On The Beach
Bucket & Spade
Cockles
Crabs
Jellyfish
Kites
Mussels
Pebbles
Pier
Promenade
Sand
Seagulls
Seaweed
Shells
Windbreak

See Also Seaside

Mussels

As she wheeled her wheel-barrow, Through streets broad and narrow, Crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O!

For most people memories of the seaside would not be complete without food. Cockles and mussels, whelks, shrimps, crab, fish and chips, candy floss, and ice cream were not unique to the seaside, but undoubtedly tasted better there.

The small specimen is the abundant Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis, at 52 mm long. This species is found in beds of millions all around the British Isles.

Mussels feed by drawing water into the shell, filtering out the edible particles, and pumping the waste water out again through a different opening. If you look closely at a mussel with its shells partly open at the rounded end, you can see the two openings, one fringed to stop large fragments being drawn in, the other an oval hole.

Buying, Look for bright, clean, tightly closed unbroken shells. Fresh mussels smell briny-fresh, not ‘fishy’.
Cooking, Discard any open mussels that don’t close with a sharp tap. Pull out the beards and scrub the shells under cold water

Found on the rocky shores of open coasts attached to the rock surface and in crevices, and on rocks and piers in sheltered harbours and estuaries, often occurring as dense masses.

Some of the more common and traditional things to be found at the beach
Bucket & spade Cockles Crabs Jellyfish Kites Mussels Pebbles Pier Promenade Sand Seagulls Seaweed Shells Windbreak