Shoresearch Week 2016

Join Marine Biologists and volunteers from Cornwall Wildlife Trusts Shoresearch project on their annual Shoresearch Week surveying the shore at all five of Cornwall's Voluntary Marine Conservation Zones! This year the Week will cover even more marine areas as we are teaming up with Capturing our Coast SW who are also running surveys across Devon and Cornwall.  Part of #SW_MPA_Project 
We welcome anyone who is keen to learn and to improve their shore species identification.  skills to come along. This is different to a standard rockpool ramble in that we have a limited amount of time to record as many species as we can! Its not suitable for under 11's and all under 18's must be accompanied by an adult

You can come along to as many as you like - all are epic locations and we will be taking advantage of some incredibly low tides!
Friday 16th Sept St Agnes meet at 10.30am - on the slipwqay at Trevaunance cove
Saturday 17th Sept Helford - meet at 10.30 on road to Mawanan Church just before the church!
Sunday 18th Sept Looe- meet at 11.30am at Hannafore Point (near toilets)
Monday 19th Sept Polzeath Meet at 12.30pm at Polzeath Marine Centre
Tuesday 20th Sept Fowey Meet at Readymoney Cove at 1.30pm

Please email matt.slater@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk to book a place and for more details, for more info on our project visit www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/shoresearchwww.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/shoresearch

You can also find us and like us on Facebook at our page @Shoresearch Cornwall

Shoresearch Cornwall Spring Highlights 2016

Rare hermit crab rediscovered in Cornwall!! 

Shoresearch at Castle Beach Falmouth

Thanks to massive spring tides our spring surveys went really well this year. We welcomed and trained lots of new volunteers and ran some very successful surveys. At Polridmouth near Fowey we recorded two species of rare stalked jellyfish and found our first crystal gobies!
At Castle beach we ran a very well attended public rockpool ramble and a Shoresearch led by our volunteers Patrick D'Arcy Evans and Sue Scott. Massive highlight of this day was when Adrian Rowlands brought over a bucket of tiny crabs etc and within it there was one that looked different!
It turned out to be a rare species Clibanarius erythropus - a warm water hermit crab not seen in the UK in significant numbers since 1967.  A population did exsist in Cornwall  in the 1960's (First discovered by trustee of Cornwall wildlife Trust Dr Nick Tregenza when he was a teenager!) Small populations existed  back then at Mousehole, Mounts bay and at wembury in south devon. These gregarious crabs dissapeared sadly from our shores after the Torrey Canyon oil Spill of 1967,  possibly killed off by strong chemicals used to clear the oil. #
Rediscovering such an awesome little creature was incredibly exiting!! Lots more photos and information can be found on our facebook page , and on our website here
Since then the species has been discovered at several sites around Cornwall including in Mounts bay by David Fenwick, at Porthleven by Paul Gainey, at Mousehoe on the next shorsearch survey and at Trenow near Perranuthnoe. One has even been found on the north Coast on a survey led by volunteers from Coastwise north Devon.
It is really exciting that this species which is at the northern edge of its distribution has clearly had a significant recruitment last year and may now be here to stay! It is a shame it doesn't have a good common name yet. In Stella Turks book Seashore Life In Cornwall published in 1971 she refers to them as European hermit crabs but I cant help thinking that there must be a more appropriate name we could give them!

BBC Springwatch have been down to Falmouth to cover the story and Marine officer Matt Slater helped them find the crabs - It wasn't easy but after 3 hours searching, right in the nick of time Matt found three specimens!

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This year we are also running a series of extreme eco events where we have enlisted the help of coasteering companies and Stand up paddle boarding companies to help us run a series of more challenging and possibly more engaging surveys in areas which are harder to access. Our survey of the reef at Polzeath called Cowrie reef was the first in this series. We really enjoyed working with the highly knowledgeable staff at Cornish Rock Tors and it was a great survey. I am really looking forward to visiting this shore again to do some snorkelling in the rockpools there which were amazing!

Ben Spicer of Cornish Rock Tors sharing his passion for the shore!

Ben and Hugo from Cornish Rock Tors invited a small group of us to visit the caves they regularly explore at Port Gaverne, this is an environment you would not be able to survey without specialist help! It was a great day with lots of swimming, rock climbing and jumping into the water. We were privileged to have been shown a huge cave called shrimp cave and inside it were very rare scarlet and gold cup corals!

Photo by Thomas Daguerre - Hydromotion Media

We were also taken on a rockpooling session with a difference by Karl Thompson of Newquay Activity Centre who showed us a fascinating stretch of coastline at Newquays Towan headland, and area known as the Gazzle with incredible caves full of baked bean seasquirts, tompot blennies in the cracks in the rocks, It was an amazing day and 80 marine species were recorded!

Exporing the Tea caves at Newquay headland 

With lots more Shoreserach surveys and extreme eco events planned for this year  all are welcome to get involved and survey the shore! To be added to the shoresearch email list so you will be kept up to date please email matt.slater@Cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk 

for a full list of events for this year visit http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/shoresearch

Broad Clawed Porcelain crab photographed at a shoresearch survye at Trevone, Mounts Bay

Shoresearch Dates for 2016 announced!

Dear Shoresearchers

I hope you are all well!
With wild and windy weather its not been the greatest winter for rockpooling but the sea hasn't cooled down much this year and I'm sure we will find loads of life on our next shoresearch survey day coming up soon!
on the 21st February at Polridmouth Cove near Fowey.  Here is the full list for 2016, as usual I include rockpool ramble days organised by our fabulous marine conservation groups around the county- these are not specifically shoresearch events but they are great opportunities for you all to brush up your knowledge, help out and very importantly for you to record what you find and fill in a Shoresearch form!!

Summary of Shoresearch Cornwall Dates 2016

Dates in bold are organised by Matt Slater and will include an organised Shoresearch survey and training, all other are events where Shoresearchers are welcome to help out and carry out own independent surveys, many of which being organised by local marine conservation groups (MCG’s).

21^st Feb, Sun, Polridmouth beach near Fowey,  9am,  Public event and Shoresearch

27^th Feb, Sat,  Newquay, 9am,  Your Shore Conference, booking essential 

12^th March, Sat, Castle beach Falmouth,  1pm, Public event and Shoresearch

12^th March, Sat,  Looe, 1pm,  Rocky shore identification introduction with Amelia bridges, Looe MCG
26th March, Sat, Mousehole, 11am at Mousehole harbour (south end) volunteers training

6^th April, Wed, Polzeath,  10am, Extreme Rockpooling  booking essential via matt

8^th April, Friday, Fowey, Readymoney,  12.30pm, rockpool ramble with Friends of Fowey Estuary

8^th April, Friday, Looe, Hannafore, 12.45pm, Rockpool Ramble Looe MCG

10^th April, Sunday, Helford Passage, 1pm,  Crabs and critters, ramble, book; Helford MCG

23^rd and 24^th April, Trebah gardens,  CWT Wildlife Celebration – with informal rockpooling

7^th May, Sat, Trenow (nr Perranuthnoe), 10am, Shoresearch survey and training vols only

8^th May, Sun, Newquay, 12noon, Eco Coasteering with Karl and Matt  £27pp book: 01637 877722

8^th May, Sun,  Looe, 1pm  Seaweed and its uses, Looe marine conservation group

2^nd June, Thurs, Polzeath, 10am – 4pm Marine Discovery day – public rockpooling 1^st thing

4^th June, Sat, Looe, Hannafore- 11.15am, Public Rockpooling with Looe MCG

5^th June, Sun, St Agnes Marine Discovery day, 10am -3pm, public event with rockpooling

21^st June, Thurs, Polzeath, 11.30, Easy access rockpooling, Polzeath MCG booking essential

2^nd and 3^rd July, Lundy Bay nr Polz, 1pm 24hr Bioblitz all welcome, National Trust and Shoresearch

6^th July, Wed, Gweek, 5pm -8pm SUP tour of Helford Estuary, £27 pp, book 0447801438320

26^th July, Tues,  snorkel in a rockpool, for 6-11 year olds only £5pp, booking contact Matt Slater

1^st August Monday, Polzeath, 10am, Public rockpooling with Polz MCG and National Trust

3^rd August, Wednesday, Mounts bay, 10am, Eco SUP and snorkelling £27pp   0447801438320

4^th August, Polzeath 12.30, Public Rockpooling with Polz MCG and National Trust

4^th August, Thurs, Newquay 11am, Extreme rockpooling, with Matt £5pp booking essential

5^th August, Friday, Spit Beach, Par, 1.30pm Rockpool ramble with Friends of Fowey estuary

5^th August, Friday, Looe, 1.45pm, Rockpool ramble with Looe Marine Conservation Group

5^th August. Port Gaverne, 1.30pm Baby lobster release with National Lobster Hatchery and PMCG

18^th August, thurs, Polzeath, 11am, Rockpool Ramble, Polzeath Marine Conservation Group, and NT

21^st August, Sunday, Prisk Cove, Helford, 11am, Rockpool Ramble with CWT’s  Ruth Williams, HMCG

22^nd August, Mon, Polzeath, 2pm, Rockpool Ramble, Polzeath Marine Conservation Group and NT

2^nd September, Friday, Polzeath, 12noon, Rockpool Ramble, PMCG and NT

16^th September, Friday, St Agnes, SHORESEARCH WEEK! BIG TIDES details TBC

17^th September, Saturday, Helford, SHORESEARCH WEEK! BIG TIDES details TBC

18^th September, Sunday, Looe, SHORESEARCH WEEK! BIG TIDES details TBC

19^th September, Monday, Polzeath, SHORESEARCH WEEK! BIG TIDES details TBC

20^th September, Tuesday, Fowey, SHORESEARCH WEEK! BIG TIDES details TBC

18^th October, Tuesday, 9am -4pm, Falmouth, Crustacean Workshop, ERCCIS £40pp

28^th October, Looe, 10.30am, Rockpool ramble with Looe Marine Conservation Group

30^th October, Fowey, Readymoney cove,10.30am, Rockpool ramble with friends of Fowey Estuary

13^th November, Last Shoresearch of the year – location TBC

Please check Cornwall Shoresearch on facebook, and the facebook pages and websites of local groups for more details on any of the above dates nearer the time. Or email matt.slater@cornwallwidlifetrust.org.uk