Rockpooling is my new favourite hobby. This blog is a bit about my new obsession!

Its really amazing what you can find on the shores around Oban, there is so much diversity - from anemones to star ascidian, nudibranchs to starfish, butterfish to rocklings and the ever changing colours and varieties of the seaweed - I always find something new.

My usual spot for rockpooling is the shoreline at the bottom of the hill where I live. I usually pop down on my lunch break when I’m working from home and have a little wander around - seeing what creatures I can find among the frongs of seaweed and rock. Sometimes I spend the whole afternoon there instead of going back to work !

When I do finally get home, I usually have a look at a couple of reference books to figure out what I saw,

Then I collage what I’ve seen in my sketchbook

Here are some snippets of some other things I have found along the shore

Anenome (not sure what kind), retracted and disguising itself

Sea Lemon (Nudibranch), Star Ascidian, Sea Snails, Sea Snail Eggs, Saddle Oysters

Crabs, Sea Snail/ Eggs, Purple Henry Starfish, Common Starfish, Breadcrumb Sponge

I got the amazing opportunity to share what I have found along the shore in Oban with primary school classes with The Argyll Hope Spot. Where the children learned about what they can find around the shores of Oban and used paper craft to illustrate this in a large panel that is now on display in a corridor of the school !

Here are some top tips if you are curious about rockpooling (I am definitely not the expert and there are lots of resources online and in books which will give you the best information, these are just some things I have learned)

Keep track of the tide times. Low tide is obviously better for finding things. At the end/ start of the month when it is full moon you will get spring tides which means very low and very high tides - in the low tide around this time, you are most likely to find the most diversity.
You can also find a huge variety of shells on the tiùrr*(Gaelic word for where seaweed gathers around the high tide mark), its worth spending a bit of time looking at that.
Look and don’t touch. Avoid picking up too many rocks and if you do, put it back quickly, and exactly how you found it.
I recommend wearing wellies - it goes without saying, you will see more the closer you are to the water, so it helps to actually be in it and avoid getting your feet wet!

I hope this inspired you to go out and look at your closet shoreline more closely, you never know what you might find !

Rockpooling

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