A quick post as it has been a while…..Last Sunday we went on a walk on sunny Carne Beach on the Roseland Peninsula. The primary aim was to get some fresh air, the second to find some dahlia anemones to bring home to the aquarium (we succeeded in that) and the third to do a bit of beach combing. Nothing much washed up, but we did find a number of live Necklace Shells (Euspira catena). These gastropods hunt bivalves in and on the sand; if you see shell valves with a neat little hole in them, you know they were victims of this predator. They are name after their necklace-shaped, sandy egg capsules (see here).
This one is about as big as they get. Their cousins in the North-East of the Pacific Ocean (Euspira lewisii) are something else though, take a look at this!
Tag Archives: beach combing
Portuguese Man O’ War at Gunwalloe Church Cove and Dollar Cove
The weather today was pretty bad, but it was still very nice to go for a quick stroll on the beach; we chose a new destination: Gunwalloe near Helston. The beach and cliffs here are more reminiscent of some of the North Coast spots, quite barren. At the moment, Facebook and Instagram are overflowing with pretty pictures of washed up Portuguese man o’ wars (or Portuguese men o’ war?) in Cornwall, but we only saw two small shrivelled up ones (at Holywell Beach) so far. It was therefore great to see ten or so on the high tide strand line at Dollar Cove and Gunwalloe Church Cove. The smaller ones measured only five cm or so, with the largest one close to 20 cm (the size refers to the pasty-shaped, gas-filled float or pneumatophore). Unlike true jellyfish, which can move by contracting muscles around their bell, the Portuguese man o’ War (Physalia physalis) just sails. More amazingly, they actually are not individuals but colonies comprised of different, specialized individuals (it is getting late writing this, so I will lazily refer to Wikipedia). Stunning colours and truly great finds!
a brief beach comb at Sandy Acres Beach
Sunday was a beautiful spring day and we headed out to a new spot: Sandy Acres Beach on St. Ives Bay, North Cornwall. Beautiful dunes and a vast beach with very few people on it! With the kids running amok, I had only very little time to scour the high tide strand line. However, even with only 50 meters or so covered, it was the best bit of beach combing so far. Many cuttlefish bones, bits of Horn wracka and quite large mussels covered in seaweed holdfasts. Below a quick snap. At the bottom, I am not 100% sure, two Thornback ray Raja clavata- a Spotted ray Raja montagui and just above that a tiny Small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula mermaid’s purses (egg cases, see here for a useful key). Next to the mussel Mytilus edulis, some Hornwrack Flustra foliacea (a Bryozoan), two sponges which might be Mermaids glove and Chocolate finger sponge (thanks Steve Trewhella at the Beachcombing facebook group) and a spiky piece of Sea beard Nemertesia antennina, a hydroid. At the right of that a piece of a whelk Buccinum undatum egg cluster (better pic here). Not a bad haul, looking forward for a proper walk along this beach very soon!
Bi-Coastal Beachcombing
The weather has been awful lately (October in the UK, no surprise there) with lots of wind. A good time for some beach combing! I have not done much of that actually (here one old post) but hope to head out more over the winter. Last week a large piece of a space rocket washed up at the Isles off Scilly, but I am willing to settle for something less exciting… We headed for Chapel Porth Beach west of St. Agnes on the North Coast, a very rugged bit of coast. Because of the rain and the sand blasting, it was not very suitable for the kids so we stayed only for a very short while. Plastic debris high on the shore, some pieces of dead bird and a big buoy covered in Goose barnacles Lepas anatifera and potentially Lepas hilli (thanks David Fenwick); I find it difficult to distinguish between the two.
A very large number of small Mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca jellyfish had also washed up. I tried a couple of quick underwater photos but I should have taken a little more time to get them right. We then took the decision to head from the North coast to the South coast (which are only 25 miles apart), specifically Marazion at St. Michaels Mount. The weather can vary quite a bit locally and we figured it could only be better on the other side. The tide was still low and here the wind was onshore as well, however, not a single object seemed to have washed up. It kept raining and so we cut the beach combing short. Better luck next time!
beachcombing
The first weekend after the recent storms and a bright blue sky meant that it was time for some beach combing. The beach at Praa Sands looked glorious in the sun, but we were probably a little late for the serious stuff (if there was any to begin with). So no dead Triggerfish, Columbus crabs or suitcases filled with cocaine. Instead, lots of bits of plastic and rope and some Velella remnants and empty Dogfish (or Small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula) egg cases. Of course also Common goose barnacles Lepas anatifer:
More interesting was a vat with (dead) Devonshire-cup-corals Caryophyllia smithii attached:
Damage to the coast was evident:
