Habitat Rocks

If you go down to the shore today, you might be surprised at what you find when you turn over a rock, says Dorset Wildlife Trust.  The range of different wildlife on rocks on the shore is so great that it took a team of fifteen experts to identify and count them this week at Kimmeridge Bay.  DWT Wardens invited the experts to the Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve to highlight the importance of this little known habitat.

Julie Hatcher, Marine Warden at Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: “The fact that over thirty-five different species were identified on a single seashore rock highlights the importance of leaving rocks and boulders exactly where they are on the beach and in the water.  It’s fine to pick them up and have a look beneath, but please put them back exactly as you found them to protect the plants and tiny animals that depend on them for attachment and shelter.”

Among the wildlife found were a variety of crabs, sea-weeds, worms, sea snails and sponges. There were also periwinkle eggs, attached to seaweed on the rock, which in a few weeks will hatch into minute crawling sea snails, munching on the seaweed and hiding in the cool, damp places beneath it. While the sea-weeds like to be on top of the rock, where they soak up the sunlight to make their energy, many animals, such as crabs and sea squirts, like to be in the darkness and safety below the rock.

When returning rocks to their correct position, it is important to place them carefully so as not to squash these creatures.

The Fine Foundation Marine Centre, run by Dorset Wildlife Trust in Kimmeridge Bay, is now open most days for the summer season.