Samhchair

The Harbour Porpoise is one of six species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest ocean mammals in the sea. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries and as such is the most familiar porpoise. It is about 67-85 cm (26-33 in) long at birth. Both sexes grow up to be 1.4 m to 1.9 m (4.6-6.2 ft). The females are correspondingly heavier, with a maximum weight of around 76 kg (167 pounds) compared with the males' 61 kg (134 pounds). The body is robust and the animal is at its maximum girth just in front of its triangular dorsal fin. The beak is poorly demarcated. The flippers, dorsal fin, tail fin and back are a dark grey. The sides are a slightly speckled lighter grey. The underside is much whiter, though there are usually grey stripes running along the throat from the underside of the mouth to the flippers. Harbour Porpoises can live up to 25 years.

Limpet is a common name used for many kinds of saltwater or freshwater snails, specifically those that have a simple shell which is more or less broadly conical in shape, and which is either not coiled, or appears not to be coiled, in the adult snail. The word "limpet" is a very inexact name which is fairly frequently encountered as part of the common name of a wide variety of different marine and freshwater gastropod species, some of which have gills and some of which have a lung. Limpets have flattened, cone-shaped shells, and the majority of species are commonly found adhering strongly to rocks or other hard substrates, looking like little bumps on the surface. In life, many limpet shells are often covered in microscopic growths of green marine algae, which can make them even harder to see, as they can closely resemble the rock surface itself. The majority of limpet species have shells that are less than 3 in (8 cm) in maximum length and many are much smaller than that. You can download a recipe for limpet stovies here.

Ulva lactuca is a thin flat green alga growing from a discoid holdfast. The margin is somewhat ruffled and often torn. It may reach 18 cm or more long though generally much less and up to 30 cm across. The membrane is two cells thick, soft and translucent, and grows attached, without a stipe, to rock via a small disc-shaped holdfast. It is one of the more pleasant seaweeds served raw, especially chopped, and served Japanese style, with soy sauce and rice vinegar. It has also been used to dress burn wounds.

Dulse grows attached by its discoid holdfast to the stipes of Laminaria or to rocks. It has a short stipe, the fronds are very variable and vary in colour from deep-rose to reddish-purple and are rather leathery in texture. The flat foliose blade gradually expands and divides into broad segments ranging in size to 50 cm long and 30 - 8 cm in width which can bear flat wedge-shaped proliferations from the edge. It can be eaten raw as a good source of vitamins and minerals but is often grazed by sheep and cattle. It was commonly eaten with oatmeal in the form of a thick broth (càl duilisg) or simply boiled and served with pepper and butter. It can be roasted in a fire and then smothered in vinegar. Dried it could be chewed like tobacco. It was applied to wounds like plasters, used to expel intestinal worms, a fever remedy, for expelling afterbirth, for sprains, a cure–all for both humans and animals.

Cowslip is a low growing herbaceous perennial plant with deep yellow flowers being produced in the spring. They have been used in brewing ale, flavouring vinegar, salads and sugared as sweets. It has also been used as a diuretic and for the treatment of headaches, whooping cough and other conditions.