Blogging a Way along the Normandy Coast

or, a newcomer’s trail of exploration on the beaches and shores of her patch of the French

Channel coastline

Big thanks to companions on the shore, and to Paul Chambers, John Llewellyn Jones, Richard Lord, Bas Payne, Ben Rowson, Steve Wilkinson for use of their photos

So, what is a blog?

A website where a person writes regularly about recent events or a particular topic, sometimes with new information added every few minutes as events happen, and with the opportunity for readers to send in their own comments and opinions.

(coined in 1997 as a ‘weblog’, from which the phrase ‘we blog’ was derived.)

My ‘patch’ extends from Cherbourg east along the north Cotentin coast and south to St Vaast La Hougue which is at the north end of Utah Beach. There are rocky shores and sandy bays.

“As I coast up the shallow slopes of dreamworld the unmistakable sound of tractors passing the house seeps into my consciousness. The oystermen are on their way to work. I find it pleasing that I can enjoy the friendly sound of a tractor, hinting at provender and productivity. It’s not horticulture but aquaculture of oysters and mussels, in the waters off St Vaast La Hougue.”

St Vaast La Hougue is the cradle of the Normandy oyster. It is the town’s most important industry with 250 hectares of shore given over to oyster farming, yielding 6,500 tons per year

As the tide ebbs an expansive area of shore is exposed. In the early days oysters were simply fished from natural beds and then gradually a degree of management of stocks came about by storing oysters over the intermittently accessible foreshore. It was noticed that young oysters were settling on adult shells and thus evolved a more structured approach to oyster-farming.

The tide goes out, the tractors access the shore. They bring sacks of oysters from the depot back to the shore, and others will be taken back to the depot. Sacks are moved up and down the shore; those ready for market are brought inshore and secured to readily accessible trestles. Oysters needing more time to grow are taken to trestles low on the shore where they will experience longer periods of submersion to feed, filtering plankton from seawater.

There is a continual traffic with as many as 30 or 40 tractors moving the oyster sacks around the shore. Sacks of oysters taken away at the end of the low tide will be sorted, graded and oysters that are cemented together will be knocked apart. As oysters grow they must be rebagged.

Ready for market

And once the tide turns that is the day’s work done. Tractors may linger until the last minute, working the vestiges of exposed shore until the rising tide forces them back onto dry land.

When you get good spat-falls the hard substrates around the oyster park are colonised by oysters which cement themselves to the rocks. Whilst pilfering from sacks is strictly forbidden the public may gather ‘escapees’ by knocking them off the rocks with chisels and hammers.

Empty sacks like this are not an uncommon sight on the beaches, especially after storms. Although sacks are securely attached to trestles inevitably, in very rough weather, some sacks have become detached and are strewn across the beaches. They may get ripped and the oysters, washed out and scattered along the beach. Or they may be plundered although this is illegal.

A French poet once wrote “I love oysters, it’s like kissing the sea on the lips”. A friend remarked rather more dispassionately that when she tried an oyster she felt as if she was drowning.

Perhaps Jonathan Swift got it right when he said “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster”.

Mussel aquaculture is important too. Mussels are steamed in a marinière liquor in individual pots, which are then brought to the table.

If you like mussels, there is nothing finer for lunch, with a bowl of chips too…………………..

…………………… and the cooking liquor is just too fine to waste!

On the other side of town there is the north end of the 5-km long Utah Beach

Here the foreshore becomes a dumping ground for the shelly waste of the locals, giving rise to an attractive shell pavement of scallop, mussel and oyster shell

The outlines of the submerged oyster trestles as they lie west of La Hougue promontory are visible. This area of muddy sandflats empties out completely at low tide, allowing the oyster ‘farmers’ access to manage the stocks.

Picture of north end utah beach

With the Vauban tower on the Hougue in the distance, this huge area of cockle flats can be accessed on any low tide. It is a perfect territory for cockle-fishing.

Cockles are very shallow burrowers and often you can find them at the surface of the sand

Cockling is an activity to engage the whole family and demonstrates that foraging is fun too

Within a short space of time and over a compact area of the shore you can rake up a good haul of cockles using a range of tools, including your fingers!

For Charlie size is important – happiness is a long-handled rake.

Cockles are not happy out of their environment and deteriorate rapidly. They are little ‘purses of sand’ so need to be cleaned. Left for a few hours or overnight in salt water (35g salt/litre) they will purge themselves of sand. Cook only cockles which snap shut when squeezed, and eat only cockles which gape open after cooking.

If you are new to the game ideally get hold of a copy of a suitable handbook: Edible Seashore by JohnWright is excellent. Read chapters on Foraging Safely and The Rule Book.

Before you access the shore feel confident about the weather and the state of the tide.

If the substrate underfoot is unstable in any way don’t venture out.

You need to be aware of any legal constraints with regard to the shore you are accessing.

Be aware of any species of animal or alga that you may not collect for legal/conservation reasons.

Dos and don’ts of ‘Pêche à Pied’.

Talk to local fishermen/local authorities about water quality.

Collect only from obvious clean areas. Use the sensible old adage of avoiding months

that lack an ‘r’. Give the bivalves time to clean themselves for

a few hours in well-aerated salted water. Unless you are sure they are from Category ‘A’

waters, always thoroughly cook any shellfish you gather.

Check for signs of life before you cook them.

6 TOP TIPS FOR SAFE BIVALVE CONSUMPTION

For conchologists some of the most interesting mollusc species live in an unlikely habitat.

You must look under boulders and slabs of rock at the spring tide high water mark. This zone is inundated by the sea for a short interval, enough to keep that part of the shore moist and saline.

The rare looping snail lives in interstitial sediment under rocks where it is dark and damp. It is a Red Data Book species which means it receives protection under Conservation legislation.

The sandflats to the south of the oyster park are the focus of foraging activity during spring tides, and especially when the Equinox tides coincide with Easter weekend. This tradition is embedded in French coastal culture and is called Pêche à pied.

On a shore with a low gradient the tide goes out a very long way, revealing an expanse of flats which will accommodate a large number of ‘pêcheurs’.

The principal quarry on these sandflats is the razor clam. You need to develop a bit of skill to collect them. Razor clams lie perpendicular in the sands. You can detect a potential burrow by watching for spouts of water as you walk over the sediment. Identify the spout hole and then dig rapidly because the mollusc can also dig deep and rapidly with its strong, long foot.

Also from these flats you get an assemblage of edible bivalves

“All you need to dig for clams is the ability to look and learn. We lugged a large garden sieve, a fork, spade and rake to the shore. The sieve was too fine for the gravels so we had to dig a hole then search it. To begin with you dig rather randomly and occasionally strike lucky.”

“After a while we noticed siphon holes developing in the sands and gravels as the water drained away and the sediments dried out a bit. What we noticed on the shore is that not all the siphon holes were the same size or shape and that we could recognise, perhaps, six different types. With experience we learnt to recognise the siphon holes for the different species of clam we were finding and then I became confident and would announce before I put spade to sand how many and what species I would collect!”

Once you start digging, your hole starts to puddle with water…

….and you can be very pleased when you find a clam……………….

…………. and here’s a decent haul, composed of species traditionally associated with eating and others less familiar. All these can be chucked into a paella or pasta dish. Some species were more abundant than others: Dosinia clams (which are somewhat less tasty than some other types) were very plentiful but another species, Gari depressa, was very sparse. .”

Before we leave the topic of clamming here are some afficionados searching for a particular prey item….

Venus verrucosa known locally as ‘le Praire’ which translates to ‘the Priest’

The islet of Tatihou lies just offshore, and rather like St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall is accessible on low tides by a causeway. You can see the submerged trace of the causeway running between the oyster trestles. With an area 29 ha. it receives no more than 500 visitors a day at peak times. It harbours a bird sanctuary, offers grazing for sheep whose meat is sold by local butchers. There are some restored historical buildings including one of the famous Vauban ‘pepperpot’ towers, and a maritime museum whose exhibitions change every 18 months or so.

There is an amphibious boat which plies between the island and the mainland. When the tide is out it is a wheeled vehicle…………..

…………………..when the tide is in it’s a boat.

This is one of the 12 fortified buildings designed by the celebrated engineer, Vauban. This and the other watchtower on the end of La Hougue were built after the French naval defeat in 1692.

Looking west to St Vaast La Hougue

Looking northeast to Reville and Jonville

Looking down onto the lower shore rock platform at low tide

Osilinus lineatus Gibbula magus

Calliostoma zizyphinum Tricolia pullus

Gibbula umbilicalis: dorsal and ventral views

Gibbula pennanti: dorsal and ventral views

Littorina compressa

Lets take a closer look at the structure on the western side of Tatihou. It is a former lazaret dating from 1720 as a quarantine station during the Plague. After closure it was intermittently used as a marine laboratory for scientists, then for educational purposes for young people. There was a short period of abandonment (1984-1990) during which it attracted massive bird colonies. It was reopened as nature reserve and heritage centre and has sub-tropical gardens.

The sub-tropical botanical garden in the walled grounds of the field station and museum is managed to a level which prevents wilderness taking over. In those gardens some of the most spectacular botanical displays are the large clumps of Echium fastuosum.

I have successfully established the single stemmed species, E. pininana in our Normandy garden. It is a biennial and seeds freely. This year the gravels were awash with seedlings and a box of compost is nurturing at least 2 dozen plants awaiting new homes. I am trying this Echium in Winterborne Kingston. If this winter is as gentle as last year’s was severe I may have some success………… and numerous plants needing new homes!

Lets go due north from Tatihou to Pointe de Saire, a headland of disjunct rock outcrops and a point of deposition.

A view looking west with the Vauban tower on La Hougue at the horizon

This is a headland of rock platform and outcrop, pools and intertidal channels.

Perfect spot for the Shell Seekers

Some shells are washed in and accumulate as strandlines at various horizons down the beach to the water-line, or they collect as beach pockets and in scour moats. They form shelly banks, dominated by slipper limpets, Crepidula fornicata, but with many other species mixed in.

It is worth scanning the surface for conspicuous species, Calliostoma, Trivia, Epitonium. Eye-catching freshly cleaned bivalves such as the Sunset Shell (Gari depressa) catch the attention.

Let’s leave the shelter of the east coast and go north where it can be rather exposed and barren.

………………… although you might find the occasional Nautilus!

If you are lucky you might find an ormer shell as well: the highly desirable Haliotis tuberculata.

Ormers are farmed in France; a commercial fishery opened up along the Breton coast in 1994. It is regulated by permits and quotas. Finding an ormer on our local east Cotentin shore is rather exciting. They occur on all the Channel Islands, and are collected under certain restrictions which are designed to protect the local populations from over-exploitation. They are considered a delicacy with a taste quite like any other marine mollusc. I knew that they also occur along the west Cotentin.

Walking one day along the waterline on Utah Beach, after stormy weather, we found a fully grown ormer with a moribund animal intact. This was my first evidence that ormers may be living on the eastern coasts of the Cotentin. One of our neighbours told us that he had heard that ormers are taken from the shore below Cap Levi.

When the tide goes out a sprawling rock platform with areas of standing water is revealed.

If you are going to search for ormers you will find yourself searching amongst the kelp jungle. It is treacherous because the alga is slippery, the stipes wrap round your ankles, tethering you as you try to move around the shore.

You can work around the marginal kelp and boulder areas with relative ease. Knee-high in water and wearing chest waders you are less likely to take a tumble. Unfortunately this is not good ormer territory.

What I learnt on this day is that ormers seem to avoid contact with sandy gravelly substrates. Where you do find ormers is under rocks which are sitting on a lattice of other bedded rocks or tucked into crevices. You may even find them relatively high on the shore if the crevice appears to be sheltered, damp and private enough.

Chlamys varia Acanthochitona crinitus

Ormers live under interbedded rocks and in crevices

And so to this sandy shore near Maupertus, east of Cherbourg. A beach which in a sense appears to have all its goods in the shop window. Clean swept sands, rocky margins. Not very much was washed up on this shore when I took this photo. Maybe you’d find a few bivalves sieving at low tide.

I revisited the site one November to look at the strandlines for clues. This is when I found one of those secret places that the coast can throw up and surprise you with every now and then.

Something about the rocks looks interesting here.

A sea cave, at the right height on the shore to be interesting. It is just large enough for a person to squeeze inside to have a look at the walls. I can see that they are coated in red, green and coralline algal films and crusts. The walls are nicely fissured. I had no idea that this cave was here and it is a place to return to with a powerful torch, and the eyes of some companions.

What I hope we’d find living there is Paludinella littorina. This tiny snail is globose and has glossy shell with a relatively broad protoconch. Adults are rarely more than 2mm high and 1.7mm diameter. The shell has been considered rare, and was until recently protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act. However survey work in the past 2 decades has shown that its rarity is more a factor of the difficulty in finding it in situ. This puts me in mind of my favourite quotation:

We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

T.S. ELIOT Little Gidding, 1942