Cockle
The common cockle is a traditional seaside favourite, both for its white shells often found in the sand and for the yummy snack of cockles doused in malt vinegar.
The common cockle is a traditional seaside favourite, both for its white shells often found in the sand and for the yummy snack of cockles doused in malt vinegar.
If you spot a crawling shell next time you're at the seaside, take a closer look… it might be a hermit crab!
This worm builds its own home out of bits of shell and sand. It can be spotted on the shore all around the UK.
This bumpy shell lives up to its name and lives partly buried in the seabed along the west coast of Great Britain.
A low-growing herb of chalk and limestone grassland, Salad burnet lives up to its name - it is a popular addition to salads and smells of cucumber when crushed!
Their empty, delicate pink or yellow shells can often be found washed up on beaches, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand all around the coasts of the UK.
Broom is a large shrub of heaths, open woodlands and coastal habitats. Like gorse, it has bright yellow flowers, but it doesn't have any spines and smells of vanilla.
The song thrush is a familiar garden visitor that has a beautiful and loud song. The broken shells of their blue, spotty eggs can often be found under a hedge in spring.
The pungent, rotten smell of Black Horehound makes this medium-sized plant of waste ground and roadside verges stand out from the crowd.
The unpleasant, astringent smell of Hedge woundwort makes this medium-sized plant of woodlands, hedgerows and roadside verges stand out from the crowd.
Wild carrot does, indeed, smell of carrots, but the roots are not like our cultivated, dinnertime favourite. Look for this umbellifer on chalk grasslands and coasts.
One of the UK’s smallest and most delicate sea snails and an absolute favourite find for avid shell collectors when washed upon the shore empty!