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Best beaches for rock-pooling

Rockpooling at Souter Lighthouse and The Leas, Tyne & Wear
Rockpooling at Souter Lighthouse and The Leas | © National Trust Images/Paul Harris

Rock pools are magical worlds full of sea creatures and a whole range of interesting sights, smells and textures. Plenty of the beaches we care for have watery nooks and crevices to explore, and these are our top places to find pools teeming with wildlife.

Porthdinllaen, Gwynedd
Porthdinllaen is a peaceful little fishing village perched on a spit of land that stretches into the Irish Sea. The clear, sheltered waters and seagrass beds attract a wealth of wildlife that you can search for in the rock pools, including anemones, crabs, jellyfish and an array of fish.Visit Porthdinllaen
A red starfish sits half-submerged in a shallow rockpool, surrounded by dark-coloured, smooth rocks.
A starfish in a rockpool | © National Trust Images/Rob Coleman
Sheringham Park, Norfolk
Sheringham seafront is only a few kilometres’ walk from the main visitor centre and at low tide you’ll find plenty of tidal pools for the children to explore. There’s a whole range of marine life to find, so they can spend their time digging for worms, netting some shrimps and trying to catch crabs.Visit Sheringham Park
St Helens Duver, Isle of Wight
Situated at one end of the beach at St Helens Duver, Node's Point is one of the best places on the island for rock-pooling. The area is covered with limestone outcrops, whose crevices provide shelter for whelks, limpets, barnacles and periwinkles. Sea anemones live in the pools along with small fish such as blennies and gobies, plus the occasional seahorse.Visit St Helens Duver
Wembury, Devon
Wembury Bay has some of the best rock pools in the country, with masses of sea creatures and plantlife to discover. Located close to the beach, Wembury Marine Centre is the ideal place to learn about the area through interactive displays, and they even run Rock Pool Rambles for children during the school holidays. The beach is also a great starting point for walks to the nearby woodlands and the Yealm Estuary, or around the headland at Wembury Point.Visit Wembury
Yorkshire Coast, Yorkshire
Robin Hood’s Bay is a great choice for spending a sunny day by the seaside. You can access a number of rock pools that are home to a wide variety of sea creatures like crabs, periwinkles and starfish. The Old Coastguard Station provides free-to-borrow Tracker Packs, which are full of useful information and guides on fossil hunting, bird watching and rock-pooling.Visit the Yorkshire Coast
Child walking on a log at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, North Yorkshire

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