Where to gather shellfish in the UK

The trick to finding where to gather shellfish in the UK comes with locating their habitat instead of just checking through a list of locations. The problem with lists is that some of the places on them can change rapidly, such as poppet sands in Wales. There are various pieces of information on how it’s a great place to find some cockles, but I can tell you from personal experience that if you turn up there with a bag and rake you’re going to be disappointed.

The best way to find shellfish is to locate the most probable habitat and simply go there to see if you’re right. Here’s a list of the main types of shellfish you can expect to find around the UK and the best places to look for them.

Mussels

Where to look
Mussels create a type of hair-like glue they use to cling to rocks or any permanent surface on the beach. They like to be submerged for most of the time and can’t normally be found on an area of the beach that isn’t covered by water for at least 12 hours of the day. The best places to look are beaches that have a large amount of exposed bedrock or permanent man-made structures like old piers and wrecked boats.

Gathering Mussels
No tools are needed as they can be twisted off quite easily, though some of the bigger ones can put up a bit of a fight. If the rocks are covered in seaweed then grab a strong stick and lift it up, there will most likely be some hiding underneath. The main thing to watch out for is slipping on the rocks when climbing over them, and make sure not to go too far around any cliff face where you risk getting cut off by the tide. Also, be careful not to just pull them out of the middle of large patches, because they will often be matted together with other mussels and you might end up destroying a load of small ones.

Cockles

Where to look
Cockles don’t cling to anything like mussels do, and like flat sandy beaches. Since they move around when the tide is in they can get smashed to pieces on a beach covered in gravel or small stones, and so can’t be found anywhere they don’t have clear sand. They also like a very flat beach as anything too steep and they’ll simply roll into deeper water when they move around with the tide.

After finding a nice flat sandy beach you’ll only find them in the sections of it where the sand can hold water. If you step on the sand and see it change color as the water is pressed away from your feet, then you’re in the right place. If the sand is too dry they won’t be able to survive and even if you see one in this area, it’s probably already dead.

Gathering Cockles
Most people like to take a rake with them as cockles hide a few inches below the sand when the tide is out. The single best time to go gathering is right after a violent storm as the bigger ones get washed onto the surface and can easily be picked up. If you have to dig around, the best places to try are around the edges of streams and rock pools, or in the small ponds that form on the surface.

Razor clams

Where to look
Razor clams only naturally come to the surface when the tide is in so they can feed, when it’s out they retreat back beneath the sand and wait for it to come back again. They don’t like to be out of water for more than a few hours and because of this can only be found at very low tide on flat beaches. Anything too steep and they’ll be way too far out to be exposed at low tide, so the flatter the beach the better. It’s also a good idea to actually follow the tide as it goes out on the larger beaches as the far reaches of it will be exposed for a very short period.

Gathering Razor clams
Look for the small key-shaped hole in the sand to find them, and when you do there are two ways of getting them out. The first is to buy a long, round shovel-type tool and dig it out, but the most effective and easiest way is to use a bottle of salt. Gently step around the hole so they don’t think a predator is there causing them to clamp down, and sprinkle about a teaspoon of salt into the hole, washing it down with a little seawater if needed. If there’s one in there it’ll come out within a couple of minutes where they can be grabbed and gently pulled out.

Winkles

Where to look
These tiny sea snails may not look very tasty but have a really good flavour. They like to be permanently submerged but like to stay close to rocks which are the best places to look. It doesn’t seem to matter how big the rocks are or the size of the pool within them, as they can be found crammed into the tiniest water-filled crack in the rocks, making them easy to find.

Gathering winkles
Gathering them couldn’t be easier, you just pick them up by the shell and put them in a bucket.

Shrimp

Where to look
They can be found in rock pools but apart from usually only being a small amount of them, they will be very difficult to catch. They can be found anywhere but generally tend to like the warmer waters around the UK, with the further south you go the better.

Gathering shrimp
The only way to gather shrimp is using a push net which stirs the sands up as it moves through the water and causes the shrimp to get stuck in the back of the net. UK shrimp are normally quite small and using something like a cast net is normally not worth the trouble, so unless you want to invest in a push-net and don’t mind wading through the waves then I’d avoid going after shrimp.

Crab

Where to look
Crabs aren’t difficult to find, the trick is to find one that’s large enough to make it worth eating. They like to hide under rocks and bury themselves in the sand when the tide is out and normally like to hide under things like seaweed and any kind of beach wreckage. The biggest crabs can be found at the end of rocky outcrops at low tide where they like to hide under rock shelves.

Gathering Crab
The best way to catch crab is either with a crab line which can be brought at almost every single seaside town in the UK, or with a crab trap left overnight. The further out you can go the better, and leaving a trap as far out as the tide will allow at the end of beach rocks usually provide the best results.

Whelks

Where to look
Whelks are basically larger winkles, they are part of the same family and behave in the same manner, with the only difference being taste and size. They can only be found on rocks and don’t like to move across open sand. They also like to be close to water and will retreat below the water line of a rock pool when the tide is out.

Gathering Whelks
Simply grab them by the shell and gently lift them off the rock. They don’t have any kind of defense and aren’t exactly fast, so there’s no chance of them escaping after being seen.

Oysters and Scallops

Where to look
If you manage to find an oyster or scallop on the beach you’d probably be better off leaving it alone. These shellfish like to be permanently submerged and tend to live just below the water line of low tide or even deeper. The most common way of gathering either of these shellfish types by hand is diving, though this is not only dangerous but very expensive.

Gathering Oysters and scallops
If you don’t want to invest in diving equipment and learn how to use it then you have only one option. During the spring the tides are lower than any other time of year, these “neap” tides as they are known happen when the moon is at a right angle to the sun so their gravitational forces work against each other. These tides are significantly lower than average and provide some interesting foraging. If you know of oysters or scallops in a particular area then it may be worth paying a visit during the spring and gathering as many as you can carry.

Limpets

Where to look
You’d find it hard to go to any beach around the UK and not find any. Limpets are very common and the basic rule is if there are rocks on the beach that are submerged during high tide, then you’re going to find limpets.

Gathering Limpets
These cone-shaped creatures have a surprisingly strong sucker, to the point you sometimes can’t pull them off with your bare hands. The trick is to get them off before they know you are there and clamp down. To do this take a strong stick and give them a hard knock on the side, it takes some practice to get the right amount of force but whatever you do, don’t use a rock to dislodge them. The hard surface can easily smash their shells and kill them straight away, and nothing goes off faster than dead shellfish.