Our beach seems to specialise in pink cowrie shells.
They’re small but perfectly formed – and they crop up all along the beach in quite large numbers. Each tide seems to bring a new supply and we have great fun spotting them and trying to find the ‘perfect’ example. They’re smooth and shiny and beautifully coloured – in shades of pale pink blended with white – and more or less egg-shaped.
There are lots of interesting facts to discover about cowries. An old Italian name for the shell is porcellana which gives us our word porcelain. In the past, in certain parts of the world, the shells have been used as currency and worn as jewellery. They often had ceremonial significance and were worn around the necks of chieftains as a badge of rank.
We always knew our beach was special but now we understand why – it’s adorned with shells that signify wealth, beauty and rank!
