Rocking Time at West Runton Beach

Rachael Wright, Seasonal Education Officer

What a fantastic start to the season we are having! For our first rockpool rummage and rocks and relics sessions we spent a beautiful sunny and rather windy day at West Runton beach. Shoals flocked to the beach to learn about life under the waves and we had the pleasure of running a rockpool session for 162 people! It was great to see so many people exploring the rockpools that were full of life. 

Rockpooling at West Runton, photo by Matthew Roberts

We had some wonderful finds including a large spider crab which are rare to find in rockpools as they tend to favour deeper waters. Crabs shed their carapace in order to grow. One group were lucky enough to watch a crab moulting in their bucket. It’s great to see a natural process like this happen before your eyes and it’s something I have never seen before either. Other great finds included blennies, scorpion fish, shrimp, lots of crab, anemones, periwinkles and whelks. 

In the afternoon we ran a rocks and relics session, taking a walk through time and exploring the fantastic selection of fossils at West Runton. We had another great turn out with 113 people to guide along the beach it was quite a challenge but great to see so many people keen to  know more about Norfolk’s changing coastline. 

We started by exploring the ice age, and then went on to look for fossils in the ancient river bed. West Runton is particularly famous for the fossil of an ancient mammoth/ elephant that was found sticking out of the rocks about 20 years ago. We reconstructed this giant mammal using ourselves as part of the artwork to try and understand the scale of this huge animal. Walking back through time even further we investigated the chalk laying on the sand at West Runton beach. Both the children and adults had a great time hunting for paramoudras and belemnites along the beach. 

If you missed out this time, then don’t worry you can join us again on our next session on Tuesday 27 May. Why not visit the website for information on other events activities we will be running throughout the summer season.  Hope to see you at an event soon.