Matt does Beach!

Hello! I am Matt, the Marine Engagement Assistant at Wembury Marine Centre this year (2023). Read all about my summer below!

Hello! I'm Matt and I have been working with Devon Wildlife Trust for the last four years. I first joined in 2019 as a full-time volunteer, based here at Wembury Marine Centre, and was then lucky enough to join the team as a full-time employee for the next three seasons!

As the Marine Engagement Assistant, part of my role is to talk to visitors to the the Marine Centre and tell them about the wonderful wildlife we have in our seas around Devon and to encourage them to learn more about it! Ultimately, I want people to realise why we should be protecting our oceans and I want to help them to do so.

On our public engagement events we quite often hear the same phrase: “Well I wouldn’t have thought we would have that here in the UK," when we talk about some of our beautiful, colourful fish like the Corkwing wrasse or Long-spined sea scorpion!

We also hear: “We don’t have much luck rockpooling, we don’t seem to find much!” and then they come out on one of our safaris and we show them how to search, not only looking under the rocks in the water, but on the actual underside of the rocks themselves, where smaller animals like Cushion starfish can be easily ovelrooked! I enjoy helping people of all ages find lots of interesting animals and seaweeds - showing them the variety and wonder of the intertidal marine life right on our doorstep!

They end up saying: “Well I didn’t realise there were so many different creatures on our beaches!” or “I’d never seen one of those before, thank you!”

Teachers often talk about that wow moment, when one of their students finally understands the principle that they are trying to get across. That moment of clarity when everything falls into place. Hearing people after one of our events is a lot like that and it is so rewarding when they understand the importance of looking after our environment and protecting it for future generations...

Another part of my job is going into schools and talking to the children (and teachers) about the marine wildlife that we find in our rockpools at Wembury and teaching them about our seashore code, in order to make sure that when they come to the beach, they keep themselves and the wildlife safe!

Wembury assistant delivering talk on beach to pupils from woodfield primary school in Plymouth

Then the following week, the pupils will join us at Wembury for a rockpool safari, beach clean, stream dip or geography session! It is lovely to be able to show them the animals we talked about in class and see their reactions when they come face to face with a Shore crab, Cushion star or Hermit crab!

I personally think that these are the memories that we remember most from our school years, not the day-to-day teaching in the classroom (sorry teachers!) but those trips away from school, to explore the outside world and make memories rockpooling with your friends and sitting and having your lunch on the beach!

Finding your first starfish, holding your first crab and experiencing the beautiful outside world...

Having been involved at Wembury over the last few years, it has been lovely to become part of the beach community and say hello and get to know some of the locals and regular visitors that we have over the season! It is always good to stop and talk to new visitors too, to find out about their sightings and what aspects of the marine world excites them! The same goes for our dedicated group of WMC volunteers and supporters. It’s always good to chat to them over a cup of tea and find out what is happening in their world and what exciting things they have to share after one of our events.

As another season comes to an end, it's time to reflect on all that I have achieved this year with Devon Wildlife Trust/Wembury Marine Centre and our great yellow army of volunteers! The hundreds of rockpool safaris, plankton and microscope workshops, coastal walks, stream dipping, beach cleans, snorkel safaris, external events (Devon County Show, Wembury Summer Fair, Yealmpton Show), school talks and many school visits to the beach, hundreds of children inspired and last but not least, Pirate Weekend and our visit from Captain Jack and Cutlass Kate!

Candy striped flatworm - Wembury 2023 — Eleanor Goodall

My wildlife highlights from this season include a very large spider crab (found on a school rockpool safari), an incredible Common lobster that wandered around the pool, putting on a show for us, as well as topknots, Green sea urchins and this amazing Candy striped flatworm (image above)! I could go on.... #rockingthepools

What do I enjoy most about working at Wembury Marine Centre!? I would have to say it’s the engagement with the people that come to visit us, whether that is schools, the public, work experience students, volunteers or friends of the centre! Finding out their stories and seeing how they connect to the ocean. But also, being able to share my knowledge of wildlife and the wonders of the marine environment with people who haven’t experienced it before, or being able to share their knowledge of the environment and new things with the ones who have!

Thanks to all involved, Coral, Jake and the whole WMC yellow army, for another great season!

#rockingthepools