What is beachcombing?

Beachcombing isn scanning the beach and strandline for things of interest and winter can be one of the best times to do it.

Winter gales cast random wildlife artefacts up on the strandline, making beachcombing highly rewarding at this time of year. Among the flotsam and jetsam, you may find some of the more durable bodyparts of sea creatures that live below the extreme low-water mark and are usually only seen by divers.

You won’t be alone on the strandline. Turnstones use their beaks to flick aside rotting seaweed in search of tiny invertebrates, as do birds that usually reside further inland, such as crows, starlings and wagtails. Head for the shore at dawn, after an early high tide, and you may also find the tracks of larger visitors – foxes, on the lookout for seabirds, which are common casualties of severe gales.

What could you find beachcombing?

Edible sea urchin (Echinus esculentus)

A real prize, but rarely found intact. Look for the rows of holes where the animal’s tube feet protruded in life.

Egg wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum)

A seaweed from sheltered coasts, so vulnerable to winter gales. Look for single, blister-like flotation sacs (unlike bladderwrack’s paired sacs).

Whelk egg mass (Buccinum undatum)