Cornish Rock Pools

Category: Conservation

  • Help our rockpool wildlife – Recording your finds is easier than ever

    Help our rockpool wildlife – Recording your finds is easier than ever

    It’s always exciting when you find something new, something different, but did you know how easy it is to record your finds? Sending in your sightings can help conserve our fantastic wildlife.

    "Rob's rock" -Compiling a species list on a Cornwall Wildlife Trust Shoresearch survey
    “Rob’s rock” – Compiling a species list on a Cornwall Wildlife Trust Shoresearch survey

    After the recent huge spring tides, I had a long list of species spotted at various beaches, and I was dreading writing everything up.

    It was time to try out the new Online Recording for Kernow and Isles of Scilly (ORKS) website.

    The Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (ERCCIS) at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust now offers three ways to send in your seashore records. (more…)

  • An outdoor education – B is for…

    An outdoor education – B is for…

    We’re playing a board game with Cornish Rock Pools junior when he picks a question card: Name three animals beginning with B. He starts to reel off his answers – ‘Bear, bird…’, then hesitates. His dad makes buzzing noises and flaps his arms, but, like most children, our son wants to come up with his own answer.

    I’m reminded of the alphabet charts with a picture for each letter, you know the ones. The chart in my childhood classroom had some familiar animals, but also lots of exotic creatures that we were unlikely to see roaming the Cornish lanes (elephant, hippo, zebra, etc).  I’m not sure my son has ever seen (more…)

  • My One New Year’s Resolution: Cut the Plastic

    My One New Year’s Resolution: Cut the Plastic

    I’m not big on resolutions. It’s no secret that Cornish Rock Pools HQ is powered by chocolate and would crumble without it. This year I do have one resolution though. It’s something I do already, but I know I can do more.

    This year I’m going to cut down on plastics. (Thankfully I can still buy chocolate that isn’t wrapped in plastic).

    I’m going to be ruthless in my avoidance of plastic bags, bottles and (more…)

  • A Winter Walk

    A Winter Walk

    Standing on the beach it’s hard to imagine how anything survives in our seas at this time of year. Fierce Atlantic winds send the waves surging high onto the shore, exploding against the rocks and blowing hair or sand into my eyes whichever way I turn. Yet on these dark winter days, when many of our land animals have migrated or gone into hibernation, most marine life is clinging on and waiting for spring.

    Wintertime is tough even for the hardiest mariners. The strandline is strewn with those that haven’t made it (more…)

  • Join the search – Help monitor our Cornish Rock Pools

    Join the search – Help monitor our Cornish Rock Pools

    The summer holiday may be over, but there are still some great opportunities to get your feet wet in Cornish rock pools this autumn.

    Next week we’ll see some of the lowest tides of the year and Cornwall Wildlife Trust will be making the most of it with a week of Shore Search expeditions to locations around Cornwall. It’s a sure-fire way to find new things and be inspired by like-minded people. (more…)

  • Random Rockpooling and a Sad Sight

    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…)

  • Where have all the Common starfish gone?

    Sometimes it’s what you don’t see.

    Common starfish
    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…)