The maximum recorded depth for a Guillemot dive is an astonishing 180m!

The gannet is our largest seabird with wingspan of 2 metres.

Puffins can swim up to 60m underwater and hold their breath for 30 seconds.

In the past the sound of a moaning seal is thought to have lured ships onto rocks, as sailors were mesmerised by the sound – but in fact it’s just one seal, probably female, letting another know that space is taken.

‘Banana-ing’ / Bananaring is when a seal lifts its head and tail upwards at the same time. Researchers think this happens when seals want to keep these parts of their body, which are sensitive to cold, out of the water.

Female seals, when nursing their pups, won’t eat at all and can lose up to a third of their weight during breeding season.

The bottlenose dolphins of Cardigan Bay in Wales and Moray Firth in Scotland are our resident dolphins. They are the largest of their species in the world (males can grow up to 4 metres long!).

Bottlenose dolphins can be aggressive towards harbour porpoises and can attack and kill them, perhaps in competition for food.

Short-beaked common dolphins can occur in superpods of 1000s of animals off the coast of Pembrokeshire in the Celtic Sea.

Where is the best place to see shorebirds?? Through a pair of binoculars of course! You can see them in much more detail and you don’t need to get close at all.

Over 80,000 birds visit the Severn Estuary every winter! They are stopping on their way from places like Siberia and the Arctic.

Rocky shores can be exposed or sheltered and if you can’t tell which is which, then have a look at how tall the limpets clinging to the rocks are. If they’re generally quite tall then it’s a sheltered spot, but on an exposed shore they need to try to lie low against the rock so are flatter.

Clinging to the rocks can help much of our marine wildlife to keep to one place of the shore. Sometimes space is limited and creatures such as beadlet anemones (those red blobs you find stuck to the rock) fight for territory. These animals will fight each other using harpoons filled with stings to keep hold of a good spot on the rock.

Many animals and seaweed can cope with being out of the water and show a diverse array of ways to keep hold of moisture until the tide comes back in.

Sand is a collection of crushed up shells and rocks. Take a close-up look and you might find a miniature shell amongst the grains.

Muddy shores tend to be found in sheltered areas where the finer sediment can settle.

If you’re walking on a sandy beach you may actually just be walking on worm poo! Lugworms live in the sand which is covered and uncovered by the tide every day. They eat bacteria from the sand they feed on and leave squiggly pooed out, clean sand on the surface.

Sand lizards, our largest lizard with beautiful green show-off males, are called this as here in the UK they tend to like living in sand dunes. In some parts of Europe, they can be found in public, town-centre parks.

In some areas without rocky areas close by, animal colonies (such as hydroids and hornwrack) washed up on shore which helps to collect the sand that may form into a dune.

The word Dune originates from the middle Dutch (dune) and related to old English (dūn) meaning down.

Saltmarshes can store more carbon than rainforests!

Saltmarshes plays a vital role in protecting our coastline – the plants reduce tide and wave energy which can help to reduce flooding in areas around the coast.