“The space between the shifting tide-marks, that intertidal zone that changes its character twice each day from land to sea, can be a harsh place to live. “Only the most hardy and adaptable can survive in a region so mutable”(Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea). One high tide is never the same as the next, especially in an estuarine environment like the Solway: the mix of saline and fresh water, the amount of sediment, the predators, parasites and planktonic food, will vary every time … and on the edges the plants, algae and animals are exposed variously to desiccatingly hot sun or wind, or rain, sleet or hail.”
In 1881, the plates of ice were so thick that when they were swept out on the ebbing tide, they damaged the Solway Railway Viaduct that crossed the Firth from Bowness to Annan: you can read the extraordinary story of the construction, damage and demolition of the SJR and the viaduct, and see many more images, on the Crossing the Moss website, a project that photographer James Smith and I carried out in 2017/18.
The Solway viaduct
The Solway viaduct
The ice-damaged viaduct in 1881
The ice-damaged viaduct in 1881
Ice-floes on the shore, December 2010
Ice-floes on the shore, December 2010
Ice-floes on the tidelines at Bowness, January 2019
Ice-floes on the tidelines at Bowness, January 2019
Many of the Solway’s shores are expanses of sand, stippled with rocky scaurs and occasional boulders deposited by glaciers. Where can you live if you are an intertidal animal? On or in the sand, amongst the rocks and pebbles, or attached; you can build your own home too (and for more about sand and shores, see my essay Sand in Little Toller’s The Clearing.
Where do you live on a sandy shore?
Where do you live on a sandy shore?
Lugworm, Arenicola, burrows in the sand
Lugworm, Arenicola, burrows in the sand
Heart urchins, Echinocardium, burrow in the sand
Heart urchins, Echinocardium, burrow in the sand
A burrowing sea-anemone, Urticina, 'hides' itself with shell fragments
A burrowing sea-anemone, Urticina, 'hides' itself with shell fragments
Mason worms, Lanice, construct their own tubes out of sand and shells
Mason worms, Lanice, construct their own tubes out of sand and shells
Winkles, Littorina, settle on rocks and pebbles
Winkles, Littorina, settle on rocks and pebbles
Allonby Bay Marine Conservation Zone is home to the honeycomb worms, Sabellaria alveolata, which construct fine tubes of sand grains around themselves, building reefs which trap pools of water where other animals and algae take up residence. (There’s some basic information about Sabellariahere, and more on tube-construction here – in addition to those articles cited in the Notes section of the book.)
Honeycomb-worm reefs on Matta scaur
Honeycomb-worm reefs on Matta scaur
High-rise blocks of honeycomb-worm tubes
High-rise blocks of honeycomb-worm tubes
Mounds of honeycomb-worm tubes at Fleswick Bay
Mounds of honeycomb-worm tubes at Fleswick Bay
The perfectly-formed sandy tubes of Sabellaria
The perfectly-formed sandy tubes of Sabellaria
Breadcrumb sponge, Halichondria, on worm reef
Breadcrumb sponge, Halichondria, on worm reef
Starfish, breadcrumb sponge & butterfish on Sabellaria reef
Starfish, breadcrumb sponge & butterfish on Sabellaria reef
Using the home-made bathyscope to look at reef pools
Using the home-made bathyscope to look at reef pools
Hydroid colonies & barnacles seen through the bathyscope
Hydroid colonies & barnacles seen through the bathyscope
The Upper Solway is edged predominantly by mudflats and saltmarshes, the former home to millions of invertebrate animals like the ragworm Hediste, the mudsnail Hydrobia and the mudshrimps, Corophium – as well as billions of microscopic invertebrates, and billions of micro-organisms (see Chapter 7, Mudlife)
Walking across the mudflats by the R Nith
Walking across the mudflats by the R Nith
Under our feet, thousands of entrances to mudshrimp burrows
Under our feet, thousands of entrances to mudshrimp burrows
The 'juddering trails' of mudshrimps on the surface
The 'juddering trails' of mudshrimps on the surface
Mudshrimp & ragworm burrows, revealed
Mudshrimp & ragworm burrows, revealed
A dishful of mudshrimps, Corophium
A dishful of mudshrimps, Corophium
Shore-walkers using 'thixotropy' to burrow
Shore-walkers using 'thixotropy' to burrow
‘What’s the point of them?’ someone once asked me, referring to the marine worms we had found. Are invertebrates merely fodder for animals higher up the food-chain? As top predators, we too eat invertebrates like winkles, whelks, scallops and scampi (for more on Sea-food, see Chapter 8). ‘What’s the point of us? someone replied (there might be an answer in Simon Armitage’s poem at the end of the book …).
Winkle trails at Parton
Winkle trails at Parton
Dogwhelks, Nucella, mating & laying eggs
Dogwhelks, Nucella, mating & laying eggs
Dogwhelk, Nucella, preying on a mussel
Dogwhelk, Nucella, preying on a mussel
Ball of egg-capsules of the Common Whelk, Buccinum
Ball of egg-capsules of the Common Whelk, Buccinum
Trawler with a catch of Norway lobster, Nephrops, at Whitehaven
Trawler with a catch of Norway lobster, Nephrops, at Whitehaven