They were armed with buckets, forks and even the odd plastic watering can, but they were all there for one purpose - the Good Friday tradition of trigging.

An army of triggers, both young and old, turned out at low tide to St Anthony and the Helford River, eager to make full use of the age-old custom that allows the harvesting of cockles from the mudflats by hand.

The process involves turning over the mud and sand with forks or rakes and then hand-picking the shellfish and collecting them in the buckets.

Low tide fell at around lunchtime this year, making it the ideal conditions for a family day out.

Old handers were joined by young tots, for many of whom this would have been the first experience of trigging. Brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures helped encourage families to leave their houses and head to the estuaries, where the shellfish are most commonly found.

Cockles are usually found just under the sand. The Environment Agency has made it illegal to pick cockles less than 20 millimetres long.