Once on the Island I relied on Google maps to direct me to Thorness Bay beach, but unfortunately it took me a little too literally and tried to direct me down private lanes to a couple of farms. Signs in the lanes, stating that intruders would be shot or worse still made to muck out the sheep, deterred me so in the end I headed to the holiday camp on the basis they had to have shore access! 

Slight problem with this was that the holiday camp is a little maze with many twists and turns, but eventually I arrived at a car park at the lowest point of the park. I was running a bit late and feeling slightly stressed but then I spotted a group of people in high visibility jackets and wellies, so I guessed I was in the right place!

Everyone couldn’t have been nicer about my inexcusable lateness, and as luck would have it, being late meant I got to be in the ‘professionals’ team with Jenny, Kate and Emily. They were very welcoming, but as I was handed a couple of thick identification guides, I began to realise I had accepted a rather challenging responsibility!

So off we set towards the beach, and then walked for about 20 minutes until we reached the beach plateau only to find the tide was also late today. But no problem we started in the ‘green zone’ and I got my first experience of trying to identify seaweed with Emily either tutting or nodding when I got it right. This is where I was lucky, that as a new convert, Emily was mainly helping us out, and she most certainly knew her stuff. And the enthusiasm and excitement she exuded was highly infectious. We identified many different species of seaweed and algae, and we became experts in identifying Flat Topshells and Flat Periwinkles (which come in many different shades of brown or green).

As we moved to the ‘yellow zone’ (as the tide ebbed) things got more interesting, or possibly more comical. Emily was showing us a Sea Squirt under a rock, when it lived up to it’s name and squirted in Emily's face as she was examining it! Cue much laughter. Fortunately Kate caught this on camera so the laughter could be prolonged, and possibly even make a future appearance on their website.

We also disturbed a rather large shore crab, and for some reason, it didn’t appreciate Emily’s efforts to prevent it from being squashed by the rock. When I say large, it had enormous pincers and it wasn’t afraid to use them at high speed! Luckily Emily was slightly quicker!

We then moved to the ‘red zone’ and continued to find more species of seaweed, algae and crabs.

Having grown up by a beach I had no idea there was so much diversity just off the shore, and it’s no cliché to say it blew my mind a bit. The whole experience was fantastic, it was great fun with much more laughter than I was expecting, and the variety of species I saw was amazing. A seal even made a cameo performance!

And I have to thank both Emily and Caitlin for their encyclopaedic knowledge of marine life, without them I would have been still trying to identify the first bit of seaweed we found. And of course the location was also fantastic and the weather was great - who knew education and learning could be so much fun and so rewarding. I now also have a new found respect and fascination with all things Intertidal and rock-poolish, and can’t wait to get down to the beach again to test my new found skills.

So after the 30 mile walk back to the car park, we debriefed and headed our own ways. Thank you Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. 

Ian Creasey

Intertidal Survey Volunteer