Salt crystals

People wonder what these white patches are along the side of the Estuary.
Well they are salt crystals.

When there is a series of high tides salt water is brought in from the Irish 
Sea.
The tides create hollows in the sand and as the last of the high tides retreat they become salt water pools.
Then the sunshine (yes we occasionally get some ) evaporates the water in the pools leaving sea salt.
When the next higher tides arrive the action of the incoming tide picks up the salt from the hollows and moves it to the edges.

In the good old days, before Tesco and Sainsburys the locals would skim the crystals off the surface and spread them out to dry for use on their chips.

All this fascinating information is provided free of charge