Two sites lie within the Liverpool bay SPA (Special Protected Area) for breeding and overwintering waterbirds. We also headed to Rhoscolyn, whose intertidal area comes under the Glannau Rhoscolyn SSSI.

We also had the greatest number of volunteers out, so far and since Slipper limpets have been recently found in the North Wales area, we decided to focus our timed species searches to looking closely for any signs of them.

Number of volunteers overall – 11

Number of quadrats sampled – 12 mid-shore, 10x low-shore

Time spent in timed species searches – 16x10 minutes.

Seasonal findings – Baby stars!! They were spotted by two groups of surveyors, clearly honing in on everything, because these were miniscule. A close-up shows they’re looking like baby common starfish.

Strangely, there was a recent blog by the creator of Cornish Rockpool Heather Buttivant, who had found cushion star babies after having regularly found eggs laid on the shore. The common star/seren fôr (Asterias rubens), doesn’t lay eggs like this, instead they are what’s called broadcast spawners (eggs and sperm are released into the water in Spring and fertilisation takes place in the sea). The young go through several bizarre-looking stages floating around in the plankton, before settling in their mini adult-type form, sitting waiting to be found by Paige, Oliver, Eleanor and Mandy.

An early morning trip out to the honeycomb worm reef had Dan and Richard spotting some sea slugs. Initially, we guessed at sea lemons, but we knew what we were seeing were actually, much smaller, so it was always a vague idea. With swiftly-given help from British Marine Mollusca Facebook group and Living Seas Champion, Allan Rowat, we found out these were actually the rough-mantled doris Onchidoris bilamellata with their freshly laid eggs in those lovely ribbons. The animals themselves get to about 4cm and love feeding on barnacles, so this highlights that tasty morsel of sea slug lore which is that identifying sea slugs can be helped by looking for what they feed on, as many of them do specialise in one type of food source. They were all over one patch, which is just as well we were being really careful where we stepped in this altogether fragile intertidal space.

Species feature: Not so much a species this time, but a whole set of exciting creatures, not least because they’re more related to us than anything mentioned so far in this Shoresearch posts (other than the volunteers mentioned, obvs). Elina got her first view of one of many sea squirt species you can find in this space between the tides, when she discovered a Star ascidian/chwistrell serennog (Botryllus schloserri) - always a joy to behold. Little colonies forming a star shape all sharing the same out syphon, can grow to become larger colonies covering rocks and algae. You can see more about some of this group of species in a Living Seas Blog.

We also found plenty of lightbulb seasquirts/chwistrell wydr (Clavelina lepadiformis) which are also a seasonal find, as colonies begin to grow in spring. They can grow their population by reproducing sexually or by budding. Emma has taken a beautiful, clear video of them feeding in a patch she found. 

Looking closely there are two other colonial sea squirts visible in this picture!! The one encircled, amongst the lightbulb seasquirts hanging down is Morchellium argus (it has only it’s scientific name) and which is the same species we had found washed up on shore here, in a previous visit - seen hanging down like this we’ve still not seen it looking its best. Only when inspecting the photo once home and then asking Facebook again, did we discover the third species. Those smaller rounded forms are, again the creatures not in their best views, and are a species of Pycnoclavella sea squirt. A very entertaining rock, indeed! 

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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