Rock pooling magic

Jessica Riederer, Seasonal Education Officer

What better way to celebrate marine week than to spend an afternoon rock pooling with incredibly keen children and their families.  

Pulling into the car park at West Runton beach on 7 August with colleague Seasonal Education Officer Bethan Painter, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself – it was going to be a very good day!  Despite over hanging cloud, the sea was calm, the tide was out and the rock pools with their stunning array of browns, oranges and greens were calling.  

 After handing out equipment and guides, more than 40 kids, parents and grandparents were eagerly gathered, buckets and nets in hand, ready to go. A few families had never been rock pooling before, but most knew what they were about to embark on and the energy emerging from the crowd prior to stepping down onto West Runton’s rocky shore was brilliant.  

I can never get enough of rock pools – their multi coloured wracks and algae, transparent common prawns and camouflaged (and incredibly quick) sand shrimp, paramoudras hosting powerful Cromer crabs, and bright read beadlet anemones peeking out from below barnacle-covered rocks – it all makes me incredibly happy. Despite the abundance of life, occasionally a family will say, ‘We are not finding anything,’ but when they are encouraged to crouch down low, or even sit next to a pool and just look - I love to see a smile creep across a face as one realizes that there is indeed so much to be discovered.  

Shore crab, photo by Georgina Dean

For many kids, it’s all about crabs. No matter how many times a child finds a crab it seems to fill them with immense satisfaction. From tiny dewdrop-sized transparent crabs to adult hand-sized Cromer crabs covered in barnacles – all are equally appreciated. Crabs are cool, I definitely agree – but it is the smaller majority that really fascinates me.  

Limpets for example, often get overlooked.  Limpets can live to be over 20 years of age to begin with, and that’s a long life for a snail that spends his days clinging to a rock. Did you know they remain on the same piece of rock for their entire lives?  When young limpets have found a suitable place to live, they will grind their shells into the rock to create a depression known as a Home scar.  When the tide is in, Limpets will leave their Home scar to graze on algae – but they will return back to the same place day after day, year after year.  Were it not for limpets, exploring our rock pools would be far more challenging as the rocks would be coated in thick algae.  

Tiny multi-coloured blennies with their bodies covered in their protective layer of slime are also a favourite of mine. These curious fish are fantastic to watch darting about in the pools. Why are they covered in slime? They can actually cram their bodies into rock crevices and can remain out of water for hours waiting for the tide to return.  The slime prevents their bodies from drying out.   

Of course, everyone has their favourite rock pooling bits to talk about, so half way through any two hour session we all gather to share and celebrate each other’s finds. Kids and parents clamber across the rocks with their buckets of wonder – every one eager to show us their discoveries.   Unfortunately we always have to mention that we are unable to discuss and celebrate all of our young scientists finds – otherwise we would literally be gathered all day – but we always choose a few species to discuss. One thing I learned really quickly is that it is very important to acknowledge the discoverer of any animal we choose to talk about. The pride a child feels when we discuss ‘his’ hermit crab or ‘her’ shrimp – and the opportunity for the child to tell us where he/ she found the animal is clearly an important part of their rock pooling experience.  

Scientists believe that more than half of the UK’s wildlife lives in our seas. Joining us for a rock pooling session gives children and adults the opportunity to discover and learn about just some of it.  We could all come up with a multitude of reasons why we need to take care of our seas.  Slowing down, looking closely, gently handling an animal, replacing it in its home carefully – and developing a sense of awe and wonder – these are all skills worth fostering in children. It never ceases to amaze me that despite being visited by families day after day, West Runton’s rockpools continue to host a spectacular variety of wildlife.  We can help ensure they continue to do so by moving carefully amongst them and always returning wildlife to the zone in which they were found.   

Our next Rock pooling sessions take place on Tuesday 20 August from 11:30 – 1:30 pm, Friday 23 August 2 – 4 pm.  We hope to see you there!

Coastal fun at Holme Dunes

Jessica Riederer, Seasonal Education Officer

Sea dipping and Coastal Creations at Holme Beach last week proved to be just as much fun for us Seasonal Education Officers as for the children and adults who joined us.  

Coastal creations began with a scavenger hunt where egg cases from rays and whelks as well as numerous species of marine invertebrate shells were found. After gathering to discuss and celebrate our finds, it was on to creating! We were very impressed that the adults got down in the sand to design their own creations – who says playing in the sand is just for kids? During the sea dipping session, despite a choppy North sea, Jo and her net managed to deliver lots of different species of shrimp, prawn and crab, and even, much to the excitement of the children – a sole. 

Our next Coastal creation session takes place on 26 August at 2pm. Sea dipping takes place on the same day at 4 pm. 

National Marine Week: Make the most of the coast

Nick Acheson, NWT Volunteer

So you reckon you know about wildlife in Norfolk? You can recognise the heaven-borne mutterings of the skylark; you can spot the fine footprint of a fox in a puddle of mud and the spraint of an otter on a wintry riverbank; you know the habits of the swallowtail and the haunts of the hawfinch. You know about wildlife in Norfolk.

 

Strandline with whelk eggs and Flustra foliacea, Tabitha Pearman

But do you? Have you thought about the sea? We don’t – think about the sea – do we? It’s there, of course, the grey-green-blue-brown background to our walks along the coast, to our days spent watching seabirds, and our gazing at sea lavender in bright bloom in sunny July. But we don’t think about it. Nor do we think about the plants and animals which live in it, just metres from our shore; plants and animals which are as much a part of Norfolk as the paintings of Cotman, the tang of Colman’s Mustard, and the peregrines nesting on the spire of Norwich Cathedral.

These plants and animals are astonishingly diverse. Scientists estimate that as many as half of all the species which inhabit the UK live in the sea. So, with a touch of extrapolation, we might say that half of all the plants, animals and other organisms which live in Norfolk live in the sea. It bears thinking about, doesn’t it? For, every time you see a greenfinch at the sunflower seeds in your garden, every time a hedgehog potters past your pond, every time you hear – with a leap of your heart – the lusty song of a nightingale from a thicket of blackthorn, another creature respires, divides its cells and procreates unseen beneath the North Sea’s waves.

So what are all these creatures? We’re only just learning about them. As recently as 2010 divers from Seasearch East discovered a unique chalk reef stretching for miles along the coast of northeast Norfolk. It’s home to innumerable species of marine life – among them anemones, crustaceans, sponges, algae, fish, cephalopods and nudibranchs – and is of international importance. In 2011 the same team discovered a new species of sponge there: not new for Norfolk, not new for the UK, but new for science. So it’s a sponge which, as far as we know, lives only in the chalk reef off the coast of Norfolk and until two years ago we knew nothing of its existence.

 

Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds, photo by Rob Spray

We have no idea yet what other creatures may lie undiscovered in the waters just off Norfolk’s shore. What we do know is that our marine habitats and wildlife are every bit as diverse, precious and threatened as our wildlife on land. Until now the UK has dragged its fins and flippers appallingly where marine conservation is concerned but the time for action is now. The most significant thing that members of the public can do is learn about marine habitats and their wildlife, and become informed lobbyists for their conservation. 

Holding an edible crab, photo by John Hurst

The good news is that in July each year The Wildlife Trusts hold a festival called National Marine Week, aimed at spreading the word about our seas, and one of the most active players is Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Again this year there will be host of events in Norfolk, for experienced naturalists, for families, for members of the public, and again this year many of them will be free.

To find out more, and to take become involved in marine conservation in Norfolk, visit the events pages of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust website.

Wherever you are along the coast, happy marine wildlife-watching to you this month.