Rang III pupils had a great day on Sea Safari during their visit to Quilty Beach on June 7th. Carmel Madigan started the day speaking to the pupils about the weather, tide conditions, wave action, shore composition and the wide variety of marine plants and creatures living on the shore.
Thanks to Carmel, the pupils learned about and found different crab species, barnacles, anemones, periwinkles, sea snails, soft bodied sea slugs, banded carpet shells and a shanny. The rarest finds on our safari were The Royal Flash Seaslug, the Star Ascidian Starfish and the Cushion Starfish. The pupils’ favourite finds were the common green starfish, limpets and the various species of crabs’ such as hermit crabs, common shore crabs, edible crabs and velvet swimming crabs.
The pupils were very interested in the many types of seaweed that were found on the beach in Quilty. These included, Brown Wracks, Sea Lettuce, Brown Kelps, Carrigeen, Bunny Eared Bead Weed, Coral Weed and many more. The largest and most delicate species we found on the day was Sugar Kelp. The pupils particularly enjoyed searching for Oyster Thief.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch on the rockyshore of Quilty Beach. The pupils had a most enjoyable day on Sea Safari in Quilty.
Many thanks to Carmel Madigan for her wealth of knowledge and the Sea Explorers Programme. Carmel has imparted her love of nature, art and marine life to the pupils of Rang III this year.
