AFC Meeting: Rockpooling at Balchladich
Four local members of the Field Club and a regular visitor met on the south side of Balchladich beach at 1030 hrs on 18th August 2024 and walked over to the foreshore exposed north-west of the beach at NC023305 (photos 1-2). A strong wind, vigorous wave action and occasional showers restricted us to some extent. However, we spent an enjoyable couple of hours exploring shallow rock pools in the intertidal Torridonian sandstone (photo 3), together with wash-up kelp and other brown seaweeds on the beach. You can find a list of the species identified here.
Seaweeds
A variety of encrusting red seaweeds, mostly either pink paint weed or the contrasting rusty red of Hildenbrandia (photo 4), covered the bases of the rock pools. Brown seaweeds surrounded the pools, in the usual sequence from channel wrack down to serrated wrack. Sea oak (photo 5) and small plants of punctured ball weed were found in the pools (photo 6). Bladder wrack and egg wrack were, curiously, conspicuous by their absence, though found later in wash-up. The most obvious reds were carrageen (bleached yellow by the sun), coral weed and northern tooth weed (photo 7).
Animal life
Animal life in and around the pools, or on the beach, to which we could put a name included some 19 organisms from the eight of the major groups that occur in marine habitats. We noted sponges, cnidarians, annelids, crustaceans, molluscs, bryozoans, sea squirts and vertebrates; only echinoderms were missing (photos 8-11).
We took home one small specimen of tangle for closer examination. Its holdfast yielded examples of at least another four organisms, mostly juveniles. This was a reminder of the importance of the kelp beds at or below low-tide mark on our shores.
If you would like to further explore this subject, we recommend two books: User-friendly seashore guide by James Merryweather (Blue-Skye Books, 2014) and The essential guide to rockpooling by Julie Hatcher and Steve Trewhella (Wild Nature Press, 2019).
Ian M. Evans and Gwen Richards