Assateague Island National Wildlife Refuge

Assateague is an uninhabited island off the coast of Chincoteague (itself an island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia).  Assateague is managed by the National Park Service and is home to a herd of 150 wild ponies who graze the salt marshes.

The last Wednesday and Thursday in July is when the pony swim and auction take place.

In order to keep the herd to 150 the ponies are penned, rested and then herded to the water channel between the two islands for a 4 minute swim/wade to Chincoteague where they are again rested before selected ponies are sold at auction.

This ritual began many years ago as a fundraiser for the Chincoteague Fire Brigade after several major fires in the town.  It is now a week long carnival.  The pony swim was made famous by a children's book 'Misty of Chincoteague' written by a woman who bought a foal at auction.

Whilst watching the ponies from the road, this creature caught David's eye.  A black rat snake..

Our day clearly wasn't going to be spent sitting on the beach and so we followed a trail to 'Tom's Cove' a stretch of water between the islands.


These smaller black-headed gulls are prolific on this coast.

The snails were each holding tight to a piece of weed.



These tiny crabs were scuttling in and out of the water.  Each had one enormously big claw.. probably necessary to fend of all the seabirds for whom they would be a tasty morsel!

And so on to the beach .. miles and miles of unspoilt sandy coastline of white and black shell sand ( we realized why the black sand when we inspected some of the shells)

To say that it was blustery on the beach would be an understatement.  We were sandblasted by the wind whipping the sand and throwing it at us.

This abandoned octopus sand sculpture was rapidly disappearing and the clouds were gathering.

Which probably explains why there was no competition for the picnic benches!



The sea was very lively and great to watch but despite the warm air and reasonably warm water it wasn't tempting to get into the boiling bubbles..

This video may give you an idea of the beach on such a day..