Look Down: The Other Side of the Cornish Coast

We spend a lot of time staring at the waves.

Checking the swell. Watching sets roll towards the beach. Looking for somewhere to paddle out. Or simply standing there for a few minutes watching the sea do its thing.

But occasionally it’s worth looking down.

Because twice a day, as the tide retreats around Cornwall, another version of the coastline appears.

Rockpools. Gullies. Seaweed-covered rocks. Tiny pockets of water temporarily cut off from the sea.

And a surprising amount of life.

The world between the tides

It’s easy to think of the shoreline as the bit you cross on your way to the water.

But the intertidal zone, the stretch of coast covered at high tide and exposed again as the water retreats, is a habitat in its own right.

Spend a little time looking properly and what initially seems like a collection of wet rocks starts to become much more interesting.

Things move.

Things hide.

Things that looked remarkably like rocks turn out not to be rocks at all.

And suddenly you’re paying attention.

That’s one of the things we love about being outside.

You don’t necessarily need to go very far to discover something new. Sometimes you just need to slow down enough to notice it.

We’ve probably walked past it hundreds of times

There are beaches and stretches of coastline we think we know intimately.

Places we’ve surfed, walked with friends, taken the kids or returned to year after year.

But familiarity can make us stop looking.

We know where we park.

We know the path down.

We know where the waves normally break.

We know where to get a coffee afterwards.

Yet underneath all of that familiarity there’s another landscape constantly appearing and disappearing with the tide.

That’s a pretty good excuse to explore it again.

Shoresearch Week

There’s an especially good opportunity to do that over the next few days.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Shoresearch Week begins this weekend, with public surveys planned around the Cornish coast, including Readymoney Cove in Fowey on Saturday 26 September and Hannafore in Looe on Sunday 27 September.

Shoresearch is about exploring the rocky shore and recording the species found there, helping build a picture of Cornwall’s intertidal wildlife.

It’s citizen science, but it’s also a good reminder that you don’t need to be a marine biologist to become more curious about the coastline.

You can simply start by looking.

Same coast. Different perspective.

Kosin has always been drawn to wild water.

Surfing is part of that. So are swimming, travelling, walking, exploring and those days when you head towards the coast without much of a plan at all.

The ocean gives us somewhere to escape to, but it also gives us reasons to pay attention.

Sometimes that’s watching a swell arriving on the horizon.

Sometimes it’s standing ankle-deep beside a rockpool wondering what on earth just disappeared underneath a stone.

Both count.

So next time the tide’s out, don’t automatically head straight for the water.

Have a look down first.

You might be surprised by what’s been there all along.