Rocky Shores
Finding Plants and Animals - It is easy to find animals and plants on a rocky shore when the tide is out. The larger plants are permanently attached to the surface of the rock, and many animals also remain in plain view. Turning stones and boulders reveals many more animals sheltering underneath. Always carefully return these rocks to their original position, the right way up, to preserve this delicate habitat.
Identifying Plants and Animals – A good field guide for the region is essential, and many plants and creatures can be tracked down without the need to disturb them in any way. Some can also be photographed easily, allowing a permanent record to be built up. Many of the smaller animals can be best viewed in a small white enamelled dish with the help of a hand lens, but they should always be returned to a suitable location once they have been identified and maybe photographed.
Sandy Shores
It is much more difficult to find animals in mud or sand. They will have burrowed into the sediment as the tide receded, and must be dug out. The best way to find them is to sieve the sand, but there are a couple of problems here. Mesh size of the sieve is important – too big and a lot of animals pass through – too small and too much is retained. Also the water needed to wash through the sieve must be collected from the sea, and that can be a long walk if you are working at the top of the shore when the tide is out! As with many of the animals found on rocky shores, identification and photography can be done immediately. The animals can then be dropped back into the hole the sand came from to get on with their lives.
Beach Transects
To get a good idea of how plants and animals are distributed on any particular shore it is standard practice to carry out some sort of ‘transect’, which is simply a way of sampling at different tide levels. It is a good idea to start at the top of a sandy shore and work down as the tide goes out (close to the water to make sieving easier). In contrast it is convenient to start a rocky shore transect at the bottom, when the tide is fully out, and then work back up the shore. Putting these two things together it is perfectly feasible to work down a sandy beach, and then immediately switch to a rocky shore. Ideal locations for this have a nice sandy beach adjacent to a good rocky shore.
Fitting In with Summer Holidays
Some of the activities of amateur naturalists can be a little antisocial (bird-banding at sewage treatment plants springs to mind!), but an interest in the sea shore is usually well accepted by the whole family, and fits in very well with a seaside holiday. The bucket and spade are often there already, and all that is really needed is a small sieve and a good field guide.
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