Earlier this month a bunch of us from Infinity Foods went on a morning rock-pooling session to Saltdean beach with Sussex Wildlife Trust. We were lucky to have a lovely sunny day, and although the wind on the beach was quite a bit stronger than inland, thankfully we had all read the advice of SWT to wrap up warm with layers and sensible foot wear.
The tide was out between 10 – 12 so we had a good window to scurry around the rocks and water looking and discovering all sorts of things!
The rocks were covered in seaweeds of all varieties, including Kelp, bladderwrack, sea lettuce and dulse and non-native wireweed. This was beautiful but very slippy and a few of us ended up with wet feet or bums!
It was so informative to have SWT staff member Sarah there to tell us more about our finds. Several of our members had their children with them so they were extra careful while handling the creatures and wildlife and putting them back were we found them.
Some of the things we found were: a common shore crab, beadlet anemone, bristle worms, sand mason worms, keel worms, spiral worms, slipper limpet (which is a destructive non native) to name a few!
The feeling of knowing how many living creatures are there just under stones or seaweed made me feel excited about living at the seaside. Such a joy to hear more about each creature as it was found and the squeels of the children as another crab was found.
Fun was had by all and we ended it with a little picnic on the beach as the tide came back in to cover all the creatures back up with salt water.
It’s easy to have your own rock-pooling adventure! Sussex Wildlife Trust run events like this for the public too. Here is a check list:
- Let someone know were you are going and when you should be expected back – take a mobile phone with you as well.
- Check tide times for safety and fun
- Wrap up warm with waterproofs and wellies or walking boots
- Bucket and information leaflet good but not essential
- Make sure you don’t keep things out of the water for too long and put them back were you found them so they are ok.
Have fun!