpgs]

hartlepool christmas sky // xanderjpgs

[carbone14]

Winston Churchill posant avec un pistolet-mitrailleur Thompson lors d'une inspection des défenses côtières à Hartlepool – 31 juillet 1940

Photographe : Major W. G. Horton - War Office official photographer

©Imperial War Museums - H 2646

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

John Bulmer

Hartlepool (1963)

[richs-pics]

Hartlepool Bay

[lacnunga]

Also, HMS Trincomalee 🥰😘

[pointless-letters]

“I went outside and clapped for 15 seconds every week, regular as clockwork, for two months but are they grateful? No!”

[sheffieldstrandliner]

Hartlepool, Feb 25

I spent the weekend in Hartlepool recently, with the express purpose of the trip being to spend time at the beach. Husband and dog in tow, we boarded a train from Sheffield, then another two trains to York and Hartlepool. On the way, I wondered about what I’d find.

Hartlepool is on the north east coast of England, a little ways south of Newcastle. The east coast doesn’t have the same sort of variety of sea creatures as the west and south coasts, but that’s not to say the east coast is boring by any means. It’s where I grew up, where I’ve spent the majority of my time beach combing, and where my love of the sea and its creatures started. The entire British coastline teems with life, which makes every bit of it special. I’d never been to Hartlepool before either, so I was excited. My guess was that it would be a sand or shingle beach, like much of the rest of the east coast.

Off the train, a quick lunch and then on to confirm my suspicions. We were staying close to the marina, but there was access to a proper beach not too far away. Down a set of concrete steps, the bottom few of which would clearly be submerged at high tide, to the sea.

Amongst the rocks piled up as sea defences, were absolute masses of black seaweed, thousands of barnacles and some of the biggest limpets I’ve ever seen.

The image above perhaps doesn’t do it justice. Some of the limpets were almost the size of my palm, able to stay secluded and safe enough, nestled in the rocks to avoid becoming food for any of the local seabirds or other creatures that might enjoy them.

Many of the rocks also were home to a number of mussel type bivalves, clustered together in bustling communities. Like the limpets, sheltered from the birds and other predators by the rocks and the tide.

Once I’d managed to tear myself away from the rocks and pools surrounding them, (and believe me, that was a challenge!) I turned my eyes to the water itself and the rest of the beach. The tide was all the way out, and just starting to come back in. My dog was contenting herself by paddling in the surf, tail wagging as she jumped among the rising waves.

Normally when I go to a beach, there’s one creature in particular that sticks out to me, and ends up defining the visit. This changes depending on the beach itself, the time of year, and what I’m lucky enough to see. Sometimes it’s something that feels rare and special, other times it’s just about sheer volume. This time, it was the latter. There were so many of these little shells scattered in the sand.

They varied a fair bit in colour. I found the yellow ones (pictured) particularly interesting, but many were lighter, with cream coloured bands. Some of the yellow ones had greenish tinges to them, although my camera didn’t pick that up especially well. Lots of them looked like this, the shells still attached but fanned out like a butterfly’s wings. Others had come apart, single colourful shells sticking out of the sand.

Despite their differences, all of them had the coloured bands like tree rings, all of them had this lovely wing-like shape, and subtle vertical stripes crossing their ‘rings’. Most also had a purple or blue ish interior. I didn’t take my coastal wildlife spotting guide away with me, mostly because we were doing a lot of walking and I didn’t want to carry it around, but I had a look for these creatures when I got home. Both my guide, and a quick reverse image search, seem to suggest that they are Banded Wedge Shells, or Donax vittatus. Apparently, they are most common on the south and north west coasts, but widespread across the UK.

I also found some of the usual suspects, mussel shells, common cockles and razor clams. I was surprised by the seeming lack of whelk and oyster shells. At this point, I hadn’t seen any evidence of crabs or anemones either which was also surprising given the amount of rocky nooks that seemed ideal for them. Because this was quite a flat beach though, the tide was rising quickly, and both my husband and dog were starting to get cold and frustrated with my lack of pace, so we moved on.

… to another beach! Hartlepool has a headland, meaning save for a few private industrial areas, you can more or less walk around the entire peninsula on the coast. We moved a bit further away from the marina, and onto headland north beach. Despite only being a 40 minute walk away, it had a very different feel from the first beach we visited. Not much in the way of high sea walls and man made rocks as sea defence. No thick layer of coal dust or charcoal settling on the sands. Not surprisingly then, we found different creatures!

I found evidence of crabs, but unfortunately no live ones. The tide was still rising, and as it did we could see lots of little bubbles in the surf, rising from tiny holes in the sand where no doubt crabs, clams or worms lie buried beneath our feet. I had to discourage my dog from digging into the sand so as not to disturb or harm them. I don’t think she is fast enough to catch them, but you never really know.

The coastline is more exposed here, and so there was much chunkier debris on the strandline as well. Some very smooth and interesting looking pieces of driftwood, as well as knotted rope and as much as it pains me to say it, a lot of plastic. But here there was also evidence of some interesting creatures as well. A very large star fish arm, empty crab shells and some decently sized sea snail shells. There were some rock pools here too, so I spent some time fruitlessly looking for crabs and anemones.

We weren’t able to stay on this beach as long as I would have liked. The day was waning, the tide was coming in and all three of us needed some food and a little rest. We did take a slight detour through the Heugh Battery museum, which is well worth the visit for any historian.

The following morning, we were back on the beach. Well, we were also on the beach at night, but I have no decent photos of that for obvious reasons. The tide was outgoing, and due to start rising again in a couple of hours. Again, we started with the sea defence rocks and surrounding pools. At last, I found my anemone!

A solitary and lonely jewel in the rock. I would have loved to see them at high tide, but alas, where I was standing to take the photo would be submerged by that point. I still kept a close eye on the rocks, encouraged by having seen this one, but found no others. Maybe there were lots behind rocks that I just couldn’t see!

The sea wasn’t done surprising me though. As the tide was low, lots of pools were exposed, and full of interesting creatures, even if I couldn’t see all of them. One thing that did surprise me though, was this little sea snail. Live, perched on some rock, nestled in a pool close to a jetty.

As you can see, this little guy also had passengers! You can just about see one of them fanning out to feed. I couldn’t quite work out what type of barnacles these were, and there were too many of them on the snail shell itself for me to feel confident in ident the type of sea snail. My guess is they are a common whelk though. I hope whatever was on that rock was tasty for them. In a nearby pool, there was evidence of similar creatures having attracted the attention of the seabirds. I like to think this one managed to stay safe and returned to the sea when the tide turned again.

Because my dog is a Labrador though, she is a water baby and was pining for a dip in the sea. We moved away from the pools and close to the surf so she could have a play in the water. Of course, I kept my eyes peeled for any other treasures on the shoreline. Like the previous day, there were a large number of Banded Wedge shells, mussels, razor clams and cockles. There were also a fair amount of sea bricks and other pebbles that are more common on the industrial shores of the UK. I even found some sea glass. But I think even more interesting than the sea glass, was this small shell my husband found.

Now, I was unable to find this one in my book. However, a reverse image search seemed to suggest that this is a striped Venus clam. Supposedly found on all British coasts but no records of any sightings on the south east coast. I don’t remember seeing anything like this, at least not recently. Having said that, the south and south east is where I’ve spent a good chunk of my time by the sea. What a lovely find, to round off an absolutely wonderful trip. After returning this shell to the sea, it was time to head back to the train station.

It might seem odd to some people that you can visit a town without really visiting it. If someone said to me, “What is Hartlepool like?” I don’t think I’d be able to give them an answer beyond the fact that it’s got some lovely beaches and lots of wildlife to see. But, such is the life of a Strandliner.

[henk-heijmans]

The steel works, West Hartlepool, England, 1963 - by Colin Jones (1936 - 2021), English

[postcard-from-the-past]

Administration building on the 1904 St. Louis World Fair, MO, US

American "hold to light" vintage postcard, mailed in 1904 to Hartlepool, England

[musicftmisfits]

Mt. Misery - Waking Up

North east-based indie outfit Mt. Misery have recently released their new single 'Waking Up', it's a hazy new indie release that offers a welcome break to a busy weekday.

North east-based indie outfit Mt. Misery have recently released their new single ‘Waking Up’, it’s a hazy new indie release that offers a welcome break to a busy weekday. They’ve created a no-nonsense and soft alternative sound that is rather refreshing and unhurried. Mt. Misery bring a less frantic sound to the scene and do so again on their latest single release. Recorded in a remote cottage…

[head-post]

Protesters throw bricks at riot police in Hartlepool and London

Large-scale protests have broken out in Hartlepool and London, with demonstrators throwing bricks and other objects at riot police.

Protests in London

Hundreds of far-right protesters clashed with police in central London late Wednesday, a day after similar clashes in Southport, England.

The incidents in Southport, a seaside town in the northwest, occurred Tuesday after false reports, widely circulated by extremist far-right social media accounts, that the suspect in Monday’s knife attack in Southport that killed three little girls and injured several other children at a children’s dance class was an asylum seeker.

Police later said in a statement on website X that more than 100 people had been “arrested for offences including violent disorder, assaulting an emergency services worker and breaching protest conditions. Some police officers sustained minor injuries.”

Wednesday’s incidents followed riots in Southport, where hundreds of protesters instigated by members of the English Defence League (EDL), an anti-Muslim xenophobic fascist group, clashed with police after attacking a local mosque with projectiles. The incident was widely condemned by politicians after more than 50 police officers were injured.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer labelled the riots “thuggery” and promised that those involved would face the “full force of the law.”

Protests in Hartlepool

Copycat riots also occurred in the town of Hartlepool in north-east England, where far-right protesters were seen on social media throwing missiles.

The incidents took place in and around Murray Street, which is home to Muslims and a mosque. Local police said in a Facebook post:

There remains a policing presence in the Murray Street area while officers deal with disorder after responding to a protest – several arrests have already been made. The road is still closed, and people are advised to avoid the area.

The rioting continued into the early hours of Thursday morning. Rioters set a car on fire and also published footage shows a man of Asian appearance being punched in the face.

Misinformation

Following the incident, far-right groups immediately began spreading misinformation that the Southport attacker was a Muslim immigrant.

Far-right groups such as the EDL and Britain First, as well as convicted far-right fascist activist Tommy Robinson, played an active role in spreading rumours about the identity of the knife-wielding attacker. Since the attack, more than 100,000 social media posts under the hashtag #enoughisenough have been viewed millions of times.

Authorities said on Thursday morning that a 17-year-old boy arrested after the stabbing in Southport has been charged with three counts.

Read more HERE

[xanderjpgs]

church on christmas day, hartlepool // xanderjpgs