Inspirational day for VMCA volunteers at Polzeath

We had a great day visiting Polzeath VMCA this Saturday - volunteers from all five of Cornwalls Voluntary Marine Conservation Areas took part in an informal get together at Polzeath to share experiences and to get inspired! The weather turned out much better than we hoped and we were rewarded with a really fantastic rockpooling session. A Seasearch timed species search survey and walkover survey was carried out and once again we found lots of exiting things!

Highlights included;

Cheryl wiseman was on fire and found loads of interesting small specimens including this tiny juvenile starfish

Tiny starfish - probably Luida cillaris  the seven armed starfish

Really beautiful blue daisy anemone Cereus pedunculatus

Cushion starfish amongst Corralina sea weed 

it is striking the way that bladderwrack growing on this shore have really tough stipes which hold the fronds up and help the plants to cling on despite heavy wave action. They really look like tiny trees! 

Colonial seasquirt living attached to base of Sargassum muticum  possibly  Aplydium pallidum

Nice grey snakelocks anemone amongst Bifucaria bifurcata

Stalked jellyfish Halyclystus octoradiatus found on Sargassum muticum - three were found in the same pool! 

Deep gullies like this one provide cover for species you would not normally expect to find on such an exposed shore.

Pink plates Mesophyllum lichenoides are common amongst Corrallina turf on the edges of the pools