Excited screams from the sandy beach beyond the headland blend with the cries of young swallows circling the cliffs. The Cornish summer is ebbing, sending nature into an electrified frenzy. Time is running short for everything, including my hopes to find a cushion starfish ‘nest’.
Unlike the bold starfish illustrations in children's books, the cushion star only comes in understated shades of buff-brown and green, its five stumpy arms poking out from a puffy central disc. It cannot compete with the dustbin-lid proportions of the spiny starfish or the tangerine brightness of the common starfish, yet I love nothingbetter than lifting seaweed to uncover constellations of scattered cushion stars.
Larger starfish species prise open mussels, reducing them to soup, but cushion stars are gentle scavengers. They sail smoothly over the rock, gliding…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2022