Vernal Crab
Liocarcinus vernalis.
BMLSS Crabs of the Seashore






Most of Shoreham Beach is shingle giving way to sand which is visible at low tide. Groynes prevent longshore drift from the west. 

In the entrance to Shoreham Harbour, there are artificial rocky* shores at Kingston Beach near the Lighthouse, and at the Old Fort beach on the other side of the River Adur.  (* Larvikite, a type of syenite). These new rock groynes have now been extended the full length of Shoreham Beach and as far as Lancing Beach Green (May 2003).

 
At Kingston Beach there are extensive mussel beds, with lots of periwinkles, although a spate of over-collection during the 1980s decimated the beds and Serrated Wrack has now established itself, because of the reduction of the grazing molluscs.

Shore Crabs are particularly abundant at Kingston because it is the entrance to the Adur Estuary.

Shingle Coast  (Coastal Fringe of Shoreham Beach)

State of Tide (Image Link)

Link to "Seashore" Wildlife Reports 2006

INTERTIDAL WILDLIFE REPORTS
 

Link to Intertidal 2008

4 December 2007
On the strandline of Shoreham Beach, I discovered an intact shell (=test) of the Purple-tipped Shore Urchin, Psammechinus miliaris, on the strandline. Discoveries are unusual because this urchin is scarce intertidally and because the test is very fragile and gets quickly bashed to bits. The sharp spines had all broken off. 
BMLSS Echinoderms

24 May 2007
A shrimping expedition to Lancing Beach (just to the west of Lancing Sailing Club) on a low neap 1.9 metre tide revealed the sandy shallows and a clear sea on a calm day and the haul in 40 minutes or so using my small 60 cm push-net was about 100 Brown Shrimps Crangon crangon, small flatfish fry, one small Plaice, occasional small Solenettes (Slipper Soles) and one second year Sole. Solea solea, a handful of South-clawed Hermit Crabs, Diogenes pugilator, a few very small Common Hermit Crabs, Pagurus bernhardus  in Grey Topshells, one Vernal Crab, Liocarcinus vernalis, and a few of the swimming crabs Portumnus latipes.
BMLSS Crabs
BMLSS Hermit Crabs

16 April 2007
A rockpooling trip in the calm sunshine to Worthing Pier was rewarded with abundant (over a thousand in an hour) sea anemones and crab-like crustaceans notably a half a dozen Hairy Hermit Crabs, Pagurus cuanensis, one of the infrequently encountered species seen at low tide. Some of the larger Snakelocks Anemones, Anemonia viridis,were 60 mm in diameter before splitting into two separate anemones. The Daisy Anemone, Cereus pedunculatus, was common, when in some years it it is infrequent or absent. Squat Lobsters, Galathea squamifera, and Hairy Crabs, Pilumnus hirtellus, were seen under every suitable rock. Butterfish, Pholis gunnellus, were noted as being in particularly fine condition with clear ocellated spots.
Full Report

18 March 2007
A Gale (> Force 7) impeded a rockpooling trip to Lancing Beach as the rocks were not uncovered on the equinoctial low spring tide, so I ventured further west to Onslow Beach, east Worthing. The fauna was sparse: Hairy Crabs Pilumnus hirtellus, were very frequently seen, with occasional Squat Lobsters Galathea squamifera and sea anemones of three species: Sagartia troglodytes, Snakelocks Anemones Anemonia viridis, and Daisy Anemones Cereus pedunculatus.

The most newsworthy discovery was not made until later when a small gastropod shell collected was found to contain the small Hairy Hermit Crab, Pagurus cuanensis, one of only a handful I have ever found between the tides. Later this tiny hermit crab was discovered to have a dark maroon coloured egg mass. 

Full Report

16 March 2007
 

My first shrimping expedition of 2007 took me to a breezy (Force 4) Shoreham Beach (just west of Weald Dyke) and half an hour push-netting brought me about twenty Brown Shrimps, one Shore Prawn, a small Plaice and three Vernal Crabs, Liocarcinus vernalis.
BMLSS Crabs of the Seashore

22 February 2007   7:30 pm
The ITV Meridian documentary programme "River Walks" with Charlie Dimmick features the River Adur.

The Cloud Nine TV company with Charlie Dimmick filmed on 15 June 2006 on Lancing beach (at the Shoreham end near Widewater), referred to as Shoreham-by-Sea, featured shrimping with Peter Talbot-Elsden (British Marine Life Study Society).
 

Link to Intertidal 2006

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Adur World Oceans Day 2007

 
Rockpooling Page
Zonation on the Shore
 

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Longshore Drift

Longshore drift occurs as a result of wave action. Propelled by the dominant south-west winds¹ the wave (the swash) hits the shingle beach and moves the pebbles obliquely up the shore and the backwash returns the pebble at right-angles, the following waves repeating the process so that the pebbles gradually move along the shore. The larger pebbles are to be found higher up the beach as the swash is more powerful than the backwash. On Shoreham Beach the Environmental Agency interfere with the natural process by moving large amounts of shingle back to where they were washed away from, to protect the housing developments on the foreshore. 

¹The prevailing winds over Britain are from the south-west. These propel the waves on to the shore on both sides of the English Channel. However, on other coasts the prevailing winds blow out to the sea and the dominant waves that crash on to the shore come from other directions, e.g. from the north-east on the North Sea coasts, causing longshore drift from north to south.
 

 
Local Wildlife Links  (SE England)

Adur Valley Nature 2007
Adur Valley Wildlife
Carmarthen Bay Saltmarsh SAC 
Dungeness, Kent, England
Lancing, Beach Green & the Shingle Beach (Ray Hamblett)
Orford Ness:  Coastal Ecology of a Shingle Bank (excellent references)
Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
Rockpooling Page
Seashore Page
Shingle Coast  (Coastal Fringe of Shoreham Beach)
Shingle Discussion Group
Shoreham-by-Sea Wildlife Page
Sussex Wildlife Web Sites
Tides
Wildlife & Conservation Links (West Sussex)
World Oceans Day 2007