Yesterday’s blog on Callum’s Wildlife Diaries was about my collection of thornback ray egg cases (read the blog to find out what they are). So for today’s blog, I’ve decided to write my top tips for finding egg cases on our beaches. An egg case finding may come unexpected, for example. You may be on a beach walk and happen to spot it on the sand. However, your best chances of finding one are going on ‘egg case hunts’- beach walks where you are specifically looking for them. Follow these tips to help you find one.
1. Know what to look for.
Too many people come across an egg case and just walk past it, simply because they don’t know what it is. Make sure you know what exactly you are looking for. You are looking for a small, palm-sized brown or black structure with four tail ends in each corner (See image in yesterday’s blog).
2. Know where to look.
Not all egg cases will be there waiting to be found on the surface of the beach. Some of the ones I’ve found in the past have been half buried in the sand. Walk up and down the standline (the high tide mark) slowly, whilst scanning the seaweed and other objects that the tide has brought in. The egg cases look similar to seaweed, which does make it harder to spot them.
3. Don’t always look on the same beach.
Some beaches simply won’t have egg cases to find. Make sure you look in different beaches, as this will increase your chances of having a sighting. Not all of my findings were on the same beach.
These tips should help you find an egg case. Make sure that you are careful with the egg case or egg cases that you have found as damage can make identification of the species more difficult. The egg case may already be damaged a bit by the weathering from the waves, wind and sand, so it is important that you don’t accidentally damage your specimen even more, as it will only make identification more difficult. For more information and a photo of my finding (a thornback Ray egg case) see yesterday’s blog on this page. Good luck egg case hunting!
Wild Words 
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