Learn To Sea

Summer rockpooling finds

2011-09-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

Luidia ciliaris with extendable tube feet - showing why they're speedy starfish!

Luidia cilaris besides it's smaller "cousin" the Cushion Star - probably a girl - they are male only in their first 4 years of life at which point they turn female!

My favourite Painted Topshell

One edible crab...the smaller shell on left is the moult - his softer, bigger self on right.


A lovely Snakelock Anemone

Here's just a couple of pics of some of our finds that we came across during the Summer holidays The Luidia starfish definitely an unusual one for our shores...

Dates for Summer Rockpooling Sessions!

2011-07-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

Please find below dates for SUMMER 2011 season of Rockpool Rambles and Interidal Foraging Trips with Maya Plass (as seen on Springwatch / Autumnwatch and more soon - see www.mayaplass.com for short films). Other dates may be available so please contact if you have any additional requests.

Cost - £10/ person for 2 hour session - all equipment provided. Please ensure booking to ensure spaces - 10 children max per group. Over 8 year olds can be left unaccompanied - full insurance, risk assessments & CRB checks.

Date Time Session

Thursday 28/07/11 10-12am Rockpool Ramble

Friday 29/07/11 11-1pm Rockpool Ramble

Saturday 30/07/11 12-2pm Rockpool Ramble

Monday 01/08/2011 1-3pm Rockpool Ramble

Tuesday 02/08/2011 2-4pm Rockpool Ramble

Wed 03/08/2011 3-5pm Rockpool Ramble

Thu 04/08/11 3-5pm Rockpool Ramble

Fri 05/08/2011 4-6pm Intertidal Foraging

Sat 13/08/2011 12-2pm Rockpool Ramble

Mon 15/08/2011 1.30-3.30pm Rockpool Ramble

Tue 16/08/2011 2-4pm Rockpool Ramble

Wed 17/08/2011 2.30-4.30pm Rockpool Ramble

Thu 18/08/2011 3-5pm Intertidal Foraging

Sat 27/08/2011 11-1pm Rockpool Ramble

Mon 29/08/2011 12.30-2.30pm Rockpool Ramble

Tue 30/08/2011 1-3pm Rockpool Ramble

Wed 31/08/2011 2-4pm Intertidal Foraging

Thu 01/09/2011 13.30-3.30 Rockpool Ramble

Fri 02/09/2011 3-5pm Rockpool Ramble

Sat 03/09/2011 4-6pm Rockpool Ramble

For more information on Maya’s work go to www.learntosea.co.uk and www.mayaplass.com and to book a space call on 07811 349966 or email info@learntosea.co.uk

Moor to Sea on the Avon - the final exhibition!

2011-07-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday the four schools from Moor to Sea brought their fantastic displays to Aveton Gifford village hall for the final exhibition. As explained in previous blogs - the schools showcased their patch of the water catchment from (practically) Moor To Sea. As the visitors entered the hall they were taken on a virtual journey from moor to sea of the River Avon.

Local naturalist Gordon Waterhouse looking at South Brent Primary schools display in the upper freshwater reaches of the Avon.

Loddiswell Primary School's display of the lower river catchment

A pupil's plasticene model of the River Avon

Aveton Gifford's Multi Media display to showcase the upper estuary wildlife!

Thurlestone Primary School's colourful display - including sensory objects!

Caddis Fly Larvae

Rock covered in caddis fly larvae

A life size egret from a crafty pupil

So, we started in the upper reaches of the Avon with the display entitled, "Our Island". In South Brent the school's local patch of the Avon forks to form an island which locally is simply called, "The Island". The children from South Brent Primary School had created a beautiful display of their Island. They showed real imagination and skill with their poems inspired by their Da Vincian sensory exploration. They also illustrated their local wildlife which we saw on the day - the caddis fly larvae, the dipper, the nuthatch and the real stars - the Jay that swooped down onto the Tawny Owl. The children discovered that there were not many invertebrates in the area they kick sampled perhaps due to a suspicious looking outfall pipe from a neighbouring house. The tawny owl they drew had an opening flap to reveal a happily digesting mouse!

We then moved down from the fast flowing island to the more leisurely flowing river down at Aveton Gifford. Here, the children were delighted to find an array of invertebrates from freshwater shrimp, dragonfly larvae and damselfly larvae - the signs of a really healthy, clean river - as was the Dipper. Their display showed some really well drawn freshwater shrimp with all physiology in tact! They included a lovely poem with the description, "The Avon is magic, like a bold wizard." A wonderful description which really showed how much the Avon had inspired them!

Aveton Gifford Primary School had really gone to town - well to estuary I suppose. They had created an amazing display of multi media wonders. They had all been given homework to create something to contribute to the display. There were two powerpoint presentations showing amazing PC skills and fantastic content! There were papier mache models of the river, swans, egrets and a life size heron! They had looked at the species they had found and written facts on each one. There was also some beautiful writing, poetry and pictures. As you might guess - this school became the winning school for their enthusiasm, content and efforts. Although, there were some close contenders! They had the upper estuary catchment to explore - which included succulent samphire, swans, egrets and seaweed plus freshwater streams teaming with tadpoles and the odd newt!

Finally, we had Thurlestone Primary School's colourful and artistic interpretation of their part of the Avon - the saltiest, most marine of the 4 patches. Their display was full of pictures of fish, seaweed, sand eels and crabs! The wonderful "Peace" poem as previously blogged was also included. Following on from their sensory exploration they included some buckets of seaweed and estuary gravel to help bring the experience to life!

All four schools were incredibly impressive with their very different displays. They were very involved in their nature journals and I hope they will continue to use these to explore their local surroundings. It has been a wonderful experience to be involved in this project. It has been great to see that the children were able to explore their local patch of the Avon - all within walking distance. It has also been very encouraging to offer the 4 schools vouchers for field studies kit to use on future trips. The 3 schools received £50 of field studies kit and the fourth winning school £200 of field studies kit. This is really encouraging to think that the children will have better opportunities to explore their surroundings in the future!

Thanks to the Aune Conservation Association and South Devon AONB for funding the project, the 4 local schools for their inspiring work and the 3 expert judges Stuart Watts (chairman of the ACA), Gordon Waterhouse and Don Gaskins. It has been a real pleasure to take the journey from moor to sea with the school children.

Shield Bugs, Tawny Owls, Newts and very happy children.

2011-06-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Never work with children and animals. I categorically refute that statement. Every time I take a group out on to the shore or beside the estuary or river I am amazed by either one of them - normally both.

Yesterday, I took a school group out for "Moor to Sea". The school is situated beside the upper reaches of the source of the estuary. Surrounding the estuary are a series of streams that create an amazing merge of freshwater and saltwater creatures. In the workshop the children discovered newts, tadpoles, hundreds of grasshoppers, crabs, samphire and much more besides. We'll be working up our poems and creative pieces tomorrow.

Today, I headed up to the upper reaches of the Avon - to meet with South Brent Primary School. We walked down from the school to what is locally called, "The Island" where the river forks to create an open grassy knoll which seems to be popular haven for dogs & their walkers!

We discovered caddis fly larvae, worms, shield bug, nuthatch, dipper, an array of insects and...wait for this...a jay swooping down on a tawny owl. I'm not sure who was more excited the children or adults! It's moments like these which are just so priceless.

When we got back to the classroom the children made some amazing descriptive pieces of writing, poems and stories. I asked them, "What was the best thing you saw today?" a child's voice piped up - "shieldbug!"

...reminding us all that every creature is special.

Peace on the Estuary

2011-06-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

The first school has now completed their sessions on "Moor to Sea". It has been an incredibly enjoyable experience and I really look forward to the other 3 sessions with the other schools further up the catchment. The children have "worked" really hard to heighten their senses and their ability to perceive their local environment. I think this poem quite clearly says it all. This is written by a 10 year old girl who wrote this on our beach session whilst concentrating on our senses and how the estuary made us feel.

"Peace

Waves lapping against the boats
Water trickling and rippling
It makes me feel white, like doves so peaceful
Like at that moment it was like I could beleive anything
Like the most wildest and funniest things
It was like I was in a trance
Under a spell..."

Needless to say I was bowled over when I read her poem. I love the way in which she reflects she "could believe..the most wildest and funniest things" - a perfect description for all the weird and wonderful things we see, hear and feel beside the estuary. I am truly in a spell.

Moor To Sea on World Ocean Day

2011-06-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today, was a truly perfect celebration of all that is salty for me here in South Devon. After sending my daughter off in blue, to tell two as part of her "wear blue, tell two" campaign I walked the coastal path to collect my first class for the "Moor to Sea" project. The sun was shining, the wind was powerful - creating white horses that pounded my favourite beach. Sometimes the sea feels so intensely passionate and today was no exception.

So, as previously blogged, "Moor To Sea" involved inviting my 4 local schools for an exploration of their local "patch" of their catchment from moor to sea. For today's school it meant the mouth of the estuary. This is, in practically all concerns, a marine zone. You will find many of the creatures that you find on a sheltered intertidal beach here. However, through the nature of the river cutting it's way through the landscape you have a better sense of the integration of land and sea.

I wanted today to be an exploration of the children's senses. Leonardo Da Vinci once said that the average human, "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking."

In modern society we forget to explore, use and celebrate our senses and the interconnected nature of our world that results from them. This was not going to happen today with "Moor to Sea" and this is the essence of the project - as well as exploring the wildlife of the catchment.

The first hour was spent exploring our senses. Initially, the children closed their eyes took a deep breath and listened... They were left in silence to simply listen... They then put hands up and when I tapped them on their shoulder they described what they could hear.. "water lapping against boats....waves crashing against the shore...gulls...the wind whistling..." they were creating poetry as they spoke.

In their Da Vincan style "Nature Journals" they wrote their experiences, feelings, thoughts and questions. These notebooks were not a place to write or draw something right or wrong. This was their opportunity to explore their thoughts and contemplate their surroundings and ask questions of what they saw, heard and felt.

They then looked at their hand and then the landscape behind it - focusing their visual senses. They explored the sights around them and considered the impact of these things on our estuary.

We then meandered along the estuary edge, carefully, until we came to a local small "beach". They then spent some time touching objects and concentrating how they felt and how they made them feel.

They focused their sense of smell on elderflowers, seaweed dry and fresh and wrote their words to describe these.

Slowly, they were collecting a magical list of vocabulary which will go toward their creative piece that we will work on in follow up sessions.

After increasing their perceptions of their surroundings they collected objects / wildlife to discuss on the beach as an object that best represented their patch of the Avon. We looked at the wildlife and talked about how some of the things we sensed might effect them and and about their adaptations to the intetidal zone. Although, this science will be worked on in our classroom sessions later.

There is something very special about seeing a child slow down their every day excitement and focus on their beautiful environment. They independently, diligently wrote all their thoughts, feelings, experiences and developed questions they wanted answering. It was a pleasure to watch - doubly so because it was World Ocean Day.

Children should have an opportunity to really learn how to look, listen, touch, eat, move, breathe and talk with right mindfulness. It is a skill and quality which Leonardo Da Vinci proves can lead to great things. But it is also something which can be so much fun and such a pleasure to work on and is a great "tool" to connect children with their environment and begin to understand it through all it's many layers.

Happy World Ocean's Day folks.

I can't wait to work with this class again and the other 3 schools to create some scientific, literary and artistic genius...magic.

Rockpool Ramble with BTCV Youth Group

2011-03-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

On another glorious sunny day, Learn To Sea was honoured to be part of the last celebratory day of a 3 year project running with BTCV (British Trust Conservation Volunteers). This project was a youth group based conservation project from Exeter.

We had an amazing start to the day - we met at the source of the estuary on the Avon. They were a band of enthusiastic volunteers. It's always good to greet a group that have bonded over time. In the van - the music was blaring with some "interesting" singing in the van and best of all Alvin had brought some chocolate brownies that he had made early that morning and that was the first offering of the day - BRILLIANT!

So we started off where all walks should "talking poo" to put it politely. We were parked just beside the sewage treatment works and a pig pen homing some lovely juicy, happy pigs! Strangely enough there was no aroma... just sleeping pigs in their pen, exhausted from their morning of eating! We talked about the catchment and water run off, sewage related debris and water quality - which is so important for this estuary - home to the "Bigbury Bay Oysters". Which I knew we might be tasting later!

As we walked down the estuary - my favourite of all in the UK. We were greeted by egrets ( invasive but beautiful) and sheldrake and other avian treats. As we were walking down the tidal road we came across a crab moulting which was a good opportunity to talk about their amazing ability to moult their shells in order to grow. But lunch was calling and what a lunch - as it was the last of the year, the group were treated to a 3 course meal at the Oyster Shack. We had delicious oysters "pic-n-mix" and I had mussels too. It was great to know they were grown and produced and depurated so locally. In fact Richard ( the oyster owner) was lopping branches off in his garden as we walked past! And I was able to point out the depuration tanks en route to the restaurant as well.

Many of the group had never shucked, eaten or digested an oyster - but they all tried and all liked! Nobody was ill - it is not that common to be ill from well kept, well depurated (cleaned in running water for 42 hours) oysters. It was fantastic to see so many enjoy what is an overlooked and under rated delicacy from our local waters.

Alvin enjoying his oyster!

We then trotted off with full bellies for the next part of the adventure back upstream to move on to my rockpool beach. Which obviously isn't mine - it's for everybody to enjoy!

The rockpooling was very cool! But not so cool that we were bothered when some of our feet got wet!! It was a brilliant spring low tide so we had a huge area of intertidal rocks to explore. With time and tide waiting for no man we headed down to the lowest point of the tide. We were rewarded with some amazing sights of clingfish, devil crab, montagu crab, cushion star, brittle starfish, carnivorous dog whelks and some irredescent, illuminated looking Peacock Weed - my favourite! It goes dull when taken out of the water - like so much of our marine creatures their colour and vibrancy is nothing out of the water only special when left in situ.

It was, I have to say, probably my best day yet. It was a lovely crowd, a lovely home grown meal and a fantastic low spring tide.

I feel so very lucky to live where I do and it is such an honour to be able to share it woth other people - it makes it even more special! Thanks BTCV for the brownies, laughter and being such a great crew!

Moor to Sea on The Avon!

2011-03-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, this month has been a great beginning of the SEA-son with Learn To Sea - lovely workshops, sunny beach cleans and fab funding news!

Learn To Sea has been given continued support from Aune Conservation Association for another year of after school clubs. Last year saw Aveton Gifford Primary School receiving 10 after school sessions on the Avon catchment...see previous posts...In 2011, Learn To Sea will run ( thanks to ACA funds) after school classes for 4 schools in the Avon catchment (pending confirmation from schools). They will each have 3 sessions - 1 field trip, 1 session on the natural history of the Avon and the last crafty session in which they will illustrate their favourite creature / plant of the Avon. There will be a final display of all 4 schools in a local village hall and also PRIZES! This is great news - each school will get new field study kit and the winning school will get an additional £200 of field study books/kit. Hopefully, this experience and funds will enable schools to run their own field trips after the sessions are complete!

It's a great opportunity for the schools in the catchment to learn about their patch and their neighbouring schools' in the catchment. Personally, I am really looking forward to getting muddy and crafty with the children of the 4 schools and to show them why our local patch is so very special and how lucky we are to have such amazing landscapes and wildlife on our doorstep!

So a huge thanks to the Aune Conservation Association for their support and the opportunity the children will have through this project...showing there really is, "Moor to Sea on the Avon!"

News on my feathered & human friends in Midway atoll and the North Western Hawaiian Islands.

2011-03-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

After my trip to Midway I was concerned to hear of the tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean towards the North Western Hawaiian Islands. There's good and bad news - Wisdom the longest surviving 60 year old Albatross survived as did the only Short Tailed Albatross chick but many (thousands) of chicks lost their lives in the tsunami. The infrastructure and humans fared well but there was some unfortunate impact on the "moli"...

I was so very lucky to have spent some time on Midway with the "Moli" and learn about this magical island and all the amazing people that work towards it's health and conservation. Aloha to all on Midway...

I just wish I was closer to come and help clear away some of the debris...but hope that our efforts today beach cleaning will contribute just a little to coastal and ocean health.

For further info...

http://foam-friends-of-albatross-on-midway.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-big-were-midways-tsunami-waves.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/oldest-albatross-survives-tsunami-damage-to-midway-atoll-a358474

The memory of opening the carcass of an albatross chick to find plastic bottles and lighters with inscriptions, "Freedom and Innocence" will never leave me. The consequence of our "freedom" can be devastating.

Please remember to look up local beach cleans and contribute towards making a difference in your patch...it's great fun as well as being a great contribution to coastal conservation, saving wildlife and making for cleaner beaches.

Beach clean in the glorious sun!

2011-03-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Today, was a beautiful Spring day. Today was a beach clean day where we (along with local volunteers - mostly from the Aune Conservation Association) meet up clean the beach in the sun, have a nice chat, enjoy the Spring weather and remind ourselves how very lucky we are to live here in the South Hams. We collected lots of rubbish - particularly foam insulation in large blocks and some menacing smaller broken down pieces and collated the info on Marine Conservation data sheets. We collected as much of the broken foam, polystyrene and bottles that we could and left the beach cleaner and safer for wildlife and people...including the 5 attending small dogs, 2 young children and 9 month old baby that attended the beach clean.

We had a fab turn out of 17 people and 5 dogs. A wonderful bunch of kind hearted people who saw value in coming and cleaning the beaches - because it's a good thing to do but also because it's a great excuse to be on the beach with friends! After the clean up we all sat in the lea of the estuary "spit" and made a driftwood fire, cooked sausages and enjoyed the feeling of our cheeks getting a little singed in the early Spring months.

You should come along next time - it's a great day out...don't forget something to cook on the fire!

Incidentally, we were pleased to find that the beach was relatively clean, mostly due to recent weather conditions. But we couldn't help but think of coastlines in the Pacific wishing them well and concerned for the implications on human and oceanic health.

Happy faces & cold fingers!

2011-03-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

Spring may well be here but it's proving to be pretty cold out there still! But that didn't put off the Youth Services Group bringing 3 wonderful youths from Plymouth to join a Learn To Sea workshop.

We started off with some star(fish) jumps to warm up and headed to the rockpools for low tide. We were filming the event so the children could take a CD home as a memento. Despite the bitterly cold winds we headed to the pools & soon (momentarily) forgot the cold. We found the moulted carapace of shore crab, anemones, edible crab and cushion stars. It was a great start to the rockpooling season.

After lunch in the warmth of the van the group learnt about Fred the Monkey (see previous posts) and his adventures, the impact of litter and even had a chance to see the dissection of an albatross bolus - or albatross sick as they affectionately called it. They were surprised by the squid beak and also the content of plastic. This then inspired us to go and collect litter from the beach and search the strandline for treasure - more lovely crab moults, a stinky dead crab and lots of lovely limpets!

We also managed to do some seaweed presses for the children to take home and a "design a plankton" session. They created some pretty scary plankton!

It was great to be back on shore and am looking forward to more rockpooling over the next few months when the pools will start getting warmer!

Thanks to the Plymouth Group for being sop much fun and enduring the cold on our rockpooling mission!

What's ahead for 2011?

2011-03-02T04:21:00.000-08:00

How can we top 2010? Well, it already is looking like a great year for the sea and our oceans!

We have already seen the brilliant success of "Hugh's Fish Fight". It was an incredibly encouraging programme. It supported what I thought was true - the general public really want to understand and learn about our seas and that they also want to support it's conservation. Hugh's crew did a fantastic job to educate and allow people the chance to support the fight against discards. Now that the marine environment has been put into the public arena like this, I hope that there will be a continued interest and opportunities of learning for the public. TV has a responsibility to do great things for our society and community - Big Fish Fight showed us that they have the power to really achieve this.

What's on in 2011.

The season begins with a workshop with a group of children from Plymouth's Youth Service. I look forward to taking them out this week and making some short films for them to keep as a momento!

March 15th Talk at Devon Maritime Forum.

I have been asked to run a talk about the value of marine education in Devon and nationally. I am looking forward to promoting the value of marine education and to meeting Tim Maddams from Hugh's fish fight who will be serving up some sustainable mackerel buns!

BBC Springwatch 2011.

Very happy to say that I have been asked to run another film for BBC Springwatch. I will post more details of this as the story unfolds...

BBC Coast 2011.

I have also been in discussion with the BBC Coast crew and hope to be running a film for them in the early Summer. Watch this space...

Aune Conservation Association, 2011. "Moor to Sea" Workshop & Competition.

The Aune Conservation Association have kindly considered supporting a second round of workshops for schools within the Avon Catchment...details to follow.

Summer Workshops 2011.

Shortly, I will post details of events for the Summer 2011 season. An opportunity to come and have a guided tour of our amazing intertidal rockpools. I can't wait to get my feet wet again! Hopefully with a little less rain than last season... although it didn't seem to put people off!

BEACH CLEANS

I will continue to run quarterly beach cleans and will post details of them. It's a great day out on the beach, very satisfying and a nice social - come and join us!

Learn To Sea looks forward to a great 2011 season of rockpooling and enjoying our lovely British coastline!

Long overdue update...

2011-03-02T02:56:00.001-08:00

It has been too long and so much has happened in the last 9 months. It is time for a well overdue update.

1. MIDWAY ATOLL.

I am in the process of finishing a blog which includes a diary of my trip to this beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific. This will be live soon once I have written some more of the diary and latest. In brief, the trip was more special than I can put into words. The depth of experience, friendships and imagery from that trip are too much to translate in photographs or words - although I will try on the blog. Needless to say it was life changing I found out so many things about Midway, conservation, culture and myself. I am also putting much of my new found experience, knowledge and discoveries into my projects and work that I do.

2. SUMMER 2010.

Learn To Sea enjoyed some workshops on the beach at South Milton Sands and will continue to run events throughout the Summer of 2011. Dates will be posted on here soon.

3. BBC Autumnwatch 2010.

I also had brilliant news from the BBC Springwatch / Autumnwatch crew that they wanted me to run a couple of films for them as guest presenter. It was a fantastic experience. The crew are so much fun to work with. The first film was on snorkeling though the autumnal coloured seaweeds. It took a couple of days to get the filming done through September - October - trying to get tides and visibility right can be a challenge! But so much fun and what a brilliant excuse to do one of the things I love best - snorkeling!

The second film was about the strandline. The strandline is an incredibly rich and diverse habitat full of all insects that are a veritable feast for shoreline visitors. We had heard from Steve Trewhella that there were several unexpected visitors to our shoreline. So we laid some Longworth traps and found Shrew! Beautiful little creatures with pinprick eyes and a venomous nip if of the Water variety...it was great to show the public some of the amazing diversity of things that can be found on the strandline. Within the film, I also mentioned that you can make "Sailor's Whistle" out of Bladder Wrack. Although, I didn't know exactly how. I had a lovely e mail describing how to make the whistle - I can now do it!

The two films were followed up by a "LIVE!" chat with Chris Packham and Kate Humble on the sofa of all sofas. To say I was a little nervous is an understatement! But when I got to the studio the crew, as ever, were so amazingly friendly and nice that it soon seemed less daunting. We ran a rehearsal and I realised that it wasn't such a huge ordeal! In the live all went well and I managed to keep it together! Then onto Unsprung which was great fun even when we lost air!

4. Other stuff....

Learn To Sea also ran workshops on marine litter for BTCV and other beach cleaning events and other Private bookings for marine educational workshops.

What a busy, unexpected and amazing year. 2010 was a great year for Learn To Sea and me, personally. I look forward to an exciting and busy 2011 to share and impart my love and knowledge of the sea!

You can now also follow me on Twitter @MayaPlass

Rubbish, Rockpools & Singing Paddles!

2010-05-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had our final After School Club session at Aveton gifford. It has been so much fun and the children a real pleasure to teach and be with!

Week 4. The children met Fred the Monkey and we talked about litter and the effect it has on our environment ad wildlife. They made "rubbish masks" and wrote a letter to their headmaster with suggestions on what to do to reduce the amount of plastic they use. Although, the shcool is an Eco School and already have an impressive attitude towards sustainability!

Week 5. We finally reached the sea on our virtual journey and we had great fun talking about rockpool creatures and discussing some of their gross habits! We then looked at some plankton under the microscope and made some seaweed presses. Finishing off with some final touches to their really impressive artwork!

Again, they made videos which can be seen on You Tube. www.youtube.com/user/LearnToSea

They also had the special priviledge of paddling down the Avon from Aveton Gifford to Bantham. They worked so well together and we had a brilliant time. We saw egrets, sheldrake & mullet and the oyster beds! They also made up a funny song about Bigbury's Sea Tractor...again on You tube!

Thanks Aveton Gifford Sea School for being such brilliant students!

News of Fred

2010-05-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

If you remember , I said that Fred was off to visit the Marine Conservation Society - well he's been with then all the way to Mexico! You can read about his trip to an international marine litter conference here - http://www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Clean%20seas%20and%20beaches/Pollution%20and%20litter%20problems/MCS%20blogs%20from%20beach%20clean%20conference%20in%20Mexico GO FRED!!

The River Avon, "Source To Sea"

2010-05-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

Aveton Gifford Primary school has been great fun! We have been on a journey from the source of the Avon to the sea at Bantham! I have 10 in the class ranging from ages 9 - 11 and they are all proving to be very entertaining & keen to learn about their local River Avon.

We've had 3 sessions so far and we've been filming the sessions - which can be seen on You Tube. www.youtube.com/user/LearnToSea

So, what have we been doing?

Week 1. We started talking about why the Avon was important to us and the children came up with lots of different factors...drinking water, wildlife, sewage treatment, swimming, kayaking, crabs, oysters & many more. We then talked about the Avon Dam built in 1957 and it's influence on our River and lives.

The children were challenged to find something in the room not connected to the sea - but we soon realised that pretty much everything has a link to our watery world - including plastic! We started painting our canvas too which the children will be entering into a local art competition. Each week they will add on new things that they have learned about the Avon.

Week 2. Before the session, I went to the local willow beds by kayak and collected some sustainably harvested willow. I imagine people have been doing this for centuries - the willow beds date back to at least 1884! I filmed the willow beds & some of my trip on the Avon. The children then used the willow to make willow fish - also on film! Whilst doing this we talked about sustainability and waste and how little waste there was from willow. I also showed them a willow lobster pot, as would have been made locally by fisherman. They then had the chance to update the picture.

Week 3. We travelled a little further downstream to the Bigbury Bay Oysters! Similarly, I travelled to see Richard March on his oyster farm to find out a little more about growing oysters. You can see some videos again. So the children were shown how to shuck the oysters & to a 1,2,3!! how to eat them! Sadly, for health & safety limitations I couldn't let the children eat them - but they were delicious! It was such a shame I had to eat all 5 on my own! They then learnt about other molluscs found in and around the Avon. They learned about some strange feeding habits & ways that they stop themselves from drying out. They modelled some great molluscs from clay which we hope might stick to the canvas!

So, sadly we have only 2 weeks left! This week we will be talking rubbish & the children will meet Fred the Monkey! Next week they will venture out to sea and learn about what we can see on the shoreline and further afield who knows what might turn up on Week 5!

It just always seems a shame that the 1.5 hour goes so quickly and we have only 2 sessions to go!

More videos will follow - this Week (Week 3) the children filmed some clips themselves - Steven Spielberg watch out!

Fred's Journey

2010-04-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

I should also mention that Fred is also on a journey here in the UK. He has spent some time here in South Devon visiting various schools, Living Coast, going on boat trips and running marine litter workshops. He has inspired much change locally here in South Devon. One example, he has been working with Blackawton Primary School who are working on reducing their plastic consumption and making a plastic recycled sculpture...more to follow. But now he is off on new travels. He is with the Marine Conservation Society to help them with their "Adopt a Beach" campaign and then will hopefully be heading North to Scotland to help spread the word!

Fred and Maya go to Hawaii!

2010-04-20T04:37:00.001-07:00

Well Easter came with some wonderful news for Learn To Sea and the project manager Maya Plass. In June of this year, Maya will be taking Fred back to his homeland of Hawaii and Midway Atoll. In December, I applied to go on the marine education leadership program in Hawaii and Miday atoll. It all came about thanks to the magic that is Fred the Monkey & his creator Ron Hirschi. He had visited Midway on the same program last year and suggested that I apply for a place. I feel very honoured to be the first international representative of the program.

You can read all about the program at http://papahanaumokuakea.gov/education/teachers_midway.html

It is an amazing opportunity. Here, I will see first hand the impact of marine litter on our marine wildlife and particularly the albatross nesting here. I will also get the chance to see the incredible marine wildife in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument - corals, spinner dolphins, green turtles, tiger sharks and great variety of nesting birds including the beautiful Fairy Tern. One of the most interesting aspects of the trip will be the people I will share my journey with. They are all (12 individuals) involved in marine eduaction or conservation and have some amazing and inspirational experience to learn from. I know that this trip will be an incredible journey in so many ways. Learn to Sea will benefit hugely from such a wonderful opportunity. It will allow an international perspective on our seas and oceans and offer an opportunity to learn from a culture that is so closely linked with the marine world.

On return, I will be starting a program of school twinning with a local primary school Blackawton with one in Hawaii and then Learn To Sea hopes to work on this with other schools in the future too.

So exciting times ahead for Learn To Sea. Before all of this takes place in June - more locally, on Thursday nex week. Learn To Sea will start it's program with the children of Aveton Gifford of taking them on a very special journey "The Avon from source to sea!" . I will blog details of this 5 week program as it happens!

Salcombe Sea Safari

2010-04-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

Learn To Sea has had a great new aquatic adventure! Now, Maya has teamed up with Anna Turns from Whitestrand Boat Hire to run Salcombe Sea Safaris. Salcombe estuary is a very unique and special place - so much so that it's classed with the conservation designation - a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI). It has a whopping 6 m tidal range and boasts some incredible marine wildlife. It has seagrass beds, corals - yes corals!, dolphin visitors, 4 of the 14 found Bristish intertidal fan mussels, mackerel and scallops all residing in it's safe and salty waters! (It has no river input but is a sunken valley - it's this sheltered salty area which makes it such a great home to so much wildlife.)

We had a great day out with some visiting families and were even able to show them some plankton from a special net which we had dragged behind a boat. The "soup" which we found was amazing - teeming with widlife which is shown in the image with the small pot. It had mini jellyfish (in image above), lobster looking creatures, fish eggs, phytoplankton - responsible for producing more than half of our atmospheric oxygen. I was even able to bring the plankton home and put it under the digital microscope and take some pictures - not great ones. But it does give you an idea of what's all around you when you take a dip!

Fred the Monkey & his albatross friend even made an appearance to talk about marine conservation & the effect of litter in our salty world. It's sad to think that there are places in the world where there is more plastic than plankton!

It was a brilliant day out, or "best day ever" as young Jake said. We hope to run more through the Summer holidays too!

Learn To Sea Awarded Grant for After School Club

2010-02-02T02:27:00.000-08:00

Learn To Sea has kindly been awarded a grant by the Aune Conservation Association for an after school club to run for 5 weeks at Aveton Gifford Primary School. Here is the press release...

"Integrating land and sea: ACA awards education grant

The Aune Conservation Association (ACA) is very pleased to announce the granting of one of its John Crawford Environmental Awards to Maya Plass of ‘Learn to Sea’ for the delivery of a series of workshops in which Aveton Gifford primary school children will explore the Avon (from source to sea). It is hoped to run the programme after school later this year, with the possibility of subsequent extension.

Maya’s aims fit very closely with the ACA’s charitable objective of advancing the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the river Avon in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. More specifically, the ACA hopes the programme will encourage, in the next generation, the passion and commitment to conserve our Avon.

The workshops will start with the question “Where does the land end and the sea begin?” Through various field trips and activities it is hoped the children will learn that there is no clear separation. At the very least, they will gain a greater understanding of the local river and it’s relevance to their every day lives.

Note to Editors:

More details of the Environmental Award scheme may be found at www.auneconservation.org.uk or by contacting Stuart Watts at 01548 810373.

Maya Plass can be contacted at www.learntosea.co.uk or 07811 349966."

This is a wonderful opportunity for the children at AG and also for Learn To Sea.

Fred the Monkey

2010-01-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

Fred is a very special monkey. He has travelled to many countries and seen many beautiful things and amazing marine wildlife. In 2009 he was with Ron Hirschi on Midway Atoll. This is part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. (http://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/) , Midway is 1250 miles West of Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is an incredibly important marine mecca and demonstrates some of the best marine wildlife that can be seen on this planet. It is home to Hawaiian Monk Seals, Green Turtles, Tiger Sharks and amazing coral reefs. Due to it's remote location it has very little impact from tourism, recreation or humans. For that reason it has amazing marine wildlife and is also a marine protected area. It is everything you would imagine from an atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

What you might not imagine is the daily quantity of rubbish that is washed up on to the shores of the golden beaches. Whilst, very few people have ever and will ever visit Midway, humans have still left their mark. The Pacific Gyre ( a vast current) transports, circulates and concentrates rubbish in to an area that is called "the Pacific Garbage Patch". It doesn't take long to find images of the Hawaiian Monk Seals entangled in nets and to see what effect it has. On the island, Laysan albatross' nest - here, they have found a safe haven undisturbed by humans where they can rear their chicks in safety. The albatross will soar for thousands of miles collecting food for their chicks. They love squid and will scoop it out of the water, return to their chicks and regurgitate the food for their offspring. What an amazing sign of devoted parenthood! But, as you may have guessed, the chicks are then accidentally fed lighters, bottle tops and rubbish. Many chicks do not make it past 3 months.

Some may say, "So what effect does that have on me?" Well, perhaps you can separate yourself from the fate of the chick but we may all be unwittingly consuming toxins from oceanic plastic. As plastic breaks down and is ingested by barnacles or fish any chemicals on the plastic can absorb in to the flesh and build up in the food chain. What will the effect of this be in decades to come? It's worth not leaving it to experimentation and try doing something about it now.

This is where Fred came in. Ron was so effected by this that his idea was to send Fred the Monkey around the world with a resource box to educate and inspire change on the issue of marine litter.

Fred is now here in the UK. He has already been on a New Year beach clean with myself and the Aune Conservation Association. Here, we found litter from China and a vast array of plastics from cattle medicine tubes to frisbees. He has also visited Blackawton Primary School to inspire the children there to create a project / idea to help with the marine litter issue. So, I will continue to update on Fred's progress but more can be found at http://www.soaronhirschi.blogspot.com/

If you would like to hear more from Fred please do get in touch, or if you are interested in hosting him he would love to see the rest of the UK. info@learntosea.co.uk

Top Photo: Blackawton Primary School children with some soaps provided by http://www.devonnaturals.co.uk/ to show how we can reduce our plastic consumption by choosing household items without plastic packaging.

Top Left Photo: Fred with a beer holder caught round his neck after a beach clean on the Avon. N. B. No harm occured to any monkey in the taking of this photo. He was removed from this restriction without any harm or injury. I'm not sure the same can be said for much wildfowl in our estuaries and around our coast in the UK and all over the world.

Marine and Coastal Access Act

2009-11-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

Great news for our seas and oceans! Here, in the UK what was the "Marine Bill" has been passed as an act! Here, begins a great future for our coastal waters and the beginning of a legal framework which will allow and support the protection of our seas and oceans.

More to follow...

The Age of Stupid

2009-11-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

It has been a while - apologies for the delay in confirming that yes it was a short snouted seahorse!

This December is an important month for our global environment. World leaders from 192 countries will be meeting to create a global deal on climate change. The 4 essential requirements for this international agreement are:
1.) How much are industrialised countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?
2.) How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions? 3.) How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed? 4.) How is that money going to be managed?

We are all too aware now that our climate is changing. The evidence is all around us both locally and further afield. There is an increased frequency of “freak” weather events – tornadoes, tsunamis and earthquakes appear to be a more regular occurrence. Our climate is certainly changing with wetter Summer’s and seasonal inconsistencies. It’s difficult to understand how it is changing & how to predict the change but it is changing and rapidly beyond the course of Nature’s global cycles. There are many predictions about the effects but we are sure change is afoot - there are now established organisations to reduce the impact of climate change in the UK and abroad. The Maldives are already in discussion about where their refugees will reside when the islands are gone. Indeed, estimations predict that global warming could create 150 million “climate refugees” by 2050.

Sea level is rising and our ice caps are melting. What else is the future of our seas and oceans as far as climate change goes? Well, firstly it’s important to reiterate that our atmospheric oxygen comes from trees and plankton. Scientists theorise that up to 50% of atmospheric oxygen comes from phytoplankton in our seas. It may surprise some to know that the sea acts as a great source and sink of atmospheric gases – both good and bad! As well as the contribution to the “Greenhouse Effect” the ocean absorbs more than 25% of carbon dioxide emissions. In response to this the ocean is becoming more acidic. Extreme ocean acidification could make it harder for anything that needs a shell to grow and for organisms to breathe and reproduce - some will be more sensitive than others such as giant squid and there could be economic impacts on fisheries such as the shellfish industry. Could ocean acidification affect this important powerhouse that is phytoplankton? We can’t be sure but it’s another reason to do something to minimise the impact of our wasteful ways.

On Tuesday 1st December at 7.30pm there will be a showing of, “The Age of Stupid”. This is the new four-year epic from McLibel director Franny Armstrong. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

It’s a great film and whilst it may seem a tad heavy leading up to the Christmas period it demonstrates real glimmers of hope. There are demonstrations of how we as a global and local community are becoming far more aware, pro-active and considerate. Locally, in the South Hams we have the second highest recycling rates in England, Modbury was the first plastic bag free town our beach cleans are well attended and we should be proud and encouraged by our collective efforts. It’s not all doom and gloom! In view of the Copenhagen conference I thought it might be timely to show this film and to voice our support to the UK government for reduction in emissions. Learn To Sea is putting on this video free of charge but donations will be welcomed to cover the costs of the license and use of the village hall.

Whilst our UK representatives are making decisions about how the UK can reduce any impact of climate change, I hope that watching this film might also spurn us on to making further commitments for the future. Please do come along.

Seahorse Pic

2009-09-07T15:46:00.001-07:00

I think this may be a Short Snouted Seahorse that is found in British waters - I am waiting for comfirmation. For more info on seahorses - visit www.theseahorsetrust.org

Seahorses on the strandline

2009-09-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, if it's not Portuguese man of war it's seahorses! What an amazing Summer of discoveries. Today I was working with the British Trust of Conservation Volunteers. I was running a workshop on marine litter and we were looking on the strandline for mermaids tears / plastic pellets (I'll explain in a later blog) when I discovered a small dried seahorse. Seahorses keep their shape amazingly when they die due to their bony plates. Sadly, these dried seahorses are sold in curios shops - I would ask that you do not buy these as there is a high chance they weren't found on a strandline! So not only pipefish in the pools but seahorses too...strange to discover one today after having written about them only days before on this blog! It's hard to say where it came from - it could have been washed ashore from some distance or closer to home - how exciting it would be to find a local patch!

What will get washed up next?!

Seahorses & Pipefish

2009-08-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've always loved seahorses - they are beautiful creatures in a wide range of colours, sizes and shapes. When I was doing my Marine Biology degree at Plymouth University my dissertation was on seahorses. I investigated the "stocking density of Knysna Seahorses". Which was much more fun than it sounds. Within China they use seahorses for Chinese medicine treatments and unfortunately many get taken from the wild for this purpose. To stop or change a cultures tradition is often impossible, naive and takes a very long time. If alternative options can be found in the short term then this is a great interim solution. So they were trying to encourage the captive breeding of seahorses in places like the Phillipines. As with any farming there is a key stocking density which ends up with lowest morbidity rates and highest fecundity rates...or in plain English the best numbers to keep animals so that you don't end up with deaths and they are happy enough to have babies.

So I had 140 baby Knysna seahorses at the National Marine Aquarium which I lovingly reared in 6 tanks with 10 in 2, 20 in 2, 40 in another 2 tanks and waited to see what happened. It meant that I had the pleasure of coming in every day to take a look in at these beautiful creatures - clean their tanks and have lovely one way conversations with them. It gave me the opportunity to watch the other resident seahorses too.

Early in the morning the paired up seahorses would start their beautiful courtship ritual and dance and flutter their fins at each other. It is one of the most beautiful spectacles to be seen. The best thing about this courtship ritual is that you know at the end that it is the male that carries the eggs full term and gives birth to the babies - hurrah!! This surely must be the most evolutionary advanced of all creatures? The female lays the eggs in the male pouch and there he fertilizes them - ensuring he is the father of his brood. Then - I have witnessed this first hand - tiny little miniature forms of the parents shoot out of the pouch into the water - a truly amazing spectacle.

So it may surprise some to know that there are not only seahorses in British waters - although hard to find and relatively rare. But their cousins, the pipefish, are found on most rocky shores although tricky to locate as they look so similar to the stems of the wrack seaweeds. But today we found several pipefish and had the opportunity to admire their snouty noses and beautiful fins oscillating in the water. There's been quite a few Learn To Sea events since the last blog and all have gone down well and as we near the end of the Summer season it is sad to think I won't be spending so much time with my intertidal friends. There has been some great feedback and I've had some very kind remarks from visitors -

"My son thoroughly enjoyed the experience -in fact this is is his 2nd go."

"I'm now converted to rockpooling"

"Well done Maya an interesting and informative talk"

and in a lovely email...

"We joined you for a rockpooling session on the 25th July and would just like to say what a wonderful time we had and how informative you were and the way you brought that knowledge across to children and adults alike.

Also whilst on this holiday the children spotted you on the news talking about the Portuguese Man of War which made them even more excited to know they had been in the presence of a real tv star, especially after your appearance on Springwatch...Thanks again for a great time and definitely will be booking up again when we are able to get away from Sussex and down to Devon"

Portuguese Man o' War!

2009-07-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Living by the coast and spending so much time on, in or by the sea you always imagine that any day soon something formidable, unusual or iconic will wash up on your shores or swim before your very eyes. Well for me today was not that day but for my daughter & husband it was! They were down by the Quay on the Avon estuary when they saw what looked like a small inflated balloon floating past. They immediately recognised it as a Portuguese Man-Of-War and somehow (I would not advise this) scooped it into a bucket. Then another family brought theirs over and they arrived home to a very shocked me with a bucket full of Portuguese Man-Of-War!

They are beautiful creatures, although we know them to be harmful and occasionally deadly. In reality they are also very stunning. Their balloon like float was a blue/purple tinged bubble with incredible spiral "springy" tentacles which boinged up and down like a coiled spring. I was completely mesmerised. You see photos of creatures such as these but in reality they are just so incredible and awe inspiring!

So what are they? Jellyfish they are not - they are in fact a great example of team work. They are a "siphonophore" and are made up of 4 individual animals with 4 individual functions that are merged to create one animal. They use their stings to prey on small fish and shrimps and catch them through paralysis. They don't, as some might imagine, have stings to purposefully set out to find naked skin and sting - it is just a highly advanced adaptation to catching prey in a mobile and aquatic environment. They use their gas filled chamber quite literally as a sail to blow their way across our oceans in great swarms. Normally, they are found in tropical and sub-tropical waters but occasionally individuals get blown off course and end up in foreign waters such as the 2 found in Bantham today.

The venom is harmful and tentacles and the animal should be avoided. If you do get contact seek immediate medical advice. At this stage there is no need to worry about them in our waters...but be aware, be careful and inform a lifeguard if you see one.

Magnificent!

2009-07-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

What a lovely day! After a particularly wet & challenging day yesterday (despite previous post's optimism) I was greeted by blue skies this morning! I had a booking with a group that had been out the previous week and had made a repeat booking today. They were a pleasure last time and we'd had a great time rockpooling and making seaweed presses. So for an alternative I got my laptop and digital microscope out for some magnifying fun!

It worked a treat and we had a look at the underside of a cushion starfish and all the amazing suckers that run down the length of the 5 arms. The little suckers were stretching out in every direction to find a surface to adhere to and just looked incredible under magnification. The children loved it and were equally stunned when we did a mini experiment in the back of the "Van Lab".

If you take some coral weed, I had been told, and put it in some vinegar the calcareous skeleton on the outside of the coral weed would dissolve. Luckily, I had some vinegar in the van for cleaning the windows - much better than nasty chemicals - and so I put a small piece of coral weed in a small microscope tray and added the vinegar...Hey Presto!! As quick as you can say "Starfish" the weed started bubbling away which we could see so well with our laptop/microscope set up. As the calcium carbonate dissolved in the vinegar bubbles of carbon dioxide appeared and the stony skeleton simply dissolved away to leave some naked, filamentous seaweed. I'm not sure who was more excited the children or me! Either way it was great to see some real science under the microscope and have children so engrossed. Science is so much fun when it's hands on and children can directly experience science before their very eyes! It makes it all so worthwhile to see children having so much fun and learning at the same time.

So there will definitely be more "experiments" in the Van-Lab after today's magnificent day!

Rockpools "made a dreary day fun!"

2009-07-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

So today was pretty wet as far as Summer days go (compared to 2007 anyhow!!). I have to admit I woke up to the sound of rain and and just felt a bit let down! Rockpool ramble trips are under full swing at South Milton Sands now the holiday season has started and Learn To Sea is fully booked every day until next Monday come rain or shine!!

Well, I donned my (usually Winter) waterproofs and marched off to South Milton to face the music! I was greeted by a lovely family who were due to come out with me on a guided rockpool tour. Luckily, they came prepared and with a great British constitution of sheer stubborn mindedness in the face of rubbish weather. So, off we trotted...There are drawbacks to wet days rockpooling. Where we would normally head to the stone arch - it proves too difficult and slippery on a wet / windy day. So we ventured to a different more flat area of rocks.

Luckily, I knew from previous experience that while we wouldn't find some of the more unusual finds at the stone arch we would see some real gems. But it was one of the best rockpooling trips in a long while! Lots of starfish, netted whelks and many other creatures to show the families. They were beautiful rockpools that ran the length of the bedrock to the sea which were teaming with colour and life. We were so engulfed in our explorations that we completely forgot about the rain! The fact that the day was so wet made it seem even more exhilarating to be out exploring regardless of weather conditions.

I'm so glad that all the visitors are such hardy creatures and have good waterproofs! While we may hesitate at the thought of going out on a wet day - the rockpool creatures are still there to be found. We still managed to make some lovely seaweed presses and avoided any terrible daytime television or thumb twiddling.

The feedback form for the day said "Maya made a dreary day fun!" I would agree we had fun but I just facilitated it - it was the rockpools and good company which made it so much fun. I, for one, am looking forward to some more rainy days out rockpooling... although I wouldn't complain if it was sunny too!!

BBC Springwatch

2009-07-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/springwatch/2009/05/at_the_beach.html

For those that may have missed it - here's a clip of the Springwatch piece shown in May and June this year...it was so much fun to do. I really enjoyed working with the Beeb and they were so friendly and fun to spend the day with! It's also great to see that there is so much interest in the media world of all creatures small and marine. It seems as if people are really getting back into British wildlife. There's so much to see and do on our shore and such a wonderful variety of coast to visit. Naturally, none better than South Milton Sands of course!

I've got antique Sea-shore guides and seaweed press books going back to 1880 and it's great to see people get back into doing things our forefathers and mothers(!) did before us - like the wonderful seaweed presses. One obvious improvement in the way we act on the shore is our adoption of the "Seashore Code". In the "old days" they would say to "collect more rare specimens for your aquarium tanks"(!) - now we say "Leave only footprints, take only photos." It appears that perhaps we have learnt some valued lessons about conserving our intertidal creatures but not lost some age old brilliant games and activities! for more information about the "Seashore Code" check out the website - http://www.learntosea.co.uk/

Barnacle Bill!

2009-07-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Our intertidal zone, where the land meets the sea, is an area that has always intrigued and fascinated me. The thing that never ceases to amaze me is that the more you know about life in the rockpools the more intriguing and incredible it is. Even the most ordinary looking creature is extraordinary through its habits, feeding mechanisms and reproduction. They live in such a harsh environment – what we experience seasonally in a year – they endure in 12 hours. In one tidal cycle they have to survive extreme conditions. They go from being below the waves in a fairly constant cool temperature and salinity to having the tide dropping and, on a Summers day, the water in the pools heating up rapidly. The salinity increases as water evaporates and the amount of oxygen in the water drops as does the amount of food around them. Conversely, they have an increased pressure of predation in this now smaller environment. The tide rises and they have the fear of the waves smashing their bodies against the rocks. It is this unique and stressful environment which leads to some of the incredible habits and body shapes and structures of our intertidal creatures.

I love dolphins as much as the next person and if anybody asks what their favourite marine creature is many will say – dolphins, whales and seals. These are our iconic sea mammals and we feel a sort of spiritual connection with these intelligent and expressive animals. It’s a shame that there is not more coverage of some of the smaller creatures that may not have the expressive eyes and acrobatic skills but are none the less amazing animals. Let’s take a look at the barnacle for example. Barnacles are really quite incredible creatures that many people may curse when they walk over the rocks because of their sharp volcanic homes that they create.

Barnacles have an incredible life cycle - relatives of the crabs, lobsters and prawns they are classified as “Cirripedia” and Darwin did much to clarify the classification, different body shapes and various life cycles of the lowly and numerous barnacle species. He was the one to point out that they were not molluscs like mussels, periwinkles and other bivalves but actually crustaceans.

They start off life as much of our marine intertidal animals do as a larval stage – but not just as one but two stages. It starts off as a “naupilus” a free swimming, one eyed planktonic creature. After several moults (just like a crab moults) it develops into the next more complex stage which is called a “cyprid” and here they search out a place to call home. They use structures called antennules, like antenna, to find a good spot to settle for the rest of its sedentary life. Once it’s found the perfect spot it cements itself to the rock with its head...very strange behaviour. Once attached the cyprid then creates a sturdy, rocky, volcanic looking home around its delicate body – this takes about 12 hours. Now, it looks like the barnacle that we all know.

Once settled, it starts its cyclical feeding on the high tide. Cirripedes means “curl footed” in Latin and it is this apparatus that it uses to scoop out tiny bits of food from the water. On the low tide to protect itself from predators it closes a trapdoor and rests in its own cool pool of water as the tide drops. But if it’s stationary how does it reproduce with its neighbour? Well, this is another fascinating area of the barnacle life cycle – with a long (largest relative to body size in the animal kingdom) extendable phallus the barnacle searches for a neighbouring female and fertilizes her externally. Once this has taken place the phallus then falls off! Once the fertilized eggs are “hatched” into the naupilus larvae they are released into the water column and so the life cycle begins again...amazing stuff! You might have thought the different life stages of a frog were amazing but what about that for a life cycle! So, this Summer next time you look at a barnacle take a minute to think about the extraordinary lengths it has gone to to get where it is!

So, there we have it - a seemingly insignificant creature that has got to be respected for its incredible life cycle and fight against the odds for survival in this harsh and intertidal zone.

And in the beginning there was...

2009-07-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Learn To Sea's new blog site - here I will post any new info about what has been seen rockpooling lately...what Learn To Sea is up to and any thoughts for the day on marine issues.

Hope you enjoy!