cottages4you blog: inspiration for your cottage or villa holiday in UK, Ireland and Europe

In this article – Beachcombing and your chance to win a cottages4you holiday!

Beachcombing

This summer, due to popular demand, cottages 4you is bringing back Beachcombing consists of searching the beach for washed up items. The perfect pastime for the recession, it’s free, can be done at any beach and if the Met Office predictions for a great summer don’t  live up to expectation, beachcombing is not weather dependent, making it great for British seaside breaks! A fun activity to keep kids occupied, you don’t need any equipment, just appropriate shoes and a bag to store your treasures.

This year, we have partnered with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) to help them record marine wildlife sightings, which can help to understand the ecology of Britain’s coastal creatures.  To take part, download our special pack containing information on jellyfish, turtles and basking sharks and head to the beach! You can record your findings online and don’t forget to send in your pictures – the most unusual find will win a cottage holiday!

To get started you will need:

• Beachcombing Information Pack – click here to download
• An MCS identification chart – click here to download

To report your findings:

• Click here to record online
• Download a reporting form and post
• Alternatively, please call the MCS on 01989 566017

What to look out for when beachcombing

Seeing marine wildlife such as sharks and turtles is a truly exciting experience – and reporting your sightings will help the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) learn where these rare and endangered creatures occur in UK seas, and support their work to protect them. Below is information on creatures the MCS are tracking.

• Basking sharks
• Marine turtles
• Jellyfish

Dedicated surveys for marine wildlife are time consuming and very expensive, especially if boats and/or divers are required. Public sightings schemes are not only cheaper, they are extremely powerful because of the sheer numbers of people that are out there every day, walking coastal paths, relaxing on beaches or pursuing watersports – so your sightings are very important.

Win a cottages4you holiday

We’d also love to know about your  beachcombing finds which you can share by uploading  up to 3 photographs to our Flickr group. The person with the most unusual find will win a fantastic family holiday cottage break, so click here and get your findings uploaded.

But we also want to know about beachcombers  other findings which you can share by uploading  photographs of your findings. To do this click here to upload your pictures to flickr. The person with the most unusual find will win a fantastic family holiday cottage break*

At the end of the summer, all our results will be compiled to create the new Top 10 beaches for beachcombing, based on what holidaymakers have found. So keep checking the website for updates!

Some of the Marine Life the MCS would love to hear about ….

Basking Shark

Basking Sharks

The basking shark is the UK’s largest fish, reaching 11m in length, yet very little is known about it. Due to its oil rich liver and large fins, the basking shark has been the target of many historical fisheries which caused its decline through the 1900s

As a result of an MCS campaign, the species was finally protected in 1998 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, but the charity is still only piecing together information about its distribution and behaviour.

The MCS Basking Shark Watch project was launched in 1987 and gathers information from members of the public, fishermen and sea users, on their sightings of basking sharks. As a result, MCS now holds the UK’s largest dataset on basking shark distribution and behaviour and is now contributing to wider studies to determine the factors that affect their abundance and seasonal appearance in UK waters. This project involves the wider public in collecting information that would otherwise be unavailable and which directly contributes to a better understanding and protection of one of our most mysterious marine species.

Turtles

Five species of marine turtle have been recorded in UK and Irish waters. Leatherbacks are the most commonly sighted marine turtle species in UK seas, usually seen during the summer, and are believed to migrate thousands of kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean to feed on our abundant jellyfish.

As part of our collaborative work on the Marine Turtles Grouped Species Action Plan, the MCS encourage sea users and members of the public to report turtle sightings in UK waters via the UK Turtle Code. The UK Turtle Code gives advice on identifying turtles, how to deal with turtle entanglements and strandings and where to report turtle encounters in the UK. All sightings are logged on to TURTLE, a national database managed by Marine Environmental Monitoring, who also post annual reports of turtle sightings in UK waters. With Turtle Implementation Group (TIG) partners MEDASSET, MCS has made the UK Turtle Code accessible online to facilitate internet-based reporting. Click here to view the UK Turtle Code online.

Atlantic Jellyfish

Jellyfish

In an effort to understand the ecology of Britain’s leatherback turtles, MCS would like you to help record jellyfish strandings on local beaches and jellyfish swarms at sea. If you are beachcombing, you can help by reporting your jellyfish encounter online. Remember, it is important to record when you do see jellyfish on the beach or at sea, but it is also useful to know when and where you don’t see any. If possible, please fill in a form for each beachcombing trip regardless of whether or not you see jellyfish.

Why do we need to track jellyfish?

Little is known about jellyfish in UK waters, but we do know that they are the staple diet of the critically endangered leatherback turtle. These spectacular reptiles are seasonal visitors to UK seas, migrating from their tropical nesting beaches, and analyses of stomach contents of dead leatherbacks stranded on UK shores have revealed that they feed on several species of British jellyfish. By comparing the distribution of jellyfish with environmental factors such as sea temperature, plankton production and current flow, we hope to understand what influences the seasonal distribution of jellyfish and leatherbacks in UK waters.

How can we identify jellyfish?

Identification of live jellyfish is usually easy but once they’ve washed up on the beach it can become more difficult. Please do not guess if you are not really sure, just record the jellyfish as ‘Unidentified’ and describe it on the form. If possible, take photos of the jellyfish bell and manubrium (mouth and arms, underside and centre of bell) to help with identification later.

Health and Safety:

• Some jellyfish can sting
• Never touch jellyfish with bare hands
• Always use a stick or wear arm length rubber gloves if you need to turn them over for identification
• Beware of the stinging tentacles and keep your face and any exposed skin well clear
• Seek medical attention in the case of a severe sting

Supporting The Marine Conservation Society

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is the UK charity dedicated to caring for our seas, shores and wildlife. MCS campaigns for clean seas and beaches, sustainable fisheries, and protection for all marine life. Celebrating their Silver Jubilee in the year 2008/09, for 25 years the MCS has carried out groundbreaking work to protect our sea life – from whales, dolphins, sharks and turtles, to fish, plankton, corals and crabs. You can support MCS in their vital work to save our seas, by joining MCS as a supporter, making a donation, or taking part in activities such as the cottages4you beachcombing campaign. MCS also has dedicated marine conservation programmes for Scotland and Wales.

The UK’s seas support a variety of life as fascinating and colourful as that found anywhere in the world. This seemingly inhospitable environment (for humans) is home to over 8,000 species and yet we know as little about much of it as we do about the moon.

Consequently, protection for marine habitats and species has lagged behind that of terrestrial landscapes and wildlife. But through surveys, awareness and education and policy development the MCS Biodiversity programme aims to ensure that marine species and habitats are given protection before it’s too late.

* Full details on how to enter the competition and terms and conditions are available here (download .doc file)