Rock Pooling

We love the seaside, as a family it is our favourite place to be.  So as our Easter Holidays are coming to an end we had a trip to the south coast.  Today we visited Kimmeridge Bay, a Marine Wildlife Reserve and spent the morning rock pooling.

It was fantastic, the tide was out and the children (and Hubby and I) loved exploring the rock pools.  It bought back many happy memories of rock pooling as a child and also the Marine Biology course I did at Uni.  However, I was having to think hard to remember all the names of the seaweeds and creatures we found! 

Along with lots of Periwinkles and Limpets we even managed to catch a fish (its either a Rock Goby or a Blenny) and a shrimp.  Lottie named the fish Fred and wanted to bring him home.  We persuaded her that it would be kinder to let him go back in the rock pool we had found him, rather than bring him all the way home in the car!

There was an abundance of seaweed of all different colours, shapes and sizes.  The water was crystal clear. 

 

We also saw lots of fossils, the rocks were full of amazing Ammonites.  As the tide went out further more and more of them were uncovered as we walked over the rocks.  Tom said it was an ammonite footpath! Lottie kept shouting "here's another curly one!"

 

 

After all our rock pooling we drove towards Swanage.  We stopped at Corfe Castle and toured around the remains of the castle, the children completed a shield quest to earn a medal. We are definitely making the most of our National Trust membership this year.

 





 

Then no trip to the coast would be complete with out Fish and Chips so to end our day trip we stopped in Swanage before heading home.  A lovely day out made even better by the warmth of the sun on our faces all day!