Instead we had three named storms right across the mid-month’s low tides and so several surveys (have-a-go x2 and group survey x1) were cancelled.

Group Shoresearches were carried out at Llandudno Pier (Pen y Gogarth / Great Ormes Head SSSI) and Porth Dafarch (Glannau Ynys Gybi / Holy Island Coast SSSI) and later in the month, luckily we managed to sneak a have-a-go session in between the named storms at Penrhyn Bay (Liverpool Bay SPA) and Cricieth (Tiroedd a Glannau Rhwng Cricieth ac Afon Glaslyn SSSI). Despite surveys cancelled, those storms gave our volunteers a reason to inspect the strandlines for our Beached! project.

Welcome to our newcomers and another huge THANK YOU to those established and newer Shoresearch volunteers who came to help. Your input is really valuable.

Surveys completed: number of quadrats 26; Walkover 120m² ; timed surveys 140mins (wireweed and slipper limpets).

Number of individual volunteers: 15, (new recruits coming to/booking on group surveys 6); have-a-go participants 15.

"Thanks a lot for today, I had such a blast!" -Reece Halstead

Seasonal findings – we found plenty of blue-rayed limpets higher up on the wave-exposed west coast Anglesey shore at Porth Dafarch and wondered at whether this might be something to do with seasonal movements.

More reading introduced us to the life and times of the blue-rayed limpet (as much as is known). These molluscs are thought to be short-lived (<1 yr commonly) and have been seen in various studies to have a route from settling, as newly-settled spat, onto pink encrusting algae lower on shore in early spring, before moving when slightly larger onto algal fronds. They grow quickly over spring and summer moving onto kelp and migrate later in summer down to the kelp holdfast to avoid being detached with the shed kelp frond, over winter. These movements are thought to be via the surface, but also perhaps by something called mucus rafting! Some individuals survive beyond 1 yr, but these are few. You can see where a blue-rayed limpet has been by finding oval-shaped, nibbled areas on algae (especially so if you look within kelp holdfasts found on the strandline after winds). It has been thought that extensive BR limpet grazing can impact on kelp populations, by helping to cut off blades and stipes, with this grazing. 

Species feature: We have plenty of very knowledgeable and interested volunteers who work with us in various ways and they commonly provide ideas for work and information etc. One of this month’s species feature ideas was provided by Wyn who has been intrigued by the cells found within the eroded tube of the keelworm species he found at Cemlyn bay in January. After contacting various people, he was led to a research paper over 60yrs old, which describes the building of the keel worm tube (there are a few species of keel worms). It’s fascinating and can be found here. There’s more to it than you might imagine. What’s more, he explains these types of worms were one of the few animals which managed to survive the biggest extinction on Earth - the mass extinction (hitting the marine environment the hardest) between the Permian and Triassic Era. Thank you Wyn for those insights.

When we find a sea slug, understandably, it often makes it to the blog, because it’s usually utterly splendid to see and this month we had a major treat - a compliant, rather lovely sea slug which is one we’ve (well actually Paige) has found before and in that case looked like a dotty blob. This shows it’s ALWAYS worth carefully, investigating blobs, as they are often very interesting (slugs, squirts, eggs or some such).

This sea slug Polycera quadrilineata is a common one for the area it can be identified from a similar white and orange cousin Polycera faeroensis by the numerous orange spots forming lines along the body and the oral processes (the things sticking out from the front at the bottom) are fewer in number in P. quadrilineata. We were able to spend a bit of time with this slug and have been sent some amazing pictures (below) and a video from our Shoresearch volunteers on the day. Thank you, all. 

The Shoresearch surveys are designed to help monitor some areas of shore by volunteers recording what they find using various types of surveys. Training is given to the volunteers who sign up to help us carry out these surveys.

We are liaising with other organisations to hone these surveys, so they become a vital tool in the help to monitor wildlife in our intertidal areas. Whilst they can also help to introduce volunteers to the species which live in this intertidal zone, the ideal is to build up some regular teams to regularly survey certain areas, building a clearer picture over the long term and in particular to keep an eye out for Invasive species and Climate change indicators.

If you would like to join us to volunteer your time at our repeated survey sites, then please get in touch. It is likely to be just one 2-3 hr session out on shore once every month at the least, as well as any time you can spare to do online training or website reading. 

Want to help with Shoresearch volunteering

Of course, feel free to help in other ways too via becoming a member, donating or buying a gift membership for someone. Thank you.

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