A Guide to Life on Sandy Shores Between Colwyn Bay and Fleetwood

16 1 Making a record and then Sending your record to where they will be useful for conservation etc. Some of the recording groups use their own record sheets to assist recorders. A version is available from www.rECOrd-lrc.co.uk The following information is required for every recording trip Liverpool Bay Marine Recording Partnership Your name Date of the observation Where it was found e.g. Crosby Beach. List of the species you saw A guide to Life on Sandy Shores The following information is very useful, but not essential between A note if any species was particularly common Colwyn Bay and Fleetwood A note if any species were observed alive, or, recently dead, e.g. shells with body parts still inside. written by Ian Wallace, Map grid references World Museum Liverpool The records should be sent to your recording group guide concept Kathryn Turner, Organiser, if you have one, or to the appropriate Fylde Coast Marine Life Project Local Record Centre — which is where all the recording groups send their collated records. Images mainly from World Museum Liverpool, and Kathryn Turner North Wales to Cofnod see www.cofnod.org.uk Wirral to rECOrd [email protected] Liverpool to Southport to Merseyside Biobank see www.merseysidebiobank.org.uk Fylde to LERN see http://www.lancspartners.org/lern/ 2 15 This booklet aims to enable the identification of the Not in this guide? common larger marine life found on the beaches between Colwyn Bay in the south and Fleetwood in the north. If you think you have found something not illustrated in this guide, or you want you identifications checked then It is aimed at groups and individuals who are taking part World Museum is keen to help you. in biological recording. Send a photograph by email or (post) to Additional notes to assist with the identification of difficult species and rarer species have been prepared and are available on-line [email protected] from the Liverpool Bay Marine Recording Partnership pages, one of the hosted groups on the rECOrd web site. If it is something that will not rot, such as a shell, we www.record-lrc.co.uk would encourage you to keep examples as voucher specimens and get them to the Natural History Centre, Limitations to use World Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool, who will This booklet does not include dead fish, birds or mammals be able to check your identifications before returning your If used away from the area of coverage you are quite likely to encounter specimens, but phone first 0151 207 0001 to check species that are not in this guide. someone who knows about shells will be on duty in the The booklet is for sandy shores it does not cover species found museum to receive your finds. exclusively on hard rocks, breakwaters, sea walls, marine lakes and in rock pools. Health and Safety The greatest danger is being cut off by a rising tide so you are strongly recom- mended to only investigate on a falling tide. There are quick sands and also sand-covered soft mud, so if you start sinking in — retreat. Three species of Jellyfish, (Lion’s Mane, rare Blue Lion’s Mane and internal parts of the Barrel), and the Weever Fish can give painful stings and they should not be handled. Piles of marine debris may conceal sharp man- made objects. Dead and dying life is common and presents a food-poisoning risk so clean hands with soap and water or antiseptic wipes before touching the mouth or food. Before starting, cover cuts and abrasions with ‘Elastoplast’. Ian Wallace World Museum Liverpool All local sewage is treated so sewage-related items should be rare but note that William Brown Street, LIVERPOOL dog droppings are present on many beaches. [email protected] 14 3 Equipment A Guide to Common Shells Carrier bags, Garden trowel, Kitchen sieve, Seaside shrimping net or aquarium found cast up on beaches between equivalent, Cat-litter tray. (Hand lens good to see more of your finds) Smaller Colwyn Bay and Fleetwood bags are useful to build up a collection of durable finds. Note - Colour may vary from that shown and they may be blackened Shells can be collected into any suitable water-proof bag e.g. Supermarket - The size given is the largest that species normally grows Carriers * indicates there are rarer species that also look a bit like this (These are covered by additional notes available from www.record-lrc.co.uk) Centimetres Animals that are alive in the sand and in water Animals that are buried can be revealed by digging up a trowel-full of sand plac- 1 ing it into the kitchen sieve then washing the sand through the sieve by placing it up to its rim, but not above, in water and moving it from side to side. Note that 2 this does not usually work for stiff mud. Any net will catch animals that cannot pass through its mesh. Fine nets clog, but 3 Common Whelk Red Whelk Dog Whelk Buccinum undatum coarse nets let too much escape. A mesh of about 2 mm is good. Neptunea antiqua Nucella lapillus Up to 9 cms Up to 10 cms Up to 3.5 cms 4 (see also page 6) (see also page 6) To see your captures easily, place the contents of your net or sieve into a little water in the cat litter tray. The tray is also useful to lay out other beach finds for examination. 5 Best places to look for buried life 6 Life can be sparse in the dryer sands of the upper shore. Wet sand, for example at the edge of channels can be good but NB such areas can also be quick 7 Sting Winkle Common Winkle * Flat Winkle sands. Ocenebra erinacea Littorina littorea Littorina obtusata 8 Up to 4 cms Up to 2.5 cms Up to 1.5 cms Keeping your animals alive 9 It can be interesting to watch the animals you have dug up re-bury. This can be done on the beach or by putting them into a bowl filed with sand and water. However, release them afterwards as sandy-shore life is very difficult to keep in 10 aquaria. ..... and finally Tower Shell Wentletrap Grey Top Shell (group) Turritella communis Epitonium clathrus Gibbula cineraria You will encounter lots of black sand under the surface, and shells that are bur- Up to 5 cms Up to 3.5 cms Up to 1.5 cms ied also go black. The black sand may smell of bad eggs or have a metallic tang. This is not pollution, but the result of natural decay processes in the sand. Necklace Shell * Common Pelican’s Foot Laver Spire Shells (group) * Up to 3.5 cms Aporrhais pespelicani Hydrobia ulvae Up to 5 cms Up to 0.5 cms 4 13 Centimetres Worms many kinds are found buried, most are small and difficult to iden- 1 tify these are some of the larger or more obvious 2 3 Common Limpet Barrel Shell Icelandic Cyprine Patella vulgata Acteon tornatilis Arctica islandica Up to 4 cms Up to 1.5 cms Up to 8 cms 4 Filip Nuyttens marinespecies.org Front end Sand Mason (front end) Estuary Ragworm 5 Lugworm Arenicola marina Lanice conchilega Hediste diversicolor Up to 25 cms Up to 30 cms Up to 25 cms Very common in mud and muddy 6 sand Sand Gaper Otter Shell Blunt Gaper 7 Mya arenaria Lutraria lutraria Mya truncata Up to 8 cms Up to 10 cms Up to 6cms (see also page 6 (see also page 6) 8 Front end 9 Fromt end Front end Scoloplos armiger Pod Razor * Curved Razor * Cat Worms Spionid Worm (and similar) Up to 15 cms 10 Up to 15 cms Up to 15 cms Nephtys species several species Flesh-coloured worm with Up to 20 cms Small thin worms up to 5 cms prominent bristly lobes on Bean Razor Pharus legumen Up to 8 cms Very common in clean sand with two waving tentacles each segment, but no eyes Front end Front end Front end Queen Scallop * Aequipecten opercularis Variegated Scallop Scolelepis squamata Red Threads Worm Capitella capitata Up to 6 cms Chlamys varia Oval Piddock Up to 8 cms Cirratulus cirratus Up to 10 cms (see also page 6) Bluish green body and 2 Looks a bit like a small earth- Up to 5 cms Zirfaea crispata Up to 12 cms waving tentacles worm (see also page 6) Up to 7 cms Red threads writhe Worm Tubes a few millimetres thick Tubes made from sand grains are common in sieved sand samples. Tubes of coarse grains ,with a crown will be from young Sand Masons or a worm called Owenia. Common Oyster Foreign Oysters White Piddock * Ostrea edulis Up to 10 cms Barnea candida Tubes of very fine grains will be from Spionid Up to 10 cms. Up to 6 cms Worms or another worm called Magelona. 12 5 Centimetres 1 2 Brown Shrimp Prawn 3 Common Mussel Striped Venus Faroe Sunset Shell * Crangon crangon (various species) Mytilus edulis Chamelea gallina Gari fervensis Up to 5 cms Up to 3 cms Up to 4 cms 4 5 6 7 Pullet Carpet Shell * Common Cockle Prickly Cockle Mysid (various species) Eurydice pulchra Cumacean Venerupis senengalensis Cerastoderma edule Acanthocardia echinata NB 8 mms maximum size (various species) Up to 5.5 cms Up to 4 cms Up to 6 cms (fast swimmer and burrower) 1 cm maximum size 8 9 Idotea Up to 2 cms 10 Lives on drifted seaweed Banded Wedge Shell Artemis Shell Peppery Furrow Shell a Sand Hopper a Sand Hopper Sea Slater Donax vittatus Dosinia species Scrobicularia plana Up to 1.5 cms Up to 2.5 cms Ligia oceanica Up to 3 cms Up to 5 cms Up to 4.5 cms Talitrus saltator Orchestia gammarellus Up to 3 cms Under debris near rocks and Hoppers live under debris stranded at the top sea walls of the beach Rayed Trough Shell * Mactra stultorum Thick Trough Shell * Cut Trough Shell * front end Up to 5 cms Spisula solida Spisula subtruncata (less common white form on right) Up to 4 cms Up to 2.5 cms Haustorius arenarius Bathyporeia pelagica (see also page 6) Up to 1 cm Up to 5 mms Eyelesss fast burrower in Fast burrower in sand clean sand Corophium These and Haustorius and Up to 1 cm Bathyporeia, the Hoppers and Thin Tellin * Abundant in ‘u’-shaped Corophium are all members of a Baltic Tellin Tellina tenuis burrows in mud and group of Crustacea called Macoma balthica muddy sand Ampipods Up to 2 cms Up to 2 cms White Furrow Shell * (group) Abra alba Amphipods Up to 1.5 cms Extra Notes 6 11 Common Winkles smaller than 1.5 cms might A Guide to Animals living in pools and be Rough Winkles channels on beaches, Common Necklace Shells smaller than 3 cms and buried in the sand and mud might be Alder’s Necklace Shell between Colwyn Bay and Fleetwood At the edge of salt marshes Note - All the species shown on previous pages may become dumpy Laver Spire Shells stranded in pools and channels.

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