Spotty Eggs

Steve is a very unassuming chap; full of humility. He was a guest on our recent trip to the Solway for the winter geese tour.

Now, I know that Steve would never describe himself as an expert … but he is. Every Sunday he dedicates himself to walking the beach at Snettisham, finding and then recording all the different species of Ray, Skate and Shark egg cases he can find. Take a look at the distribution maps on the Shark Trust website and you’ll see the cluster of records around Snettisham. http://www.sharktrust.org/en/GEH_distribution

On one of our morning walks on the Solway last weekend, along the beach in front of our hotel, he picked up several egg cases of Small spotted Catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula). He was delighted to find these as they are infrequently found around Norfolk’s coast. Citizen science at its very best.

Rays of sunshine

As the sun broke through we walked down the beach to see what we could find. The sea was retreating and making the sand into a wide firm walkway. As we ambled our way along our eyes were drawn down. It’s impossible isn’t it? to walk along a beach without beachcombing is like having a fruit pastel and not chewing.

As we continued to walk it became apparent the high tide had left spoils. There had obviously been a hatching of Thrornback Rays (among others) as their egg cases littered the tideline. This is a fish that has shown philopatric behaviour; that is the returning of a migrating fish to a particular area to feed or breed. The Shark Trust (Rays are closely related to Sharks) run an interesting website with an Egg case id guide. http://www.sharktrust.org/en/great_eggcase_hunt/