Autumn Beach Clean

October 17th 2009

Thank you to everyone for coming along to the autumn beach clean, as you can see from the photo below there was once again a great turn out and the weather was great!

Ed the Bear even came along before heading off to Washington to visit Fred the Monkey (click here to follow his adventures)!

Rockpooling Event - 15th August 2009

Yet again this event had a brilliant turn out of over 60 adults and children! Steve Savage, a marine biologist ran this event with help from the volunteers of FOSB and beach wardens from West Sussex County Council (John Knight & co). The event was run on the beach just inside Shoreham Harbour behind the Old Fort and Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve.

Steve gave talk of the likely sea creatures that would be found on the beach as well as a fun practical demonstration of how the tides work with the help of a few keen children!

The beach provided a fantastic location to hunt amongst the rockpools behind the breakwater and in the sand on the beach for animals of all types. Armed with nets and buckets children of all ages (3 - 12) dragged their parents and dogs to hunt for the strangest of animals.

Steve and the FOSB volunteers (Jacky, Joy, Lizzie, Carolyn, John) helped point out various seashore creatures and identify those that were rather strange looking, along with facts about how and why they lived in the beach environment.

A variety of creatures were found as you can see from the pictures in this blog:

A stranded compass jellyfish.....

A juvenile shore crab........

Steve brought along some tanks for the children to add in their finds so that others could see the diversity of creatures hiding on the seashore.

After the beach hunt the sun peaked out of the clouds in time for a picnic lunch, which was followed by a fantastic beach art competition. Carolyn, one of FOSB's committee members started the competition by giving inspiration to the topic of 'FISH SHAPES', by creating a great piece of beach art.

Over 20 children took part and by far exceeded everyone's expectations and produced some amazing pictures using any stranded material on the beach from shells, seaweed, stones and wood.

As the standard was so high 'Judge Jolley' had to make the exceptionally difficult decision of deciding which were the winning pictures! Prizes were awarded for the best pictures, of which 1st place went to Rhiannan Bromley (below), 2nd place to Daniel and 3rd place to Zoe and Imogen!

It was a great day had by all! Thank you to everyone who took part and those that helped make it a wonderful day.

World Oceans Day - 6th June 2009

World Oceans Day is about raising awareness of the world’s oceans and the wildlife that lives in the sea. In June 1992, over 150 Heads of States signed the Convention on Biological Diversity at Rio de Janeiro. They did so to express a shared belief that action must be taken to halt the worldwide loss of animal and plant species and genetic resources. World Oceans Day was first declared as 8th June at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Since then, events have occurred on or around this day all around the world.

A large marquee hosted a variety of interactive exhibitions for adults and children. We, the Friends of Shoreham Beach had displays and information about Shoreham Nature Reserve, in particular about the plants of the shingle beach, as well as a marine litter display.



We also had the opportunity to answer questions about the beach, as well as inform people of the project that we are working with Shoreham Local Nature Reserve Management Team for gaining and improving existing Safe and Easy Access (SEA) to the beach, particularly for the disabled.


For the children we had a variety of marine pictures to colour in, most exciting were the door handles, one was an octopus and the other a fish catching a worm! There were many happy faces and grateful parents to the 5 minutes of peaceful and concentrated colouring!


It was a great day, with many members volunteering to attend the stand and talk to new people, we even had a number of families become members of the Friends of Shoreham Beach - as this only costs £5 per family and you can come and enjoy a variety of events over the year, from rock pooling, beach cleans, talks, beachcombing and eggcase hunts!

All in all a fantastic day!

Strandline Event - 18th April 2009

We had 22 adults and 14 children attend the event and fun was had by all!

If you came on the event and would like to leave some feedback then please do.

Beach Clean - 7th March 2009

We had 22 adults and 6 children turn up on Saturday for our beach clean, we managed to collect 14 sacks of rubbish, 2 tyres, 2 crab pots and a length of rope!!!

So thank you to all those who came along. According to the Marine Conservation Society we are the leading voluntary organisation in the number of people turning up for our beach cleans, so well done!

Our next beach clean is in the Autumn, the date is to be arranged, so keep an eye on the blog.

Brighton Science Festival Event - 21st February 2009

The Friends of Shoreham Beach (FOSB) had a stand at this years Brighton Science Festival held at Hove Secondary School. This stand was manned by some of the committee and volunteers of FOSB and we had many very enthusiastic children interested in the marine animals and habitats on the beach. There was a strandline quiz, as well as a marine litter display board example how litter is harmful to many animals in our seas and along the edges of our coasts, as well as colouring in sheets, which were very popular!

Steve Savage (local marine biologist) had a stand on marine mammals adjacent to the FOSB stand, which had examples of both dolphin and seal sightings for Shoreham Beach and the River Adur and the threat to sea mammals from marine litter.

Steve also ran some demonstrations to re-enact a dolphin rescue with audience participation.

It was a great day and a very successful event!

Photos courtesty of Steve Savage

Tide Pool Event - Marine Week 2008

During Marine Week 2008, Steve Savage with the assistance of John Knight and the Friends of Shoreham Beach (FOSB) introduced a range of participants to the beach and its wildlife.

People then dispersed across the beach to explore the different habitats, as well as to see the tanks and containers at the top of the beach that had some interesting finds, such as the European green shore crab. Steve showed how such fascinating animals are adapted to the beach environment through their different anatomical features, as well as their various stages of development.

People were intrigued by the sand mason worm tubes poking up above the sand. Lug-worm casts and a variety of marine worms (e.g. Nereis species) were also found.
Marine wading birds (e.g. egret and turnstones) were also spotted feeding.

Beadlet anemones, edible winkles, predatory dog whelks and chitons were amongst some of the animals seen on small rocks.

The event generated a lot of interest and questions. Some people asked about future events and many said they would come back and explore the beach again now they knew what they can see.