A celebration of marine wildlife, sustainable seafood and the ocean is to take place at a Cumbrian beach.
Cumbria Wildlife Trust is to hold SeaFest on St Bees Beach on July 31, from 10am to 4pm. A highlight will be Beached Art, a popular sand sculpture competition, but this year there’ll be lots of new activities to enjoy.
SeaFest has been created by Lucy Mather, project officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
“We wanted to celebrate our wonderful Irish Sea, with some long-standing family favourites, like Beached Art – a chance to unleash your creativity by making marine-themed sand sculptures, using just natural materials you find on the beach,” she said.
“Don’t forget to book your pitch in advance. We’ve got some great new events this year too. We’ll be kicking off with beach yoga or a jog and a dip in the sea and we’ll be offering cooking demonstrations and tasters from a local chef, who will show you how to make delicious dishes using local sustainable seafood.
“Other popular activities will include rockpool rambles, walks on the cliffs to see the beautiful nesting bird colonies, and you can even drop in to our sea watch survey to see if you can spot a porpoise or dolphin. There’ll be more surprises to come, so watch this space.”
SeaFest is free and there’s no need to book in advance – but you do need to pre-book your pitch for Beached Art at https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/events/2021-07-31-sea-fest-west-cumbrias-festival-sea
Dogs are welcome at SeaFest provided they are kept on leads.
SeaFest is part of National Marine Week, a UK-wide celebration of our seas run by the Wildlife Trusts. Despite the name, National Marine Week actually runs for 16 days (July 24 to August 8) to allow for the variation in tide times around the country. Cumbria Wildlife Trust is running a range of sea-related events during these two weeks, including:
- Sea Watch: drop-in dolphin surveys, Whitehaven, July 24
- BioBlitz: Rockpooling and drop-in marine wildlife survey, Parton Beach near Whitehaven, July 29
- Dune Detectives, South Walney, August 3 (booking required)
- Tale Trail: The Secret of the Sea, August 5, family activity trail for little beach explorers at St Bees (booking required)
- Sand Dune Nature Trail, Sandscale Hawes National Nature Reserve, August 6 (booking required)
