Summer Rock Pool Jungle

The transition from the sometimes fierce Cornish winter weather to the late spring and summer is stark. The rock pools that were once bare are now full of a multitude of colourful algae, and living within them are a host of sea slugs. This year has been probably the best year ever for me in finding them. Not only have I continued to see some of the more common species, and exotic ones like the rainbow slug, but I’ve also seen some species that I’ve never found before, including the famous ‘disco Doris.’ They make great subjects for photography.

Times are changing, and a clear sign is the spread of rare or new sea slugs - disco Doris has only been found in the UK in the last 20 years or so, but this year it has been abundant. And then there’s the quickly spreading rainbow slug, and the latest arrival, the hair curler slug. It makes me wonder what species will be next…

At the same time, late spring and summer is when everything breeds. Alongside the slugs laying their eggs, the fish are busy too, and it’s always easy to find sea scorpion and goby eggs sparking on rocks, and the adults too. As the year goes on, the baby fish also appear in the pools.

There’s also lots of the usual suspects around, such as a variety of sea anemones (often eaten by sea slugs), hermit crabs, and cushion stars, and this summer I’ve found a lot of our local tiny and beautiful small cushion stars brooding their orange-yellow eggs.

Be sure to watch the film above to find out more about them.