Visitors to the peninsula may have noticed these walls which run south along the coast from Loftus Hall. While today they are mostly washed away through coastal erosion they can still be seen in places. One might wonder if these were simply a method to prevent coastal erosion or if there was some other purpose…
These delicate white objects can sometimes be seen washed up on sandy beaches. These are the shells, or tests, of the Sea Potato (Echinocardium cordatum). This member of the sea urchin family like to bury itself in sandy beaches well below the low tide mark and is common to all coasts around the UK and…
Wait for me! A common Periwinkle makes its way down to the tide on Dollar Bay and leaves quite an impressive trail as it does so. They don’t normally wander too far from their habitats but in order to lay their eggs, they must make this long, arduous trek (in snail-pace terms anyway!)
Have you ever peered into a rock pool and seen this looking back. The Common Blenny or Shanny is one of our more common rock-pool fishes. Up to 10cm long, it is usually Brown/Green in colour with darker blotches (males turn Black with a white mouth in the breeding season). Once the female has laid…
What you may find as a cute little shell, mussles fear this ancient carnivour coming to eat them in their shells. Who needs ghost stories with this going on.
Sea Foam or Spume is as its name suggests just that. Foam is the result of gas, in this case air, mixing with liquid-seawater. This happens especially in the surf-zone when large waves are active. Dissolved organic particles in the seawater act as foaming agents or surfactants, similar to what you get in washing-up liquid.…
Visitors to the lighthouse may have taken a quick stroll to the end of the road and wondered what the concrete slabs were once used for. These are the remnants of the WW2 Lookout station used for keeping an eye on the ships ensuring they passed the area in safety. The raised slab with the…
Quintessential plant for this time of year the Holly (European Holly – Ilex aquifolium). Anyone exploring the Tintern Trails at the Abbey would have come across these large holly trees in the depths of the woods and among the hedgerows along the trails. Fossils indicate that the common ancestor of the Ilex plants probably appeared…
Anyone who has ever taken a walk out behind the lighthouse has probably seen this large bay situated to the east of the lighthouse. The name is either an anglicisation from the Irish coinicéar meaning warren or related to the Middle-English word for rabbits, coney. Back in the day country estates were never complete without…
Ever seen these strange brain like reefs at the edges of sandy beaches? Learn more about the collonies of worms that create them.