The first extreme low tides of the year did not disappoint. The weather was kind, although it was very cold at times, especially on Tuesday night. We went to Holbeck for Sunday and Monday night, and Scalby Mills for Tuesday and Wednesday night. 
Firstly though, I have a shot of the harbour which turned out quite nice...
Holbeck
To be brutally honest, Holbeck was a little disappointing, although that could be because we both had new cameras, so we spent most of the first night fiddling around with settings trying to get the optimum set-up for any finds.
Here is a beadlet anemone, which is found in abundance underneath stones, and in crevices in the rocks. They have interesting colour variation, and we have seen, red, yellow, orange, purple and green examples of this species...
This next anemone is a beautiful example of a Dahlia anemone. They can be quite large, we have seen some get to 10cm across. They are again pretty common under stones, etc...
Squat lobsters are now very common finds under stones, and plenty were found at both Holbeck and Scalby. This is not the best photo of one, but it does show the nice colouring on the body...
Bristly crabs are also becoming very common, although not as abundant as the squat lobsters. These crabs are found clinging to the undersides of large stones, or simply hiding underneath smaller stones. They seem to prefer rocks covered in silty sediment.
It wouldn't be right not to show pictures of the three classic British crabs, green shore crab, edible crab, and swimmer crab...
This shore crab has lovely patterning on its carapace...
One of the bigger edible crabs we found at Holbeck...
Swimmer crab...
We also saw plenty of fish, at both rockpooling venues. Here is a good-size rockling...
And two photos of a Shanny, another common chordate to see on the shore...
We saw a few Bullheads (Long Spined Scorpion fish) at both areas, and the colour variation within this species is incredible, unless we have got it wrong and the bigger one is a Bullrout instead 
Probably not though 
This is the bigger one, 20cm long (ish)
A green sea urchin at Holbeck...
And a common starfish next to a very small green sea urchin...
Scalby Mills
The last time we went to Scalby, we saw 44 sea urchins. We didn't properly look for them this time round, but we still saw 8 edible sea urchins. Here is one of them...
Broad-clawed porcelain crabs are very common under stones at Scalby...
Last year, again in January, we saw a Sea Lemon, which is a type of sea slug. This year, we have seen another! Five to be precise, and we think they were mating as well (possibly). Here are two sea lemons...
And here are three more, all stuck together! Notice the broad-clawed porcelain crab watching 
Personally I don't think these ones were mating though
We saw two lobsters at Scalby, both in the same pool under different stones...
Another Bullhead, and another colour of Bullhead 
Although we are not 100% sure of the identification, we think this is a Rock Goby. Even if it isn't, it definitely is a type of goby, and one we haven't seen before. It is most likely a rock goby though...
Finally, here is a lovely photo of two butterfish, guarding their precious young. The only other time we have seen fish guarding eggs is during lumpsucker season in spring.
Thanks for viewing, and comments are always much appreciated. Next month we will get to experience the lowest tides yet! And they will be the lowest tides we will experience during our university course, so we look forward to that
Steve