Cockles

"Whitebait and cockleshell, washed up like a gift
Secret histories arrive by longshore drift..."

Cockle is the common name for a group of more than 200 small, edible, saltwater clams belonging to the Caardidae family. Species of cockles live in sandy, sheltered beaches around the world, and the common cockle, 'cerastoderma edule', is widely distributed around the coastlines of Northern Europe, with a range stretching from Ireland to Norway, and asa far south as Senegal.

The distinctive rounded shells of the cockle are symmetrical and heart-shaped when viewed from the end. In most but not all genera, there are numerous radial ribs.

Cockles are popular in both eastern and western cuisine, and are collected by raking them from sands at low tide. The labour of collecting them is hard work, and it can be dangerous, as was seen in 2001 when 21 illegal immigrants died at Morecambe Bay.

It starts with love for foliage...