Babbacombe Beach: rock pools and cliffs

Sea Morsels

Babbacombe beach is a small arc-shaped shingle beach set beneath 300ft high red cliffs at Babbacombe Downs, Devon UK. This unspoiled cove was once the home of fishermen and smugglers.

This sea-soundscape was recorded on the breakwater (a barrier built out into the sea to protect a coastline from the waves) with several fishermen trying their luck to reel in some fresh fish, facing a rocky cove filled with rock pools.

Babbacombe Beach is in Torquay, roughly 24 miles (39 kilometers) south of Exeter and 32 miles (51 kilometers) east of Plymouth.
OS grid ref. SX 9298 6545

Listening Notes to transport you to Babbacombe Beach:

The setting: The hillside behind Babbacombe Beach is thick with woodland and a steep walk to Babbacombe Downs and Gardens (the highest promenade in England!), and dotted with 1930s villas.

Distant voices: you may hear some distant voices. There are several fishermen talking about the best fishing line to use.

Herring Gull: If you listen carefully in the background you may hear some bird cries. These are the Herring Gull. Herring gulls are large, noisy gulls found throughout the year around the coastline of the UK.

Pleasure boat: at 3:30 and 8:00 you may hear a boat motor. These are one of the many pleasure boat rides that tourists can take along to Devonian coast.

Rock Pools: Due to the red rock cliffs surrounding the cove, there are many rock pools. Rock pools (or 'tide pools') are rocky pools by the sea in the intertidal zone. They are filled with seawater during high tides, and exist as separate pools at low tide. Rock pools are home to hardy organisms such as starfish, mussels and clams. The high tide zone is flooded for hours during each high tide and must survive wave action, currents, and exposure to the sun. The high tide zone is inhabited by sea anemones, starfish, chitons, crabs, green algae, and mussels. The low tide zone area is mostly submerged – it is exposed only during low tide. There is much more marine life, especially seaweed, limpets, mussels, snails, sea sponges, and whelks.

This recording saw rock pools teaming with life, including seaweed, whelks, snails, crabs and clams as they were filled with water with the incoming tide.

Red Cliffs: You might be wondering why South Devon has red roil and rocks? This was because millions of years ago this area was covered by desert rocks, some of it sand dunes and some of it rock debris called Breccia (pronounced ‘Brechia’). This red colouration is due to iron chemicals found in deserts. Over millennia, these chemicals were leached out of the desert rocks and passed down into the Devonian rocks beneath, staining them red.