Springtails … faster than your average photographer's reflexes

Humphrey Head, Cartmel Peninsula Tiny creatures, with remarkable jumping ability, dwell in the carboniferous limestone hills above Morecambe Bay

Dense vegetation alive with birdsong clings to the face of Humphrey Head. Gazing up at the gaping mouth of Edgar's Arch, a blowhole in Cumbria's highest limestone headland - and above a bushy beard of trees, shrubs and creepers - I forget to watch my feet. Result? I become stuck in one of the glutinous exiting channels that booby-trap Morecambe Bay's shores.

Good Samaritans hoist me to my feet, "We're on a weekend activity hen do," says the one in the "Game Over" T-shirt. "Glad the tide's out," says the group's instructor, her top labelled "Boss". "Folk get mired down like mice in those traps with sticky floors. Then the tide sneaks in."