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boy in a blue shirt stood on a rock looking at seaweed

© Leia Morrison

Rockpooling

Explore the intertidal species living in our rockpools by taking a trip to your local beach or rocky shore.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the session, students should be able to:

  • Rockpool while keeping themselves and the wildlife safe.
  • Identify common intertidal species found in Manx rockpools.

Session Outline

  • Shore Safety: Learn about what species you can and can’t touch and how to move safely over slippery rockpools.
  • Species Identification: Look at different pictures of common critters before we head down the beach to the rockpools.
  • Finding Rockpool Critters: Identify the species for real as your search for critters under seaweed and rocks with nets and buckets (provided). Learn what adaptions these critters have made to survive in rockpools.
  • Safely Releasing Critters: Release the critters you have collected in your bucket back into the rockpools.

Curriculum Links

  • Scoillyn Eco/ Eco Schools Link: Marine: understand our impacts on the world’s oceans & how we can make positive differences for our sea.
  • Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Link: 14. Life Below Water: Conserve & sustainably use the oceans, sea and marine resources for sustainable development.

Possible Locations

  • North (Port Mooar): Rockpools are accessed from the car park down a large, pebbled beach and free parking is available in a small car park at the end of a single-track road.
  • East (Douglas): Beach accessed via a ramp opposite the end of Summer Hill Road. Disk parking is available on the Promenade directly above the beach.
  • South (Port Erin): Rockpools found to the north and accessed across the sandy beach (opposite the Cosy Nook Café). Parking available in the beach carpark and along Shore Road.
  • West (Niarbyl): Free parking available in the café car park for minibuses and coaches. Beach accessed by foot down a steep single-track road from the car park.

Timing

  • Please note that dates and times are limited due to tide times.
  • It is best to rockpool at low tide therefore it is ideal to start rockpooling 1-1.5hrs before low tide (during an ebbing tide) to avoid the tide coming in unexpectedly.
  • MWT Education Officer, Beth Penhallurick, will be able to advise on appropriate dates and times.