Rockpooling Destination: Great Yarmouth, December 2014

During the winter months a strandline forms along many of the sandy shingle shores of Norfolk.

Many different things can be found washed up among the strandline including the remains of seaweeds, sponges, hornwrack, hydrozoans, crabs and shells.

The shore at Great Yarmouth is comprised of sand and shingle, a succession of strand lines mark the varying tide heights.Habitat classification: LS.LSa.St (Strandline) and LS.LSa (Littoral sand).

A tree weed washed up on the shore.

A tree weed washed up on the shore.



A tree weed washed up on the shore.



Osmundea sp growing as an epiphyte of Egg wrack (Ascophyllim nodosum).



Osmundea sp growing as an epiphyte of Egg wrack.

Osmundea sp growing as an epiphyte of Egg wrack.

Crinkle edge weed.

A small spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) egg case.

Rockpooling destination: Walls, Shetland September 2014

The shore comprised of outcrops of bedrock, boulders, cobbles and pebbles slopes gently to the low water mark and is positioned within a sheltered inlet on the North Western extend of Shetland main land.

Lichens cover the supralittoral rock and extend onto larger boulders and bed rock of the upper shore. The remaining boulders, cobbles and pebbles of the shore are covered by sparse barnacles, periwinkles and further down the shore a blanket of fucoids.

Habitat classification:

Substrate	LR (Littoral rock)
Habitat	LLR (Low energy littoral rock)			FLR (Features of littoral rock)
Biotope complex	LR.LLR.F (Fucoids on sheltered marine shores)			LR.FLR.Lic (Lichens on supralittoral rock)
Biotope	LR.LLR.F.Asc (Ascophyllum nodosum on sheltered mid eulittoral rock).	LR.LLR.F.Pel (Pelvetia canaliculata on sheletered littoral fringe rock)	(Fucus spiralis on moderately exposed to very sheltered upper eulittoral rock)	LR.FLR.Lic.YG (Yellow and grey lichens on supralittoral rock)	LR.FLR.Lic.Ver (Verrucaria maura on littoral fringe rock)

Below are images of organisms you may encounter whilst rock pooling in these habitats:

The rocky shore is comprised of outcrops of bedrock, boulders, cobbles and pebbles. Habitat classification: LR.FLR.Lic (Lichens on supralittoral rock) and LR.LLR.F (Fucoids on sheltered marine shores).

The out crops of bed rock, boulders and cobbles of the upper shore are covered in lichens, whilst a succession of different fucoids form a blanket across the shore. Habitat classification: LR.FLR.Lic (Lichens on supralittoral rock) and LR.LLR.F (Fucoids on sheltered marine shores).

A bivalve washed up on the shore....

Provides a refuge for a number of terrestrial species. 

Birch washed up from the sea provided an important source of kinderling to the previous inhabitants of Shetland.

On the upper and mid shore barnacles and periwinkles (Littorina sp) cover the cobbles and pebbles. 

Barnacles and periwinkles (Littorina sp) on cobbles of the shore.

Barnacles and periwinkles (Littorina sp) on cobbles of the shore.

Fucus spiralis. Habitat classification:  (Fucus spiralis on moderately exposed to very sheltered upper eulittoral rock)

Ascophyllum nodosum on the lower shore. Habitat classification: LR.LLR.F.Asc (Ascophyllum nodosum on sheltered mid eulittoral rock).