Anyone who goes rock pooling regularly will know that it’s addictive. Even when the tide’s creeping up to the top of your wellies and the rain’s flying at you, you see another stone and you have to know what’s under it. It could be something new. (more…)
Month: August 2014
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Random Rockpooling and a Sad Sight
“Let’s go rockpooling.” It’s a familiar cry in our house, but for once it’s not me saying it.
It’s a luxury to live within walking distance of the beach; a luxury I pined for when I moved away from Cornwall for work in my twenties.
Now I’m back and any time the tide is low I can wander down to the shore and rummage in the kelp and pools. Often, though, life gets in the way. Even when conditions are perfect, there are jobs to be done, people to see, deadlines to meet and the rest of the family to consider. They enjoy rockpooling, but I sometimes suspect they maybe don’t love it to the same extent I do. (more…)
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Boiling Seas and Shipwrecked Sailors
There’s no mistaking a change in our rock pools this week. There’s a new chill in the Cornish sea breeze. The shrill cries of swallows swooping over the water and children jumping the waves will soon fall silent as the days shorten and the autumn gales brew. The seas, however, are bursting with life.
A fish stranded in a Cornish rock pool -
Where have all the Common starfish gone?
Sometimes it’s what you don’t see.
Common starfish It’s been a great summer for finding starfish. All season I’ve been taking snaps of giant spiny starfish and watching brittle stars walk across the sea bed. I’ve placed cushion stars into eager palms, enjoying the giggles as children feel tickly tentacle-feet for the first time. (more…)
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The Selfish Shellfish – The story of a Cornish Rock Pool
It feels like we’re living out a scene from the children’s picture book about a Cornish rock pool, The Selfish Shellfish.
Grandma Paint Pot at Castle Beach I’m with the author, Grandma Paint Pot (Donna Painter), on Castle Beach in Falmouth, where her story is set. The tide is rising fast and we’re slithering about on a wet rock while we watch limpets, top shells and anemones coming to life as the waves push in. (more…)
Cornish Rock Pools 