{"id":257354,"date":"2026-01-22T04:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T04:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/257354\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T04:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T04:47:10","slug":"rare-octopus-spotted-on-tenbys-north-beach-before-vanishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/257354\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare octopus spotted on Tenby’s North Beach before vanishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GarethGareth Davies<\/p>\n

The octopus was seen at low tide on North Beach in Tenby<\/p>\n

A photographer who was enjoying a walk on a popular Welsh beach says he became “completely absorbed” after spotting an octopus.<\/p>\n

Gareth Davies witnessed the “beautiful” orange cephalopod as it buried itself in the sand in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, and “vanished” in an “effortless display of camouflage”.<\/p>\n

He said the sighting was unexpected, but that the beauty of a seaside walk is that you never know “what might turn up”.<\/p>\n

It comes after record numbers were spotted<\/a> in the UK last year, leading to a wildlife charity declaring 2025 as “the Year of the Blooming Octopus”. <\/p>\n

This is not the first time an octopus has washed up Welsh shores, after two were seen and rescued, while crawling on a Ceredigion<\/a> beach in 2022.<\/p>\n

On another occasion, an octopus was spotted changing colour in footage<\/a> captured at Menai Bridge beach on Anglesey.<\/p>\n

Gareth, a professional photographer from Pembroke, said the low tide at North Beach in Tenby led to a “sense of anticipation” that was soon rewarded.<\/p>\n

“I unexpectedly came across a beautiful common octopus,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I watched, completely absorbed, as it began to bury itself in the sand, its skin shifting colour and texture in an effortless display of camouflage.”<\/p>\n

The octopus “soon vanished from sight, as quietly as it had appeared”, he added.<\/p>\n

\"GarethGareth Davies<\/p>\n

Gareth said the octopus buried itself in the sand in an “effortless display of camouflage”<\/p>\n

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of octopuses seen in UK waters with warmer winters, which are linked to climate change, thought to be responsible for the population spike.<\/p>\n

The Wildlife Trusts said the highest number of octopuses had been seen off the south coast of Devon and Cornwall last year since 1950.<\/p>\n

Gareth said he saw what he thinks is a common octopus, which despite its name is not very common in UK waters.<\/a><\/p>\n

He described them as a “highly intelligent” and “active predator” equipped with “specialised glands that produce venom to incapacitate its prey”.<\/p>\n

The octopus increase does however pose a problem for shellfish species around the UK shores.<\/p>\n

The eight-armed creatures eat shellfish such as lobster, crabs and scallops so the Wildlife Trusts has warned that if population numbers remain high<\/a>, both fishing and eating habits may have to change.<\/p>\n

\"GarethGareth Davies<\/p>\n

There was a record number of octopus sightings on UK shores last year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gareth Davies The octopus was seen at low tide on North Beach in Tenby A photographer who was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-257354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}