The small village of Cockington in Torbay is very popular
with visitors who come to see its thatched cottages, old forge, and many other
charming buildings, all nestling in a valley. It was the destination for the
last carriage ride taken from his home in St Marychurch, Torquay, by the great natural
historian Philip Henry Gosse, accompanied by his son Edmund. The ride, shortly
before Henry’s death in 1888, is described very movingly by Edmund in a
biography of his father [1,2].
I was brought up in Torbay, so I made the occasional visit
to Cockington village as a child, although, as a family, we mostly stayed away
from popular places. My fascination with natural history came from family walks
in early childhood and it was the alien aquatic world that really grabbed my imagination.
While marine organisms of the shore were readily visible - seaweeds, limpets,
barnacles - most were hidden until one turned over stones in rock pools, or was
lucky enough to wander down to the low water mark during Spring tides.
Childhood visits to the cinema in Paignton to watch films by
the divers Hans and Lotte Hass made me aware that there was a natural world of
which I knew very little and this added to its fascination. My imagination of
this world extended to my play and I remember vividly placing a metal biscuit
tin over my face, taking a deep breath and then diving under the bedclothes -
nothing interesting was found! Using a snorkel in the sea would have terrified
me as, although I was fascinated by what I saw in the cinema and in aquarium
tanks, I was terrified of putting my head under water. It was truly an alien
world for me and the feeling of wonder that so many aquatic organisms were unfamiliar
stayed with me.
Later, I wandered around the coast on my own, looking at
rock pools and I also enjoyed walking along country lanes, just for the pleasure
of discovering new places, and being re-acquainted with those that were familiar.
While I was happiest investigating the seashore, I also looked at the margins
of local ponds and streams. On one walk along Cockington Lane - the same lane that
Henry and Edmund Gosse had followed in their carriage - I decided to look for
animals in the small stream that runs close to the road (see below). The upper
part of the Cockington stream is dammed to form ornamental ponds and it then
flows to the sea. Curious about what might be living in the stream, I picked up
a few stones from the bed and, after examining them for a few seconds, was
pleased that flatworms were very common and seemed to be on all the stones that
I looked at. I still recall the discovery, even though it was nearly sixty years
ago.
The flatworms were gliding over the surface of the stones and
I was absorbed in watching their movement, as it wasn’t possible to see how
they propelled themselves. Their locomotion is achieved by the beating of many
thousands of microscopic cilia (small hair-like extensions from the cells
covering the bottom surface of the worm), cells also secreting a mucus trail on
which each worm moves, just as snails do. If watching their movement wasn’t fascinating
enough, knowing that freshwater flatworms have remarkable powers of
regeneration filled me with even more of a sense of wonder. I didn’t carry out any
experiments like those shown in the videoclip below (where the movement of
flatworms is also seen clearly) [3], but I knew about this ability. Not exactly
like the sort of things that Hans and Lotte Hass filmed, but a fascinating part
of the aquatic world nonetheless and to be seen only a short walk from where I
lived.
Cockington gets many visitors and it is also a popular attraction
for residents of South Devon, but I wonder how many of those having a cream
tea, or strolling among the thatched buildings and lovely gardens, then walk back
to the sea front along the boardwalk path? And of those, how many decide to
look in the Cockington stream and see a quite different, yet fascinating, world?
I am guessing that I was always in a very small minority.
[1] Edmund Gosse (1890) The Naturalist of the Sea-Shore: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse. London, William Heinemann.
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