Combesgate

Life in the sand.....

Buckets and spades were the order of the day at the latest coastwise workshop held at Westward Ho! on 16th May.  The MBA’s Jack Sewell led with a presentation about animals living in sand, in the spanking new Westward Ho Baptist Church Hall, before taking us to the beach, 5 minutes’ walk away.  

The main focus was on the larger animals, those that can more readily be seen, or leave traces on the sand, razor shells, urchins, necklace shells, sand hoppers with their myriad smaller look-alikes and a huge variety of worms. Sorting out our cats from rags was about as far as any of us got, but it’s a beginning.

During a glorious afternoon we explored the sand from low shore to the strandline, equipped to dig and sift the sand.  The push net and sifted sand produced plenty of small worms, a Lesser Weaver fish, a left-handed hermit crab, Diogenes pugilator, and the isopod Euridice pulchra.  Our haul from fishing around the strandline included several mermaid’s purse, collected by Janice for the Shark Trust, and eggs – abundant  Netted Whelks’, some unuslually large  Sting Winkle egg and a cluster of cuttlefish eggs.  Part of the submerged forest had been revealed after  the winter storms, its mud foundation  pitted with the burrows of paddock shells, their fragile shells exposed.  

We were not sure what to expect as this was our first exploration of a very exposed sandy shore, and there did seem to be a paucity of fauna.  But before we judge we need to explore other beaches, in other conditions, to learn more about the sand habitat to which Jack and his three very helpful graduate assistants gave us an excellent introduction.

(Photos courtesy of Paula Newbery)

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