This week I’m planning rockpooling events for next year and adding identification pages to my website….

Yesterday it was so foggy you couldn’t see the sea in front of your wellies. Before that it was raining; before that it was blowing a gale and on the one day the sun came out I was nowhere near the beach. It’s not bad for eggcase hunts – which Cornish Rock Pools junior loves – but that’s about it.

This time of year, when the short days and inclement weather make even die-hard rockpoolers like me reach for the duvet, I turn to flicking through the 2017 tide table and dreaming of sunny days and gleaming expanses of shore.

Is it too early for New Year’s resolutions? Mine is to spend (even) more time sharing my love of rockpooling with others. I’ve put all the Looe Marine Conservation Group rockpooling events in my diary and I’m also hoping to volunteer with the utterly fabulous Fox Club (the junior branch of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust), helping to run events around the county. Then there will be other events for the local scouts and home educating groups to fit in, and who knows what else.

At any age, the shore’s a place of endless discovery and I still learn something new every time I head out there. There’s nothing like helping others start on their own love affair with the rock pools, so I’m excited about all these events and hope you can join me at some of them.

This week I’ve been asked for lots of identifications, which must mean some people are still out there freezing their fingers off for science. It got me thinking that people need jargon-free, photo-rich resources to help them identify their finds. There are great sites out there that I often signpost to, but this week I’ve added some new pages to Cornish Rock Pools.

So, here are my guides to identifying some of the most common rock pool species on Cornwall’s shores:

What crab have I found?

What fish have I found?

What starfish have I found?

Have a look and let me know what you think.

I’m planning to get out on the shore later this week to gather more evidence of stalked jellyfish in the Looe and Whitsand Bay Marine Conservation Zone. If you’re free this Friday 16th December at 12.00 come and join us at Hannafore beach… otherwise watch this space and I’ll let you know how we get on in my next blog post.