Seashore survival

Most seashores offer abundant sources of food and excellent prospects for survival. Even where they appear bleak and barren, there is food to be found. Coastal waters are the home of many life forms - seaweed's, fish, seals, birds, molluscs and the plankton that supports the marine animals. Inland lakes and waterways of all kinds will also teem with life, with the exception of the Dead Sea and other main areas of extreme salination, and those heavily polluted by man.

Seashores overview

Coasts can range from sheer cliffs to long and gently sloping beaches. From the sea a towering cliff offers no opportunity to escape the water. Even a stretch of beach at its foot is likely to be cut off by high tide in tidal waters, though it could offer a few hours of respite before swimming off to find another landing place. All kinds of shore, however, offer resources to exploit and there are few better places to be stranded.

Sandy beaches

Sandy shores tend to be gentle and sloping. The tide goes out a long way, exposing large areas which are the habitat of burrowing species, left below the sand when the water recedes. They include many worms and molluscs and they also attract feeding birds. Look for signs of buried molluscs. It is usually easier to spot the marks left by the syphons of buried bivalves under the shallow water at the seas edge. Where the sand is not inundated by the tide and is blown into dunes, it may be possible to find fresh water and it is here that plants will grow. Sand is easily blown by the wind and gets into everything. Dunes also tend to be full of aggravating insects - so do not choose them for making camp or building shelter, if you can move beyond.

 Rocky shores

Rocky shores, if their cliffs are not too sheer, trap pools of water when the tide recedes. These pools may teem with life. Rocks form a strata to which the many univalve shells can cling, an anchor for weed and sea urchins and crevices where octopus and other cephalopods can live. Soft rocks such as chalk, marl and limestone, erode quickly and their surfaces are smooth, but hard rocks fracture in chunks and provide good nesting sites for birds.

Muddy shores and estuaries

Where a slow moving river joins the sea it deposits sediment, rich in nutrients , forming large mud flats. These can support many species of worms and molluscs and provide a rich feeding ground for birds and animals.

Pebble beaches

Stretches of pebble beach often found between sandy and rocky sections of the shore, sustain least life. The continual movement of pebbles makes a difficult habitat for most plants and animals.