My flat pack BBQ is very light and takes up very little space. It really does work very well.

Some of portable camping stoves. I've got some cheaper ones for beach use, because the beach can be hard on these little stoves. All of these stoves work well, take up little space and don't weigh very much.

Today my family walked to Marloes Sands Pembrikeshire. One of my favourite beaches in the UK, due to its enormous golden sand beach, which is broken up by standing rocks. The contrast with the cliffs and the red and green coloured islands in the back drop makes it such a stunning place.

On the way I had a look for edidble plants. I found much of the usual stuff, like hog weed and wild carrot. On top of this we found a few interesting things like wild wood sage, sea beet and rock samphire.

During the rest of the week we visited several of Pembrokeshire's beaches. It is a truly stunning place and a mecca for finding potentially edible plants.

See my foraging for Spring Edible Plants post for some of the UK most common edible pkants.

We used to dig up cockles & use salt to capture Razor Clams as students.

Today I took my 3 year old daughter to do the same thing.

She absolutely loved it and got ridiculously excited when the razor clams appeared of of the sand, through the salt.

We used a rake to dig up the cockles and then scoured the beach for the caracteristic holes in the sand that tells you where the razor clams live.

You just add salt to any likely dents or holes in the sand. If a razor clam is present they normally squirt at first, then slowly emerge from the sand. When they are poking out enough, you have to grab them quickly and slowly ease them out of their holes. Do it too quickly the foot (the bit you eat), can get snapped off.

We cooked the cockles and razor clams, there and then, with a portable camping stove and then ate them.

My daughter and I managed to catch 35 crabs in around 20 or 30 minutes from the jetty at Dale, Pembrokeshire.

We used a crab line and a drop net baited with bacon and sardines.

The drop net was very efficient catching 3-8 crabs every 2 to 3 minutes.

The crab line works, but the crabs easily fall off, when raising the bait, with the crabs hanging on. So it's best to place a net under it, as you kids pull up the bait. This catches any fallers!

We also caught a single whitebait.

Chicken of the Woods one of our summer fungi. This grows from certain dead trees normally.

Some people don't get on with it apparently and so try a small anount first.

I cooked it here in cream, with shallots, chicken stock, garlic and a dash of brandy.

My 8 year old catching whitebait from the shore in Branscombe, Devon.

During the summer whitebait come very close the the beach in Devon often leaping on the shore by the dozens trying to escape predictors. If you are lucky enough to be there at such times, you can catch them from the sure using simple nets.