As well as working for the RSPB, I am a volunteer too. Along with my parents and some friends, we have just started up an RSPB Wildlife Explorer group in Shetland. November's meeting was yesterday at the Virkie Pool for "Winter waders." We intended to learn about Shetland's shorebirds, what they look like and how they behave, but we thought the youngsters would most enjoy getting out on the sand and discovering what curlews, redshanks and turnstones like to eat.
Volunteer Sarah and I thought we ought to do a trial run on Saturday. So on with the wellies and off down the road we walked with a shovel, trowel and sieve. I haven't lugwormed since I was about eight, when I have vague memories of digging in the same place with my father. After a few attempts of digging around wormcasts, we thought we were striking it lucky, finding skinny pink worms. Sarah said how she'd never expected to enjoy digging for worms, but it beat doing housework. I paddled out to sea a little, to see what creatures might be swimming in the water. Absoloutely nothing.
What did catch my eye was a bristly form protruding above the sand. I didn't know if it was animal, vegetable or mineral but my curiosty got to me. I think it reminded me of when I was diving and saw those peacock fan things, which live beneath the sand and send up what looks like branches to filter feed. I was quite amazed at what was revealed to me. The 'marine thing' I found at Virkie had created a sort of tube to live in - a solid but fragile coat of sand, reminding me of a caddis fly. The creature turned out to be some sort of worm, and a scary looking one at that. It had something like thorns (I suppose barbs is the right word) sticking out from its head end, extending down its body an inch or so. It wasn't beautiful I have to say, but its cast was quite amazing.
Sunday was a cool (well, cold) day but at least it was dry and not blowing a gale. After a quick detour to look in a neep field for some redpolls, we wandered down to the Pool of Virkie. Situated right next to Sumburgh Airport, it is a shallow tidal inlet which was once deep enough for herring boats to enter. It is a great place to look for waders. We saw a flock of a dozen or so dunlin, a few redshank, curlews but not as many birds as I had hoped. As the tide fell, we explored the sandy shore that was being revealed.
Young Callum soon found a cockle, someone else found a green leach-type creature, and a ragworm and various other wormy things. I heard some time ago that a cubic metre of sand and mud can contain as much energy as a Mars Bar, but the children didn't fancy snacking on worms. We stuggled to find lugworms, but instead discovered that they leave an orange colour lining their hole. After some time Tom (AKA my dad) struck gold and dug up a lugworm 7cm long. It was totally different to what Sarah and I had found the day before (who knows what they were), and had been deeper in the sand. Basically, it had the look of a sand-filled intestine. After a moment, someone pointed out that my hand was becoming yellow. It appeared that the lugworm's mucus was staining my hand, like the rusty stains we found in the sand.
Marine life is so different to what we see day-to-day. You have to open your mind to a whole new world and way of life. Also, some marine animals are absolutely stunning to look at it, whilst others turn the stomach a bit. When we were back indoors, we took some time to look through books, discuss what we'd found and which birds would eat what. Sharon wrote out species lists, so to help us all remember what we'd been looking at. We hope to get the WEX group to start keeping nature diaries and I am sure marine life will feature highly. It was a really interesting day, where all ages were learning together. Wormtastic.