Razor clams?

[Harvestman]

Saw this in the mud yesterday, on the coast near Chepstow. Very high up the shore, no more than 10 feet from where the coastal saltmarsh begins. Is it razor clam sign? I note that the holes seem to be paired, but I've never seen razor clams in the wild, so to speak. I would have expected them much lower down the shore. No other signs or prints of any description around or near them, just flat mud.

Thanks for looking.

 

[copper_head]

Hmm ive only seen razor clams in sand and there the sign is spiral shaped piles of sand. Could be very different in mud perhaps

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Razor clam 'keys' are totally different buddy. And, you only get them in sand near the low water mark on spring tides.

 

[Harvestman]

Thank you. Still a mystery though. 6 pairs of holes, all about the same distance apart. A worm of some sort? Holes were at east an inch across, probably more like 2 inches.

 

[mark stotesbury]

look ''man made'' the edges are raised there is the odd mud drip looks like a bird feeding - you can see were the beak /stick enters and leaves the mud with a drip around the hole very similar to a red oyster catchers feeding pattern , but i am at the bottom of thw world so anything is possible .

 

[Harvestman]

look ''man made'' the edges are raised there is the odd mud drip looks like a bird feeding - you can see were the beak /stick enters and leaves the mud with a drip around the hole very similar to a red oyster catchers feeding pattern , but i am at the bottom of thw world so anything is possible .

Possibly. If man made it would need a heck of a long stick to do that though, and for no apparent reason. No bird prints about either.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Not sure to be honest. They do look like beak marks.

You do get mudworm, kind-of like harbour ragworm in the mud flats.

 

[Harvestman]

Hmm, those mud drips are pretty convincing actually, now they have been pointed out. Bird does now seem the best candidate.

Probably the South-East Walian cockle-eating mud hummingbird, well known for not leaving footprints as it feeds...

 

[boatman]

Neat little holes for razor clams on our beaches, you sometimes find dead ones poking out a bit which is proof of their presence.

 

[xylaria]

I am supposed to be able to find razor clams on my local beaches, but I never succeeded. The mussles and cockles are lush and dont require the huge walk to the low tide line. They are good walk out in clean sand, and only cocklers seem to know where to get them.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

If you have the shells on the shoreline, they are there.

Keep an eye out for very low spring tides (you can view your area here http://www.ntslf.org/tides/predictions) and watch a few Youtube videos.

You can also get very good pickings after a good storm if you get down early

 

[Trencakey]

I wonder if it's Flounder having a good nose around ?

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Look more like a waders foodprints to me fuzzed by water either at the time or since. ..............Would explain the 6 pairs too.