Morecambe Bay is named after the seaside town of Morecambe, a popular sea-side resort in the 19th and 20th century (before cheap Mediterranean package holidays killed off much of the British sea side resorts as holiday destinations) Morecambe Bay is famous for its Common Cockle fishery, Cerastoderma edule, is a bi-valve mollusk, a small clam that lives buried in the sand and mud of estuaries around the coasts of northern Europe.
In Britain & Ireland, cockles are a traditional snack food and are sold both fresh and boiled with white pepper and vinegar or sold pickled in jars. In Wales they are eaten with seaweed (lava bread) and bacon as a main meal. The presence of the cockle fishery tells those of us who have never sailed on Morecambe Bay, all we need to know. Cockles like tidal sandy estuaries, and Morecambe Bay is littered with sand banks and mud bars which are inundated at high tide, the wide tides we get in the archipelago mean that when the tide is in, the average person is out of their depth. This makes the activity of Cockle Collecting (done with a spade, a net and wader boots) dangerous to those who do not know the estuary or the tides which can rapidly change and cut off the unwary in a matter of minutes.
There was a famous tragedy as recent as 2004 when on the 5th February, at least 21 Chinese labourers were drowned or killed by hypothermia when they became cut off and unable to summon help. The temperature of the Irish Sea at that time of year is such that without a survival suit and several layers of woolens you have about 10 minutes before hypothermia strikes. The tragedy had a huge impact on UK labour laws and was a stark reminder that when things go wrong at sea, they go very wrong and usually terrifyingly quickly.
Arnside Beach, Cumbria, birthplace of Swallow ©Stephen McKay and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
The location of Arnside, Cumbria, UK
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