I STARTED the week by leading a group of local children on a trip to a deserted beach in South Wales.

Upon arrival during a rather heavy downpour, I must admit that a beautiful but exposed part of our coastline did not feel like the best place to be with a coach-full of children.

However, after eating our lunch in the visitor centre, the rain had faded to faint drizzle so we decided to begin our hour-long trip to the beach. With the weather being the way it was, I was unsure as to what, if any wildlife we may encounter.

We knew the tide would be at its lowest point upon our arrival, so where fairly confident that we would be able to find some wild treasures amongst the rock pools. As we made our way through the impressive dune system, the mood of the children lifted and by the time they had scrambled up and slid down the first dune, they had all but forgotten about the rain. We trekked on over more dunes, and fought our way through five feet tall bracken, a real adventure for those more used to an average trip to the coast.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the beach, deserted but for a couple of fishermen, on a rocky outcrop which stretched out into the water. After a refreshment and paddling break, the young people were ready to start searching the pools.

As we cautiously started making our way over the rocks they were amazed to find that rather than being a barren rocky outcrop, it was actually a densely covered mussel bed. Among the mussels was a strange algae resembling, both in look and texture, strangely shaped hands with twisted fingers.

At this point we discovered our first pool, the bottom of which was covered with rather brightly coloured winkle shells.

One of our little explorers picked one up, and asked if he could take it home thinking it was empty, at this point a small claw of a hermit crab began waving out of the shell’s opening, shortly followed by the crabs head and a gasp of shock from the holder. It turned out that practically all the winkle shells in this pool were inhabited by hermit crabs.

The hermit crab is unusual among crabs in that, apart from its legs and the very front of its head, it has a very soft body, leaving it extremely vulnerable to predation. So to overcome this, it has taken to acquiring the shells of various marine snails for protection.

This is by no means a home for life, for as the crab grows it must begin searching for a larger shell.

It is now that the animal shows its true colours, on first glance they look like passive scavengers, however, if a hermit cannot find a suitable empty shell, it is not averse to helping itself to one occupied by its original owner, or even another hermit. Sharing this rock pool were many more creatures, most notable to the children was a common starfish.

While not too often seen, they are actually quite common, especially on these mussel beds where they have a seemingly endless supply of one of their favourite foods, mussels, which they prise open to get at the soft flesh hidden inside.

By ADAM HAMILTON