Pioneer of change
Sandy Haven, WalesSome marsh samphire (Salicornia europaea) colonising a sandflat in Pembrokeshire. This image seemed an appropriate one to post today on St David’s day, since Pembrokeshire enjoys double patronage from Dewi Sant, who is patron saint not just of Wales as a whole, but also of Pembrokeshire specifically. He is also patron saint of poets and vegetarians, so I thought I’d share some choice lines of Alison Brackenbury’s poem “Samphire”, which could be interpreted as a call to a more plant-based diet.
...where I have seen it, tough as grass
where silent men with rods trooped past
its salty ranks, without a glance.
St David is also patron saint of Naas in County Kildare, Ireland, but I couldn’t tie that into the photo. I tried. 4/5 isn’t bad though.
I took some of this marsh samphire home for dinner (it was growing in abundance there, despite the framing of this photo). I was a bit alarmed to find out later that it was actually in an SSSI, since I was under the impression that foraging in an SSSI is illegal. However according to John Wright in “The Forager’s Calendar” which I received for Christmas, this is not the case. It does seem like a bit of a grey area though, so I will continue to refrain from knowingly doing so.
It’s definitely a useful addition to a dish, but I wouldn’t have it as the main portion of veg like I did, as it’s very salty. Don’t be put off by Alison Brackenbury’s description “tough as grass”—she would have been referring not to its texture but rather its ability to thrive in the harsh, salty conditions that few other plants can.
Marsh samphire lives in the intertidal zone and is regularly covered by the high tide. It is considered a pioneer species, being among the first to colonize bare estuarine mud/sand. By doing so it stabilizes the mud/sand, paving the way for other species to move in. When it dies back and decomposes it builds up organic matter, enabling other, less salt-tolerant species to establish and continue the ecological succession of the saltmarsh to a more diverse ecosystem. By framing a tiny shoot on bare sand, I hoped to convey this plant’s pioneering spirit.
More details
- Sandy Haven, Wales
- 3rd June, 2025
- Canon EOS 5D Mark III
- EF180mm f/3.5L Macro USM at 180.0mm
- 1/160s at f/18, ISO 320
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- Alone
- Ecological succession
- Intertidal
- Marsh samphire
- Mudflat
- Pembrokeshire
- Pioneer species
- Plant
- Salty
- Sandflat
- Small
- Solitary
- UK
- United Kingdom
- Wales
- Water
- salicornia europaea