THIS year’s National Marine Week (July 27 to August 11) theme is “Sea the Connection” and at Somerset Wildlife Trust, we’ll be highlighting how as an island nation we are all closely connected to the sea and why a healthy thriving marine environment matters.  

Through our Somerset's Wilder Coast project, we are working closely with young people and coastal community groups.

We also have a great group of trained volunteer citizen scientists who help us with coastal survey work, and there are events throughout the year all along the coast, including Shoresearch intertidal surveys and Sea Watch surveys for porpoises and other sea mammals.

As well as coming along to one of these events, another way you can help is by heading to your local seashore during the summer and looking out for key intertidal creatures.

By using iNaturalist to identify, record and upload your finds, you’ll be helping us learn more about these seashore species. We still have very few records for the Somerset coast, and we need help from citizen scientists to build up a better baseline picture of species.

There are six intertidal species we are particularly keen for you to find, but any discoveries common or rare are welcome: two brown seaweeds (bladder wrack and channelled wrack) and four sea shells (common limpet, toothed topshell, purple topshell and Pacific oyster).

You can find more about these species and how to get involved at https://www.somersetwildlife.org/blog/mark-ward/gearing-national-marine-week.

Please only photograph and record living specimens that have not been washed in from other beaches or other areas of the shore.

Get hunting folks, and remember to be safe on the seashore and watch out for tides, cliffs and mud!

Mark Ward is Somerset's Wilder Coast Manager. He can be contacted by emailing mark.ward@somersetwildlife.org.