Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Seashore
    Seashore
    Seashore
    Ebook199 pages1 hour

    Seashore

    By Nick Baker

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A practical guide for kids aged 7-11, by popular Really Wild Show presenter Nick Baker, full of exciting things to see and do pretty much everywhere.

    The habitat explorers are a series of four books containing numerous step-by-step projects to lead the curious young naturalist off down a path of exploration. These guides are not simply a tick list of things you can see (though they teach all those basic identification skills): rather they encourage kids to see what's around them by getting their hands dirty. And because they're so straightforward and safe to use, parents can feel confident in helping their kids to explore the wildlife around.

    Perfect for half terms and long summer holidays, whether you're in the back garden or on a family day out.

    • Introduction to the different kinds of coastal environment: Rocky Shores, Sandy Shores, Cliffs and Estuaries, and also Beach Zones
    • Projects include making and using nets, traps, beach combing, and baiting for Netted-dog whelk
    • Explains where and when to look for hidden life on the beach and how to look – stuff you will need
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateJun 26, 2014
    ISBN9780007563463
    Seashore
    Author

    Nick Baker

    Nick Baker has presented a number of wildlife programmes including The Really Wild Show, Weird Creatures with Nick Baker and more recently Springwatch and Autumnwatch. Nick Baker's Beautiful Freaks was one of the first presenter-led 3D programmes in the UK. He has also written a number of well-received books, including Nick Baker's Bug Book and The New Amateur Naturalist. He lives in Devon with Dartmoor on his doorstep and is Vice President of Buglife.

    Read more from Nick Baker

    Related to Seashore

    Related ebooks

    Environmental Science For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      SURF & TURF

      Apr 1, 2022

      SURF & TURF
      8 min read

    • Article

      All At Sea

      Sep 7, 2021

      All At Sea
      2 min read

    • Article

      The King Of Springs

      Sep 15, 2023

      The King Of Springs
      3 min read

    • Article

      Back To Basics

      Aug 19, 2022

      Back To Basics
      4 min read

    • Article

      Luring Landbased Mulloway

      Nov 8, 2022

      Luring Landbased Mulloway
      5 min read

    • Article

      Master The Art Of Surf Bass

      May 27, 2022

      Master The Art Of Surf Bass
      9 min read

    • Article

      Silver Slabs In The Suds

      Aug 7, 2019

      Silver Slabs In The Suds
      7 min read

    • Article

      Bathymetry

      Jun 3, 2018

      Bathymetry
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Strange Nature Of Tides

      Mar 10, 2022

      The Strange Nature Of Tides
      7 min read

    • Article

      Lessons From The Estuary

      Apr 12, 2021

      Lessons From The Estuary
      4 min read

    • Article

      Low Tide I’m Lovin’ It

      Sep 15, 2023

      Low Tide I’m Lovin’ It
      7 min read

    • Article

      Silver Ghosts Of The Sands

      Nov 17, 2021

      Silver Ghosts Of The Sands
      5 min read

    • Article

      Crash Bang Wallop

      May 27, 2022

      Crash Bang Wallop
      5 min read

    • Article

      Reds On Plastics

      Nov 8, 2022

      Reds On Plastics
      8 min read

    • Article

      Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

      Jul 7, 2021

      Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
      4 min read

    • Article

      ANOMALy

      Sep 16, 2022

      ANOMALy
      8 min read

    • Article

      Summertime Strategies

      Nov 4, 2020

      Summertime Strategies
      3 min read

    • Article

      Estuary IQ

      Oct 5, 2023

      Estuary IQ
      5 min read

    • Article

      Below The Surface

      Jul 5, 2022

      Below The Surface
      2 min read

    • Article

      Diving In

      May 8, 2022

      Diving In
      6 min read

    • Article

      Coastal Discovery the Salt Marsh

      Aug 27, 2021

      If there is a single environment that ebbs and flows with the tide, it must surely be the salt marsh. A series of creeks criss-crossing this spectacular landscape are reminiscent of arteries, pumping life-giving fluid to the living organism as the ti

      5 min read

    • Article

      Summer In The Shallows

      Nov 8, 2023

      Summer In The Shallows
      8 min read

    • Article

      Purpose-built

      Feb 9, 2022

      Purpose-built
      4 min read

    • Article

      Nooks And Crannies

      Mar 9, 2023

      Nooks And Crannies
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mind The Reef

      Feb 26, 2023

      Mind The Reef
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mind The Reef

      Feb 26, 2023

      Mind The Reef
      6 min read

    • Article

      Understanding Structure

      May 10, 2019

      Understanding Structure
      7 min read

    • Article

      Safety On The Stones

      May 10, 2019

      Safety On The Stones
      6 min read

    • Article

      Turning Tides

      Aug 3, 2021

      Turning Tides
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Seashore

    4/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Seashore - Nick Baker

      Dedication

      For my Dad. Many adventures were had on the beaches, cliffs and mud flats of the Isle of Wight. It was armed with shrimping net, mask and snorkel that I had my first real adventures.

      Contents

      Cover

      Titlepage

      Dedication

      The seashore

      Life in stripes: zonation

      Timetables of the tides

      Handy stuff for exploring with

      Rock pools

      Handy stuff: mirror on a stick

      The baiting game

      Handy stuff: scavenger trap

      Marvellous molluscs

      Shell collecting

      See inside a sea shell

      Handy stuff: underwater window

      Snorkelling for softies

      Blobs!

      Crab hunting

      Crab catching

      Handy stuff: plankton net

      The fine, fiddly and frail

      Sandy shores

      Beachcombing

      Catching sand-living creatures

      Handy stuff: burrow box

      Studying seaweeds

      Preserving your seaweeds

      Sand hoppers

      Estuaries

      Mud lovers

      Grasping the razor

      The tray of revelations

      Shrimps and prawns

      Cliffs

      See sea birds

      Fossil hunting

      Sea watching

      Going Further

      Index

      Author’s Acknowledgements

      Keep Reading

      Copyright

      About the Publishers

      The seashore

      Lots of good things happen in nature when one thing meets another. These can be times of the day – for example, at twilight and dawn when night meets the day – or times of the year, when spring transforms into summer. Or they can be physical things, such as where a beach merges into another habitat, like the open sea.

      To naturalists, these times and places of transition are well known as they can concentrate periods of activity, making certain creatures easier to see. When spring finally arrives, we get a sudden rush of frenzied activity, birds sing, frogs spawn and flowers bud, and where one habitat blends into another, you often get a special kind of ‘edge’; a place that is inhabited by life from both places.

      In this book, we explore the seashore, a habitat that is probably one of the most exciting places a naturalist will ever get to explore and certainly one of my favourites. It is a unique place, a fringe of both the sea and the land, a narrow ribbon between the great ocean and the land mass against which it laps, as well as a junction between both of these and the air. Add to all this the daily effects of the timetable of the tides and the seasons and you have quite a lot of ‘edges’, each bringing its own survival challenges for the creatures that live there.

      To help you get straight to the most useful sections of the book, depending on whether your toes are sinking into soft sand or being prickled by barnacles, the seashore habitat is broken down still further – into rock pools, sandy shores, estuaries and cliffs. But do not restrict yourself to these sections as there are no hard and fast definitions of each. For example, the beach you are on may be predominantly covered in rocks but there may be sandy stretches. Or there could be an estuary at one end of the beach, so there will be some overlap between each of the different habitats and the things you can do there.

      I don’t set out to tell you everything there is to know about this wonderful habitat. Not only would that be impossible, but just to get close would make the book so heavy you wouldn’t stand a chance of getting it in your beach bag! So Seashore simply aims to kick start you in the right direction, opening a door onto a very special, exciting habitat and a lifetime of exploring. Go and stick your head in a rock pool!

      The muddy ooze of an estuary is far from dreary – it is full of surprises.

      There is nothing like the nooks and crannies of a good rock pool.

      Playing in the sand isn’t all about sandcastles.

      A puffin enjoying his view!

      Life in stripes: zonation

      Look at a rocky shore from the top of a cliff or walk from the strand line towards the sea and you cannot help but notice bands of different colours and textures that run up and down the beach. These bands represent where on the beach certain plants and animals live, and it is clear that life is not scattered randomly all over the shore. Certain species that cannot move about freely, such as barnacles and seaweeds, live in very specific places and this is a reflection of what conditions they can tolerate between the tides.

      These stripes are known as zones and all coasts have them, but they are much more obvious on rocky shores. There are four main zones – the splash zone, the lower shore, the middle shore and the upper shore – and each one is determined by how much time they spend getting wet every day between the high and low tides. Page 8 tells you how the tides change every day and throughout the year, and also the cycles of the Sun, Earth and Moon.

      The best way to get to know the zones is by creating a simple beach map. This exercise is a very useful way to start to get to know the life between the tides, and you also start to see just how different life is in each zone.

      To get a good picture of the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1