Summer of sun, sea and shore crabs

So yesterday was my last day of being an intern at Wembury Marine Centre.

Despite the fact that it was my last day it didn’t feel like the end. I had said goodbye to Kieran and Steph on the 27th and most of the part-time volunteers then as well.

For the last four months me, Steph and Kieran have made ourselves at home in the marine centre, and got to know the rock pools at Wembury like the back of our hands. We have engaged with thousands of people (visitor counter was over 25,000 on wednesday), showing them the wonders of nature and the marine environment, we have learnt plenty as well, I’ve seen species that I had only seen before in books, and we have become experts in finding and picking up shore crabs (nearly every child’s favourite). The experience that all three of us have had is invaluable and has given us priceless memories.

Before we finished we all discussed what our top 5 best Wembury moments would be. It was a tough decision, in fact we couldn’t come up with just five, there are just so many.

I think one of my favourite parts of the internship has been visiting all of the schools in and around plymouth, getting the children to be excited about sea creatures and then seeing them all at the beach. When they visit us at the beach I feel constantly rewarded by ineedbride the little things that they say, about what they’ve learnt at school and what we’ve told them.

“Pretend to be an anemone!”

Before our pirate ramble

I also loved our rockpool rambles with the public, being able to go a bit further down on the shore to find different creatures. We even enjoyed the rambles in the rain!

Off on a ramble

Cushion starfish

Shanny in a cranny

sea spider

Rockpooling in the rain

One of my favourite events away from Wembury was the Kingsbridge show. Me and Steph went and had a stall making limpet mobiles with the younger visitors. During the quieter times we had a chance to wander around the show looking at the stalls and the tents full of animals and strange fruits and vegetables. I even had a close encounter with an escaping sheep.

(read more here : http://www.wemburymarinecentre.org/away-from-the-beach-and-into-the-fields/ )

Our Stand

Pre leap

Sweet Potato Seal

Cauliflower sheep

We had a couple of great volunteer socials as well, including one with a snorkel safari.

Steph and Kieran

Kelp forests

Me and Steph

Kieran’s underwater selfie

(http://www.wemburymarinecentre.org/into-the-kelp/)

During my time at wembury I also gained a four-legged family member. The first time I saw him was while I was at wembury and he took an instant liking to Kieran. Since then I’ve been teaching him to go rockpooling!