The rugged shoreline here is part of the massive moraine left by the last glaciation. The small rocks here are of many different types, different ages and from so many different places.
Hammonasset has a sizeable wetland which has some forest on the edges. This is a popular birding location. We saw quite a few birders and groups enjoying a Saturday morning.
Common glasswort grows in the salt marshes here. Pannes are depressions in the salt marsh which hold a little salt water between tides. This gives the mud a high salinity, inhospitable to most plants except glassworts. This is the fall "red" stage of the plant. It gives the salt marsh a red tint as you look out over it.
Between the salt marsh
More glasswort
Another salt loving plant, Triangle orache. Check out those leaves.
Slipper snail shells
Although, Hammonasset has a beautiful sandy beach that seemingly never ends, this beach is composed not of sand, just slipper snail shells. If you dig down in them, some of the shells have broken down but it is still almost 100% slipper snail shells. There is some worry about this. The slipper snail population is soaring. Some folks think the overharvesting of oysters has left a void the snails are filling.
Hints of red from the glasswort
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