Snail attack at the rocks

It was too good a day to stay at home doing chores, so this afternoon I went down to the rocks to test the temperature of the water. I can safely say it is whatever temperature makes your feet go numb instantly so that you can't feel how cold it is! To herald the almost onset of Spring, I rolled up my jeans and ventured into a sandy patch, about knee deep, and stood there for fifteen minutes, enjoying the ebb and flow of the tide and the fronds of kelp wrapping themselves around my legs as the rising tide began to fill the bay.

On the rocks nearby, a handful of cormorants sunned themselves, while another dived after fish, being outdone by a gull that divebombed into the water and came up with what looked to be either a large red fish or a very small crayfish! It flew off with its catch to the island where it settled on a rock to get down to the serious business of dinner. A lone oystercatcher hopped from rock to rock, its mate no doubt somewhere close by. I saw a pair of swallows swooping low over the rocks, their wings almost brushing the surface as they pursued insects in fighter jet mode - perhaps two swallows make a summer?

When I climbed back onto the rocks, I found a conical snail attached to my foot and when I tried to prise it off, it took some effort. Blood oozed from where it had been apparently feeding on my foot! The photo shows a rather unattractive foot (!) - it had been in freezing water for a while so that's my excuse - with the evidence of munching. It seems that it's not sharks we should look out for, but snails!