What is beachcombing? Any person who enjoys walking along the beach for exercise, giving the dog a run or merely taking a stroll in the sunshine can be considered to be beachcombing.
Inevitably they will look down occasionally at the objects which have been washed up by the last high tide, and there are sometimes unique and interesting items washed up by the tides, even messages from long ago in bottles.
For any dedicated beachcomber the best time for wandering on the beach is just after high tide and the waters are on the ebb. This gives enough time for exploring the beach until low tide when the water will start to come in again.
Any beachcomber has a dream of stumbling across a box of treasure, but it is more likely that such objects are at the bottom of the sea, and are extremely unlikely to be washed up on any beach. The most likely beautiful objects a beachcomber will find are a good variety of shells with maybe a rare one being washed up.
The shells can be either of the univalve or bivalve variety. Univalves are single shells which provide a home for hermit crabs and can range in size from being minute up to the large beautiful conch shell. Cockle and mussel shells are typical of the bivalves which also include the larger clam shell.
It the beach is rocky and backed by cliffs it is always a good idea for the beachcomber to be alert for a lucky find of precious stones like jade or agate which may have eroded from the cliff. It is a good idea to have a metal detector handy while roaming the beach, valuable objects can be buried beneath the beach surface lying undisturbed by the tides, and you never know your luck!