Beach Bonkers Suffolk’s shingle beaches are home to many treasures and provide a rare habitat for a variety of vegetation. Expert beachcomber Kate Osborne explains what to look out for next time you’re at the water’s edge…
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e’ve a lot of shingle beaches in Suffolk – so many in fact that we might take them for granted, or complain that they hurt our feet or are rubbish for sandcastles at high tide. But did you know that beaches like ours are only found in three places in the world? They are known as Vegetated Shingle Habitat and the plants that live here are specially adapted to the desert-like conditions. The stones hide many treasures and some are even treasures in their own right! Some beachcombing finds are common to every beach and some finds are more common than others. What is surprising is that beaches a short distance apart can be good for beachcombing very different things. Seaweed often marks the high tide line on the beach and is often the best place to look for treasures. There are over 650 species of seaweed in the UK. Seaweed, along with driftwood, is critically important to the food chain of the beach, providing shelter and food for tiny little bugs on the beach, that bring in the beetles and spiders we may see, which in turn provide food for birds and mammals. Explore the seaweed – but please always leave it on the beach.
Felixstowe Felixstowe beach is brilliant for beachcombing. It’s great if you have limited mobility or very young children, as there are lots of old concrete groynes and the promenade to sit on. There are tons of treasures here – you should be able to find at least 15 different species of shells including: • Limpets, which have their teeth on their tongue, will grind their shell for a perfect fit to make a home ‘scar’. They return to this every time the tide goes out and await its return when they will graze on algae on the rocks. • Slipper limpets which are born as males but then become females. • Fossil sharks’ teeth As sharks can have up to 3,000 teeth at any one time and up to 30,000 in their lifetime there are plenty to be found and a huge variety to look for, from long and thin to squat and triangular. Other natural treasures include square, black mermaids’ purses which are the egg cases of skates and rays, and sea wash balls, which look like clumps of Rice Krispies and are the egg cases laid by Common Whelks. The first few whelks » Coastal Guide 2020
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