We had a great afternoon today. One of the local homeschool dads and his daughter organised a "rock walk" - a walk along the rock platform at Swansea Heads looking into the rockpools.
Apart from the organisers and us, there were 4 other families - for a change I knew 2 of them already! Obviously it was carefully organised for low tide so we could do it safely.
We saw lots of blue & zebra periwinkles, black nerites and limpets.
as well as Neptune's Necklace algae (the beady type ones above) and Dead Man's Fingers sponge (below).
We also found this Chiton - an ancient mollusc with eight shell plates that curls itself up into a ball like a slater.
I think the coolest find was this crab shell (because we found it lol) - the crab had obviously moulted and moved out to grow a new one. Cool hey?! He does have other legs, they were just folded up underneath. We know it's a boy crab because he had one front claw bigger than the other. The things you learn!
Some braved it to make their way out to the end of the rocks - apparently they saw an octopus in the pools out there. I decided that we'd stay dry and watch the others!
Billy practised his diving stance while we were waiting! (Yes I know he's odd - gets it from his father!)
They had to make a bit of a scurry to get back to dry land though once the tide started coming back in. We were able to watch from our dry vantage spot.
It was a really great day - beautiful weather, very relaxing wandering along peering into rockpools, and we learnt lots too. What more could you want?!
Apart from the organisers and us, there were 4 other families - for a change I knew 2 of them already! Obviously it was carefully organised for low tide so we could do it safely.
We saw lots of blue & zebra periwinkles, black nerites and limpets.
as well as Neptune's Necklace algae (the beady type ones above) and Dead Man's Fingers sponge (below).
We also found this Chiton - an ancient mollusc with eight shell plates that curls itself up into a ball like a slater.
I think the coolest find was this crab shell (because we found it lol) - the crab had obviously moulted and moved out to grow a new one. Cool hey?! He does have other legs, they were just folded up underneath. We know it's a boy crab because he had one front claw bigger than the other. The things you learn!
Some braved it to make their way out to the end of the rocks - apparently they saw an octopus in the pools out there. I decided that we'd stay dry and watch the others!
Billy practised his diving stance while we were waiting! (Yes I know he's odd - gets it from his father!)
They had to make a bit of a scurry to get back to dry land though once the tide started coming back in. We were able to watch from our dry vantage spot.
It was a really great day - beautiful weather, very relaxing wandering along peering into rockpools, and we learnt lots too. What more could you want?!
3 comments:
Kez the day looks brilliant, perfect even! I love nothing more than being by on the beach, there is something about the water that seems to pull at me, I am never more relaxed than when I am just sitting on the beach, wading, discovering things on the tide line and in pools.
Wonderful photos, so glad you had a wonderful time!
Blessings:)
Looks like lots of fun. I know how much my girls like walking around rockpools when we're on holidays. You got a lovely day for it too.
Libby
Thanks for sharing this! We dearly love the ocean but it's a giant trip for us to make it to one. I've forwarded your post to my daughter and another homeschooling mama who has kids who will love the pictures and descriptions. Sounds like a really wonderful day!
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