MANY of us will have or will be planning to take a trip to the seaside this summer to relax and enjoy the natural facilities found at the beach.

What we often do not realise is when we are visiting the beach we are visiting one of nature's harshest habitats.

The beach habitat is dominated by rapidly changing extremes, which makes life on the beach challenging for any animal that chooses to live there.

Fortunately for us our size and mobility allows us to escape from the worst ravages of the habitat by retiring to an ice-cream parlour when things get too rough.

For less mobile animals the key to living on the beach lies in becoming extremely specialised and well adapted to survive in particular micro habitats.

Creatures that live near the low water mark need only to be able to survive being exposed to the drying rays of the sun for a brief period of time.

Most choose to wait out this time by burying themselves beneath the sand, like razor shells and lug worms.

However it is not just the sun that causes problems to these creatures as their brief time away from the water also exposes them to ferocious terrestrial predators such as birds like oyster catchers and curlews.

Nearer the high water mark, seashore animals may only have to contend with the odd splashing of sea water on most tidal cycles.

Here the problems of survival are different.

Plant life finds this environment too difficult so shade is in short supply and the microclimate's temperature on a hot summer day can rise to the same sort of levels that could be encountered in the Sahara Desert.

Water is also a problem as the evaporation of salt water spray results in a high salt concentration which would be fatal to most non specialised life forms. Most creatures choose to survive this harsh environment by finding a hideaway in the shingle and pebble beds to escape from the high temperature.

Every so often there is a high tide or storm which tears apart the refuges and exposes them to marine predators always on the look out for a tasty snack.

Conditions are so harsh on the beach that no plants have evolved that can cope with the tide-covered shore environment and no vertebrate animal has evolved to live there.