Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2007 | Page 71

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING

visible at low tide. Watch out
though, these rocks are softer,
a more clayey texture and as
such, extremely slippery.
Proceed a little further south,
and you come across Chilton
Chine. This is my local beach
and one that I have been
visiting regularly for over 30
years, luckily living within
walking distance. This has
some wonderful rock pools
and lends itself perfectly
to prawning. Armed with a
few drop nets and oily fish
heads I’m happy to spend
the odd summer evening
each year trying to catch
supper with varying degrees
of success, but lots of fun.
If the West Wight is too far
to travel there are similar
locations in the East Wight,
Forelands Beach at Bembridge
and although a little tricky,
Ventnor beach in the south.
You don’t have to spend a lot
of money to be well equipped
for this expedition. A small push
net bought locally, a bucket
some string and bacon rind are
all you need to get started.
With this, you can entice crabs
from underneath rocks and,
with a little experimenting, use
your net to catch them and
examine more closely. The
chances are they will be a shore

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crab, blackish-green in colour
or the velvet swimming crab
with red eyes, a fun crab to
watch, as it waves it’s first legs,
snapping it’s pincers fiercely
when threatened. I