I wasn't exactly equipped for rock-pooling, just some pots, hand lens, penknife, camera and generalist field guide. Didn't take long to find interesting things though, just by watching patiently or tuning over rocks. There were lots of shelled molluscs including a few new for me, plus good numbers of anemones. Mainly the expected Beadlet Anemone, but also a good few of these ...
Strawberry Anemone - new for me, can't think where the name comes from
Another one I was pleased to find was my first chiton. These are odd looking things - they appear like colourful legless woodlice from above and you may think that they are crustaceans, but from below they are clearly molluscs.
Lepidochitona cinerea
I could have picked up a whole host of shelled molluscs to show the huge variation in size and colour of some species, but I picked out a few that were clearly different species to each other and some of these were new for me like ....
Thick Top Shell (Osilinius lineatus)
Flat Periwinkle (Littorina obtusata)
Flat Top Shell (Gibbula umbilicalis)
Aside from the expected marine stuff, I also found a springtail way out in the rock pools and well away from the dry area inshore from the high-tide line.
Anurida maritima
This very hardy springtail is hydrophobic thanks to the body hairs, and these also entrap air which allows it to withstand being submerged for up to two days. How hard is that!
Away from the beach, I picked up a couple of ticks from the inlaws garden.
Bank Vole - not sure how I've managed to not actually see one alive before
Bristly Millipede - massive coincidence to find this on a bright-whitewashed wall of an outhouse as we'd been out at Arlington Court all day and I'd been failing to find this on the old stone walls and buildings.
The other beach we visited was Woolacombe, and it was a much brighter and sunnier day. Again I managed to spend some time around the rockpools and add a few things to the list ..
Pepper Dulse
Elminius modestus - a naturalised barnacle, unusual in having only four plates
Greenleaf Worm (Eulalia viridis)
Speckled Sea Louse (Eurydice pulchra)
3 comments:
It was good to read about some stuff from Devon. Not seen a Bank Vole for sure as they often move too fast. That Speckled Sea Louse looks fantastic, wherabouts was it please?
Cheers,
Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
Yes, Bank Voles were very busy - lots of missed or blurry shots as they poked their heads in and out of holes in a wildflower bank before dashing out into the grass and across to a walled area. Haven't seen them here before but usually lots of munched hazlenuts in the garden.
The Speckled Sea Louse is from Woolacombe - very small, lots of them skitting about the surface of a shallow pool left by the receding tide amongst the rocks. On the north end of the beach at approx SS4548743836.
Brilliant, thanks for that Mark. I shall be up in that area fairly soon and shall have a look for them as well as any rock pools before then.
All the best,
Andrew.
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