Here are some top tips about successful and safe rockpooling on a North East beach.
Firstly-make sure you dress appropriately!
Shorts are best, or leggings that can be rolled up as you never know how far you'll want to go into the water. Take a jumper for your top half though; it is England after all!
Bare feet are the best for rockpooling - feet are the hands of the legs. This means they have much more grip than you might think! You can cling onto those rocks much better in bare feet than in your flip flops
Be careful when you're climbing on seaweed or wet rocks, they can be slippy!
This is (I think) Bladder Rack. This one is very slippy even when it looks fairly dry!
This one is softer on your feet and generally not as slippy, I always stand on this one where possible.
How to find stuff!
I always check in small corner areas of pools like this, small animals often tuck themselves away here.
Pool with lots of rocks in them are good too, there might be creatures under there.
My top tip is to lift up any large rocks that you can manage, if there is anything hiding underneath it will dart out and you'll be able to see it and maybe even pick it up!) If you don't want to put your hands into the pool, use a long strong stick to turn stones over and move them out of the way, e.g the handle of a fishing net.
I liked this little area that I found today, it looked like a theatre curtain on a stage!
But sadly there was nothing hiding there :(
What you might find
A sea anemone with its wiggly bits out!
A bird having a swim in his own private pool
I found lots of crabs today (one was really big!) but unfortunately they were all dead ones that had been washed up by the tide. I found this pretty big crab claw too.
Amazing shapes and patterns that the sea has created on the stones!
A little mermaid...
Oh no, they were just posts with seaweed on them!
A shy sea snail who didn't want to come out for a photo
Amazing patterns on rocks, I think this might be made by mussels sticking to the rock and then being pulled away?
Bonuses of the beach
This type of seaweed makes an excellent Lion tail, and is also great to chase people with!
Free natural foot ex-foliation!
Make sure you end the day right!
This is the Rendevous Cafe - gem of the north east coast, which was recently on a bank advert (I can't remember which one). I have been coming here since I was born. You cannot visit this beach without also visiting the rendevous (I'm pretty sure that's now an actual law).
Oh no...melty! O_O'
Finally...
I love the feeling of sand on my feet. Top tip- don't bother brushing it off with a towel, it never works anyway and you ruin the magic of the beach.
Heading home!
Thanks for reading, have a great summer!
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