SHORE THINGS
WHETHER YOU’RE A SANDCASTLE ARCHITECT, A ROCKPOOL EXPLORER, OR JUST A SEASIDE SITTER, THERE ARE WAYS TO KEEP EVERYONE HAPPY UNTIL IT’S TIME FOR THE ICE CREAM RUN
BE STILL Take a breath of sea air
Around 50-85% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere comes from the ocean, produced by marine plants called phytoplankton millions of years ago. This means we are always connected through our breath to the ocean. The breath is our inner anchor and rhythm that mirrors the cycles in nature – the ebb and flow of the tide, the wax and wane of the moon.
Try this breathing exercise by the sea:
1. Bring your attention to your breath and simply notice how it feels without trying to alter it.
2. Now consciously breathe in from your belly through the nose to a count of four.
3. Feel the gentle pause between the in-breath and out-breath.
4. Breathe out from the belly through the nose to a count of six.
5. Repeat, taking ten deep, gentle breaths from the belly, or until you feel just right. Sound mapping
A great way to slow down and create greater awareness of your surroundings, sound mapping is especially effective when the surf is up, and is lovely to do alone, with friends or children. First, find a safe space where you won’t be disturbed. Get comfortable – maybe lie down – and close your eyes. To heighten your sense of hearing, you may want to cup your hands behind your ears. Listen for sounds that are nearby and far away, for high-pitched and low-pitched sounds, including seabirds, wind, waves and other people. If there are waves breaking, try to pick out the individual ‘sound signature’ of a particular wave. For the last few moments, let the mix of sounds wash over you like a musical concert. Open your eyes and share your experience with your companions.
Mindful immersion
Like dolphins, our mammalian dive response causes our heart rate to slow when we are in water, calming our fight or flight response and allowing us to relax when immersed.
On a calm day, enter the sea and bring your focus to your breath.
When you’re about knee deep (or less), lower yourself into the water and lie back – you can rest on your arms if you don’t want to float. Take a slow, deep breath in and notice how your lungs expand, causing your body to feel a little lighter and float more easily. Gently exhale and notice how your body begins to sink a little into the water. With each breath allow your body to soften and relax and to be held by the sea.
To get used to putting your face into the water, lower yourself into the water, take a breath in and as you breathe out, lower your face to the surface of the water and blow bubbles with your exhalation. After you get used to the sensation of water on your face, lower your face into the water so that the water just covers your ears. Notice the difference in sound. Life below water has its own music and everyday sounds are different, travelling much faster underwater. BE BUSY Set up a seaside scavenger hunt
This group activity turns the beach into a treasure trove of incredible things to be found, and it can be done individually or as teams if you like to add a competitive edge. Make a list of things to find, grab a bucket and go hunt. Ideas for things to find could include something old, something new, a mermaid’s purse, mermaids’ tears (sea glass), something with a spiral pattern, something blue, something smooth and something rough, a stone with a hole in it, a crab shell, something slippery, something that tickles… or add your own ideas. Compare all
your finds at the end – it’s fascinating to see the ways people interpret each item on the list.
Search for sharks! (sort of)
Shark egg capsules can be found at any time of year. These so-called ‘mermaid’s purses’ certainly look like they might hold treasure, but they are a shark or skate egg capsule.
Sadly, you won’t usually find a shark pup inside because it has already hatched out successfully. To find one, walk along the high tide line and look among the seaweed for shiny black, brown or green capsules with horns or curly tendrils at either end. Greenish egg cases with curly tendrils are laid by catsharks, and darker brown or black cases with two horns at each end are laid by skates. If you do find a live egg case attached to seaweed in a rockpool, leave it be.
The Shark Trust has great resources for recording and identifying your egg case finds at sharktrust.org/eggcase-hunting.
Go looking for muddy minibeasts
Some surprisingly tiny creatures shape our shores. On a beach with mud or soft rocks, walk down to the shore looking for soft casts. These are curly piles of sand and are found next to round pits around the size of a small coin. The curly sand is lugworm poo and the pit is near the lugworm’s head. Carefully dig down between the cast and the pit with your spade. To look at the lugworm, pop it in a bucket of seawater. After, put the worm back and fill in the hole. Watch out though, lugworms can bite!
Be a shell detective
Shell collecting may seem like harmless fun, but if you look closer you may find evidence of… murder! Search for dead sea snail and clam shells and gather them in a bucket. If any of them have a neat round hole, you may have found one of the killer’s victims. The only murder weapon that could have done this job is a sea snail’s radula, which this carnivorous snail uses to drill through the shells of other molluscs. If you look at the underside of your sea snail shells, you may see a tear-shaped opening with a groove, where the snail hides its radula. Search among colonies of limpets and mussels on the rocks and you might catch the murderer red-handed, sitting on top of another shell. The gruesome killer is a Dog Whelk, which softens the shell of other molluscs with chemicals. Using its stomach juices, it turns its victims to gloop, which it then sucks up using its radula, just like a drinking straw. Delightful!
BE CREATIVE Make a beach mandala
A mandala is an ancient art form, and its circular design dates back to early human history in the spirals and concentric circles found in rock art, considered to represent the cycles of nature and life. The beach offers the ideal canvas to express your creativity, and creating a personal or group mandala is one way to represent the cycles found by the sea – the waves, the tides and the moon. Begin by drawing a small circle in the sand around yourself with a stick. Then expand the circle, drawing a bigger circle outside this one. Repeat as many times as you like. Add found objects (natural and man-made), shapes or patterns to each circle, swapping and adding elements until it’s complete. If you want a longer-lasting artwork, choose a spot above the high tide line.
Create a beach clean junk jigsaw
Around eight million pieces of plastic enter the world’s oceans every day, killing about one million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals every year. Doing a two-minute beach clean every time you visit is a good habit to get into, and you can make a junk jigsaw with your finds. Explore the tide lines and between rocks. Collect any plastics such as bottles or bits of fishing nets you find in a bucket – make sure you use a litter-picking tool or are wearing gloves – and look out for any glass or sharp pieces. Organise your finds by size, then use the plastic pieces to create beach art pictures or spell out some words. Take a photo, note the date and location then collect up your finds and take them to a bin, or home to recycle.
Pick and press seaweed
Plants on the beach are full of surprises. Seaweed has no roots or flowers, but can be as beautiful as any garden plants. Collect a couple of specimens to take home and make your own piece of artwork. Rinse the seaweed in fresh water. Part fill a deep tray with water and place a sheet of heavy paper (watercolour paper is ideal) at the bottom of the tray. Float the seaweed over the paper until you’re happy with the position, then slowly lift the paper out. Lay on newspaper and pat dry with paper towels. Cover with paper towels and more newspaper. Place under something heavy ( books are good but do protect from getting damp) and check each day, changing the newspaper and paper towels until the seaweed is completely dry. Finally, display your dried seaweed artwork.