I spent the weekend in Hartlepool recently, with the express purpose of the trip being to spend time at the beach. Husband and dog in tow, we boarded a train from Sheffield, then another two trains to York and Hartlepool. On the way, I wondered about what Iād find.
Hartlepool is on the north east coast of England, a little ways south of Newcastle. The east coast doesnāt have the same sort of variety of sea creatures as the west and south coasts, but thatās not to say the east coast is boring by any means. Itās where I grew up, where Iāve spent the majority of my time beach combing, and where my love of the sea and its creatures started. The entire British coastline teems with life, which makes every bit of it special. Iād never been to Hartlepool before either, so I was excited. My guess was that it would be a sand or shingle beach, like much of the rest of the east coast.
Off the train, a quick lunch and then on to confirm my suspicions. We were staying close to the marina, but there was access to a proper beach not too far away. Down a set of concrete steps, the bottom few of which would clearly be submerged at high tide, to the sea.
Amongst the rocks piled up as sea defences, were absolute masses of black seaweed, thousands of barnacles and some of the biggest limpets Iāve ever seen.
The image above perhaps doesnāt do it justice. Some of the limpets were almost the size of my palm, able to stay secluded and safe enough, nestled in the rocks to avoid becoming food for any of the local seabirds or other creatures that might enjoy them.
Many of the rocks also were home to a number of mussel type bivalves, clustered together in bustling communities. Like the limpets, sheltered from the birds and other predators by the rocks and the tide.
Once Iād managed to tear myself away from the rocks and pools surrounding them, (and believe me, that was a challenge!) I turned my eyes to the water itself and the rest of the beach. The tide was all the way out, and just starting to come back in. My dog was contenting herself by paddling in the surf, tail wagging as she jumped among the rising waves.
Normally when I go to a beach, thereās one creature in particular that sticks out to me, and ends up defining the visit. This changes depending on the beach itself, the time of year, and what Iām lucky enough to see. Sometimes itās something that feels rare and special, other times itās just about sheer volume. This time, it was the latter. There were so many of these little shells scattered in the sand.
They varied a fair bit in colour. I found the yellow ones (pictured) particularly interesting, but many were lighter, with cream coloured bands. Some of the yellow ones had greenish tinges to them, although my camera didnāt pick that up especially well. Lots of them looked like this, the shells still attached but fanned out like a butterflyās wings. Others had come apart, single colourful shells sticking out of the sand.
Despite their differences, all of them had the coloured bands like tree rings, all of them had this lovely wing-like shape, and subtle vertical stripes crossing their āringsā. Most also had a purple or blue ish interior. I didnāt take my coastal wildlife spotting guide away with me, mostly because we were doing a lot of walking and I didnāt want to carry it around, but I had a look for these creatures when I got home. Both my guide, and a quick reverse image search, seem to suggest that they are Banded Wedge Shells, or Donax vittatus. Apparently, they are most common on the south and north west coasts, but widespread across the UK.
I also found some of the usual suspects, mussel shells, common cockles and razor clams. I was surprised by the seeming lack of whelk and oyster shells. At this point, I hadnāt seen any evidence of crabs or anemones either which was also surprising given the amount of rocky nooks that seemed ideal for them. Because this was quite a flat beach though, the tide was rising quickly, and both my husband and dog were starting to get cold and frustrated with my lack of pace, so we moved on.
ā¦ to another beach! Hartlepool has a headland, meaning save for a few private industrial areas, you can more or less walk around the entire peninsula on the coast. We moved a bit further away from the marina, and onto headland north beach. Despite only being a 40 minute walk away, it had a very different feel from the first beach we visited. Not much in the way of high sea walls and man made rocks as sea defence. No thick layer of coal dust or charcoal settling on the sands. Not surprisingly then, we found different creatures!
I found evidence of crabs, but unfortunately no live ones. The tide was still rising, and as it did we could see lots of little bubbles in the surf, rising from tiny holes in the sand where no doubt crabs, clams or worms lie buried beneath our feet. I had to discourage my dog from digging into the sand so as not to disturb or harm them. I donāt think she is fast enough to catch them, but you never really know.
The coastline is more exposed here, and so there was much chunkier debris on the strandline as well. Some very smooth and interesting looking pieces of driftwood, as well as knotted rope and as much as it pains me to say it, a lot of plastic. But here there was also evidence of some interesting creatures as well. A very large star fish arm, empty crab shells and some decently sized sea snail shells. There were some rock pools here too, so I spent some time fruitlessly looking for crabs and anemones.
We werenāt able to stay on this beach as long as I would have liked. The day was waning, the tide was coming in and all three of us needed some food and a little rest. We did take a slight detour through the Heugh Battery museum, which is well worth the visit for any historian.
The following morning, we were back on the beach. Well, we were also on the beach at night, but I have no decent photos of that for obvious reasons. The tide was outgoing, and due to start rising again in a couple of hours. Again, we started with the sea defence rocks and surrounding pools. At last, I found my anemone!
A solitary and lonely jewel in the rock. I would have loved to see them at high tide, but alas, where I was standing to take the photo would be submerged by that point. I still kept a close eye on the rocks, encouraged by having seen this one, but found no others. Maybe there were lots behind rocks that I just couldnāt see!
The sea wasnāt done surprising me though. As the tide was low, lots of pools were exposed, and full of interesting creatures, even if I couldnāt see all of them. One thing that did surprise me though, was this little sea snail. Live, perched on some rock, nestled in a pool close to a jetty.
As you can see, this little guy also had passengers! You can just about see one of them fanning out to feed. I couldnāt quite work out what type of barnacles these were, and there were too many of them on the snail shell itself for me to feel confident in ident the type of sea snail. My guess is they are a common whelk though. I hope whatever was on that rock was tasty for them. In a nearby pool, there was evidence of similar creatures having attracted the attention of the seabirds. I like to think this one managed to stay safe and returned to the sea when the tide turned again.
Because my dog is a Labrador though, she is a water baby and was pining for a dip in the sea. We moved away from the pools and close to the surf so she could have a play in the water. Of course, I kept my eyes peeled for any other treasures on the shoreline. Like the previous day, there were a large number of Banded Wedge shells, mussels, razor clams and cockles. There were also a fair amount of sea bricks and other pebbles that are more common on the industrial shores of the UK. I even found some sea glass. But I think even more interesting than the sea glass, was this small shell my husband found.
Now, I was unable to find this one in my book. However, a reverse image search seemed to suggest that this is a striped Venus clam. Supposedly found on all British coasts but no records of any sightings on the south east coast. I donāt remember seeing anything like this, at least not recently. Having said that, the south and south east is where Iāve spent a good chunk of my time by the sea. What a lovely find, to round off an absolutely wonderful trip. After returning this shell to the sea, it was time to head back to the train station.
It might seem odd to some people that you can visit a town without really visiting it. If someone said to me, āWhat is Hartlepool like?ā I donāt think Iād be able to give them an answer beyond the fact that itās got some lovely beaches and lots of wildlife to see. But, such is the life of a Strandliner.
