May 10 2006. I intended to continue the geological account of Southend by re-measuring the upper exposed part of the Prestwich or bandstand Pleistocene section. Having done that I found that the 11.48 am B.S.T. tide (of predicted 2.3 m above mean sea-level altitude) had just turned depositing numerous twigs, algae and small crabs as a strandline at Westcliff Shorefield Road. In addition there were jellyfish and two squid deposited just below this line and the limit of wet sand on a sunny day with little wind using the geological equipment it was possible to record the orientation of the squid and the position of these jellyfish. Others were being deposited lower on the beach and seen later at Chalkwell Station; but the exact measurements near the strandline showed that the convex-up jellyfish were not buoyant enough to be deposited higher like the crabs and wood. The public is naturally concerned about jellyfish so I have added notes on that aspect here.

A)Bandstand Cliff section (measured downwards)

100mm of asphalt and bricks added since 1853.

620 mm Brown silty subsoil with flint chips.

230 mm More common flints over erosion surface.

560 mm orange and yellow sands.

750 mm White loam with 5 mm white flint chips.

110 mm maximum thickness of black carbonaceous silt, measured vertically downwards 2.16 and 2.26 metres from the top to the asphalt path and roughly 13 eye-levels of c.1.7 m up from the collapsed path and 10 above the highest London Clay concretion on the eastern slipped face.

710 mm grey marly clay (white calcified to 330 mm)

860 mm orange stained band grading down into similar grey loam.

500 mm more sandy but less clean face with orange loam seen three eye-levels below the carbonaceous band, with reeds about two metres below that.

Specialists in the Pleistocene should and probably have sampled the carbonaceous layer of Prestwich, not for radiocarbon as it is probably too old, but for pollen and other small organisms oxidized in the other beds.

B) Western jellyfish cluster

There were four blue Cyanea lamarcki Peron and Lesueur and one white jellyfish which was probably Aurelia aurita (L.) with an average umbrella width parallel to the strandline of 124 mm (range 85 to 145). The upper edge averaged 1282 mm from the edge of the wet sand (range 830 to 1780 mm) and the lower third of the umbrella was covered by sand on most of them. The spacing of the finds along the strandline averaged nine paces (roughly yards or meters) and there was then a gap of 77 paces including a breakwater of 23 paces to the next more eastern one of 80 mm diameter, 1800 mm from the strandline.

C)Smaller jellyfish

After a further 34 paces there was a cluster of five Cyanea lamarcki and two white jellyfish of 77 mm umbrella width (range 50 to 100), 1104 mm average distance from strandline (range 130 to 1800 mm) and 3.3 pace average spacing. The next breakwater was only ten paces further on and these unburied jellyfish were lined-up by a rip current depositing weed there.

D)Stranded Squid

The most eastern squid was 7 paces beyond the breakwater noted above, with a 120 mm diameter jellyfish being stranded 11 paces down the beach near the breakwater. Flies were already gathering on the squid which had a dorsal mantle length of 145 mm, a total length of 225 mm, a width apparently lacking fins of 30mm, eight arms splayed to a width in the sand of 45 mm and 6 mm diameter eyes. The two tentacles were missing or more contracted than the arms, which extended to 130 mm from the strandline, with the posterior end bent round more parallel to it at 280 mm. The posterior end pointed towards 122 degrees east of magnetic north, compared to 152 degrees on the main part of the body and 102 for the trend of the stranded algae. A second specimen was found 47 paces further to the west where the strandline had the same trend. The posterior end pointed towards 230 degrees and terminated 410 mm from the strandline and the head and tentacles had a trend of 246 degrees and reached to within 260 mm of the strandline. The dorsal mantle length was 135 out of a total length of 170 mm, and showed lateral fins resembling Alloteuthis subulata (Lamarck) situated as triangle well away from the apex. It is possible that the other specimen was its mate; although young Loligo forbesi Steenstrup L. is anther possibility.

E)Another small jellyfish cluster.

Three paces beyond the squid and 67 beyond the last upper beach jellyfish there were eight white jellyfish, probably Aurelia, with diameters averaging 72.5 mm (range 40 to 95) separated from the strandline by 300 to 3100 mm (average 1322) and spaced at average intervals of 4.4 paces. There was then a gap in jellyfish strandings of 93 paces, followed by seven of both colours spaced at an average interval of 42 paces and averaging 656 mm from the strandline (range 110 to 1430). One Cyanea was in a vertical orientation, with the 85 mm diameter rim on the down-current side of a rip current near a breakwater and the whole group had an average diameter of 84 mm.

F)Discussion on jellyfish stings

Including finds from Chalkwell there were 19 measured Cyanea near the strandline with a similar average diameter of 95 mm (range 60 to 175) to the 17 white specimens of 93 mm (range 40 to 150) which may have all been Aurelia. The difference from the perspective of health-risks is that Aurelia has the stinging cells on oral arms buried under the convex-up umbrella and Cyanea has them on thin, very long tentacles, evidently removed from the edge of the umbrella before strandings.