A beach is a great place to discover wildlife as well as catch some rays of sun.
If you go to a beach with rocks, you can usually find a lot of different species in the rockpools. You don’t always need to look in rockpools either.
The beach I have recently been on only had a few shallow rockpools that didn’t hold much, but had lots of seaweed covered rocks. The seaweed was very dense and I could imagine the tide being in and it forming a vast underwater forest for sea life to habitat.
So whilst the normal person was happy looking in the few rockpools, I was moving seaweed gently to find an abundance of life.
The bulk of the seaweed was “Fucus Vesiculosus” otherwise known as “Bladder Wrack“. Olive-brown in colour and having a leathery feel. Its distinctive fronds with air sacs arising from a foot/disc that anchors it to the rocks. Growing at around 2ft in length.
The picture above is where I was looking on the beach.
Under the top layer of the Bladder Wrack that was drying in the sun, the under layers were still wet and hid small stones that when lifted exposed small creatures such as:
- Shore Crabs
- Anemones
- Hermit Crabs
- Limpets
- Barnacles
- Sandhoppers
The list can go on…. what will you find on the beach on your next visit?
It is important after looking for creatures in a rockpool or under seaweed, to put back anything you have disturbed during your adventure.
Put back those rocks, it is somethings home!
Sparrowhawk Bushcraft 