This is another new term to emerge out of the collaborative explorations of the Severn Estuary by Owain (blog owner) and artist-scholar Heather Green. With artist PhD student Laura Denning too on this occasion.
Sea Biscuits. Pieces of clay that are rolled into regular ovates (egg shaped) along the sea floor by the flowing of rising and ebbing tides, which are then left exposed as the tide falls. (The clay mud is sticky and firm enough to resist being dissolved by the sea water).”
((Ovates also seem to be druids of some kind!!))
We like how like how ‘biscuit’ conjures up the action of rolling dough by hand.
We might go and get some and try to bake them hard. And biscuit is also a term for unglazed fired ceramics.
Laura suggested the name sea scat!
This has been added to the page A (poetic) Tidal Glossary on this blog.
In a Facebook comment Stuart Ballard added:
“Stuart Ballard We used to find great fields of almost perfect spheres and cylinders about 4″ diameter near Arlingham when the conditions were right. I think someone tried putting one in a kiln but it just fell apart.”
Tidal Cultures 