Alive, alive-oh!

The tide was low so I made my way down to Goodwick beach with a canister of salt, intending to hunt razor clams. But as soon as I had got out to the end of the groyne I started to notice cockles lying on the surface. So I took off my boots and paddled through the shallows to compete with the gulls that were noisily feasting a bit further out.

I've been told that there were cockles here but never before have I found more than a handful. But here were plenty, and easy to spot: little corrugated hearts* peeping out of the sand. Bigger too than the ones I often buy that come from Penclawdd near Llanelli, many of these were 3 or 4 centimetres across.

It was a warm day and the water was pleasantly tepid. Soft mud squished between my toes. I gathered several dozen cockles although the razor clams eluded me. Clouds rolled in as I quartered the beach, the incoming tide licked at the bare sand and Casey, who doesn't do seafood, started to shiver.

My cockle haul (inset) went into a delicious chowder, along with bacon, butter, wine, vegetables and cream. (Note how the shells exactly mimic the colours of the shingle.)

Previously on Pembrokeshire beaches
Razor clams
Mussels
Limpets

*The etymology of the expression 'to warm the cockles of your heart' is obscure but might be associated with their shape. See here.