Fancy wheedling out whelks, peering at periwinkles and spying starfish this summer? Here are some of the best places to find interesting things on the country’s rockier shorelines.
Before you set off:
If you’re going rock-pooling without a guide, always consult the tide tables. Visit www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides. The tide may look far out, but it comes in fast, so be careful. For a guide to safe rock pooling, go to www.uk-rpc.org.
Helford Passage, Cornwall
The Helford River winds its way into the Atlantic south of Falmouth, and on the north shore of the estuary is the pretty village of Helford Passage, home to the famous Ferryboat Inn. It’s a great spot for rockpooling at low tide, and if you want some help, on 25 July a special ‘seashore safari’ leaves from the pub, led by Cornwall Wildlife Trust officer Ruth Williams. Creatures you might find include beadlet anemones (their tentacles retract once out of the water) sea squirts (so-called because when you remove them from the water, they squirt the water out of themselves) and greenish sea urchins.
www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson/events_pages/Seashore_Safari.htm
Book a local Haven holiday park
Bay of Grouville, Jersey
Some of the world’s biggest tidal ranges can be found on the island of Jersey – which means a feast of opportunity for rockpoolers. Seymour Tower, offshore from the Bay of Grouville, is surrounded by rocks. Walking across the sand bars, you’ll descend into the gullies and gutters that, when the tide comes in, are suddenly drowned in 9 metres of it. Jersey Walk Adventures organises walks to Seymour Tower, the most exciting being the nighttime Moon Walk. Guided by a local enthusiast, you’ll spot the phosphorescent glow of weird and wonderful creatures, and you may even see lobsters walking about.
www.jerseywalkadventures.co.uk
Book a local Haven holiday park
Shoalstone Beach, Devon
The Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust is a guardian of wildlife along the English Riviera, and for those who like to see seashells by the sea shore, they provide rockpool rambles at various dates throughout the summer, either at Shoalstone Beach at Brixham, or Goodrington Sands at Paignton. The latter is home to the Trust’s dedicated Seashore Centre, where there are tanks displaying marine wildlife, interactive seashore displays and a video microscope for examining the little critters in more detail. Highlights you might find on a ramble include multicoloured jewel anemones and the ethereal, colour-changing Devonshire cup coral.
www.countryside-trust.org.uk
Book a local Haven holiday park
Charmouth, Dorset
Part of Dorset’s world-famous Jurassic Coast, Charmouth’s Heritage Coast Centre organises Rockpool Rambles throughout the summer. Setting off over Broad Ledge at Lyme Regis, you’ll find all kinds of stuff in the pools left behind by the receding tide on the large, flat area of rock. You might see dog whelks feeding on mussels.
Other creatures include sting winkles, sea slugs and limpets (clinging on, as they do). The centre also arranges fossil-finding walks and Plankton Trawling – you go paddling with your plankton-catching net, and then what your naked eye cannot see, the microscope at the centre will reveal to you.
www.charmouth.org/heritage-coast-centre
Book a local Haven holiday parkThanet, Kent
The chalk coastline around Thanet is home to all kinds of interesting little creatures. For help to tease them out of their hiding places, you can join one of the Seashore Safaris – at places such as Ramsgate, St Mildred’s bay and Minnis Bay – that are being run by the Thanet Coast Project this July and August. Look out for shore crabs and piddocks (in the holes these clever molluscs have burrowed into) as well as grape-like cuttlefish eggs and child-pleasing starfish.
www.thanetcoast.org.uk
Book a local Haven holiday park
Portrush Nature Reserve, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Up on the north coast of Northern Ireland, Portrush is known as a happy-go-lucky beach resort. But a small area of seashore rock, the Portrush Nature Reserve, has helped scientists decipher how our Earth was formed – and it’s helped rockpoolers have lots of fun into the bargain, seeking out the various sea anemones, shellfish, crustaceans and seaweeds. And if the weather fails on your visit, fear not – inside the The Coastal Zone centre there’s an indoor rockpool that’s teeming with more seashore life.
www.ni-environment.gov.uk/portrush.shtml
Book a local Haven holiday park
Seven Sisters Country Park, East Sussex
Shannies are curious-looking fellas: rockpool fish with slimy, scaleless skin, and you may get to see some in the rockpools of the Seven Sisters Voluntary Marine Conservation area, beneath those towering chalk cliffs on the South Downs. The area stretches from the Martello Tower at Seaford to the Wish Tower at Eastbourne, and it offers up lots of shoreline delights en route. Top areas for rockpoolers include the shingle beaches exposed at the mouth of the Cuckmere River at low tide, and the sandstone and chalk ridges east of Beachy Head. Hermit crabs, barnacles, snails and limpets are among the typical finds.
http://www.sevensisters.org.uk/rte.asp?id=42
Book a local Haven holiday park
Cresswell Shore Nature Reserve, Northumberland
There is a fabulous amount of rocky shoreline life along the beautiful coast of Northumberland, and the Northumberland Wildlife Trust works to maintain the glorious biodiversity. The Trust has a reserve at Cresswell Shore, in the southern part of the coast, and on 13 August they’ll be celebrating National Marine Week with a rockpooling walk, led by an experienced warden. If you’re very lucky, as well as the classic rockpool creatures such as cockles, whelks, mussels and fast-swimming prawns, you may even spot an otter.
http://www.nwt.org.uk/index.php?section=places:events&event_id=10179
Book a local Haven holiday park
Rockcliffe, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland
Owned by the National Trust for Scotland, Rockcliffe Beach is part of a gorgeous, unspoiled stretch of coastline in the sheltered Urr estuary in southwest Scotland. As the name would suggest, there are lots of rocks along the shoreline, making great sport for mollusc-seekers. Throughout July and August, rangers offer guided walks, including low-tide rambles across the mud flats to Rough Island. En route, there are lots of interesting wriggling, burrowing and scooting things to see, including a variety of worm species, and weird-looking water beetles.
www.nts.org.uk/Property/53/Events/Soon/#
Book a local Haven holiday park
Flamborough Head, Yorkshire
The white cliffs of Flamborough Head, jutting into the North Sea near Bridlington, are an icon of the north, and down where they meet the sea, there are huge rockpools to be discovered. You can go crabbing in them (bacon on the end of some string is the classic method) and watch barnacles feeding, their tentacles out to catch passing prey. You might spot the prettily coloured painted top-shell, too, and the cushion starlet (a fat, squishy starfish).
http://www.eastriding.gov.uk/events/details.aspx?id=24948
Book a local Haven holiday park
