Half Moon Bay  16 Aug 2009


 
Identifying Specimens at Half Moon Bay

This was an event organised by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust for Marine Week. It was led by Dave Dunlop, Marine Conservation Officer of the Trust and Kathryn Turner, Irish Sea Advocacy Officer, who began with a short talk about the beach. She explained that beaches with sand and rocks are rich in species and that Half Moon Bay had not been regularly surveyed. The sea was warmed by the outflow of hot water from Heysham Power Station, encouraging the growth of small organisms which had a knock-on effect up the food chain. Buckets and nets were provided and we only needed to cross the road to begin our search.

There was a lot of seaweed washed up on the beach and still attached to rocks including Spiral wrack Fucus spiralis, Knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum, Sea lettuce Ulva lactuca, Enteromorpha intestinalis, Bladder wrack Fucus vesiculosus, Purple laver Porphyra umbilicalis, Bootlace weed Chorda filum, Irish moss or Carragheen Chondrus crispus, and also Samphire Salicornia sp. probably washed down from the estuary.

Among the shellfish found were Common limpet Patella vulgata, Barnacle species, Common winkle Littorina littorea, Flat winkle Littorina obtusata, Dog whelk Nucella lapillus, Edible mussel Mytilus edulis, and Common cockle Cerastoderma edule.

In the pools were colonies of Sand mason Lanice conchilega, Green shore crab Carcinus maenas, Sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus, Beadlet anemone Actinia equina, Brown shrimp Crangon vulgaris, Prawn Leander serratus and Gammarus locustra. 

Buried in the sand were Cat worm Nephtys caeca and a smaller 2.5 cm unidentified worm.

In spite of the lack of sun and the strong gusty wind 30 people attended, including 7 from North Lancs. and 2 from Arnside Naturalists, the rest were parents and children. Apart from the Natural History interest, it was a strong reminder of how important the beach was as a food source for our distant ancestors, with many edible species found - both "meat” and "veg".

Anne Smith

 




Photograhs by Barbara Crooks