Cornish Rock Pools

Category: Wildlife

  • The Thrill of Rock Pooling

    The Thrill of Rock Pooling

    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…)

  • 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…)

  • Boiling Seas and Shipwrecked Sailors

    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.

    Stranded fish
    A fish stranded in a Cornish rock pool

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  • 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…)

  • UK rarity, the Crystal Jellyfish turns up in Cornwall

    Check out these amazing photos of the rare Crystal Jellyfish (Aequoria sp.) taken by Claire Lewis of Cornwall Wildlife Trust in a rock pool on Looe Island.

    Crystal jellyfish in a rock pool at Looe Island, Cornwall
    Crystal Jellyfish, Photo by Claire Lewis. Looe Island.

    Crystal Jellyfish are common in the northern Pacific Ocean but are rare in UK waters. (more…)