At this time of year, a visit to the seashore in Kimmeridge Bay will reveal tiny white oval discs dotted on the serrated wrack which carpets the lower shore. These flattened jelly ovals are egg clusters laid by flat periwinkles, a small sea snail that lives and feeds amongst the wrack. The small, canary yellow or chocolate brown sea snails lay eggs which hatch directly into crawling juveniles, unlike many seashore animals that spend some of their earliest days drifting amongst the plankton once they have hatched. The transparent jelly matrix prevents the eggs drying out in the spring sunshine.

Rockpool fish are also laying eggs, as a careful rockpool search can reveal. Hidden in dark corners and beneath rocks, female blennies, rock gobies and clingfish lay a single layer of eggs in a patch, which the male fish will guard, staying close by until they hatch.

Decorating the seaweed in the shallows at the edge of the seashore are bright green jelly globes, the egg-masses of a worm. They must remain anchored to the seaweed until they hatch, to avoid washing up on the beach.

At this very vulnerable time it is vital that seashore rocks and seaweed are carefully replaced exactly as they are found after exploring, and that nothing is detached or removed from where it is discovered. Always follow the Seashore Code.

The Wild Seas Centre, by the slipway in Kimmeridge Bay, will be open daily from 1 April -  2 November 2025. Opening times are 10.30am – 4pm from April to June.

Would you like to learn more about the fascinating seashore wildlife that can be spotted in Kimmeridge Bay? Join us for a special Easter rockpool ramble on Tuesday 15 April 2025!