- Adur Marine Life Reports
- Coastal & Intertidal 2012
Information
Coastal saline lagoons and the Water Framework Directive (NECR039)
A number of coastal saline lagoons in the UK have been identified as ‘water bodies’ under the Water Framework Directive. This means that there is a requirement to develop type-based classification tools to help assess their ecological status. This study was commissioned by Natural England to inform future work of the UK Technical Advisory Group and Marine Task Team in developing a national consistent approach to the assessment of lagoons under the Water Framework Directive.
 |
 |
|
(Community Group) |
(Community Group) |
Events
Reports
30 December 2012
Common
Dolphin, Delphinus delphis,
in Shoreham Harbour
Photograph
by Simone Mia Smith
BMLSS
Cetaceans
A Bottle-nosed
Dolphin was spotted in the mouth of Shoreham
Harbour.
Report
by Phil Dunk on the Sussex
Ornithological Society News
17
December 2012
Turnstones |
22
November 2012
On
a breezy day (Force
5 - 6 gusting to Gale Force 7 - 8) it
was enough to send hundreds of gulls
wheeling in the air over the coast. On east Lancing beach (by Widewater)
there was Turnstones
well camouflaged on the shingle and weed strandline,
with the tide on a low neap in the afternoon.
| 7
November 2012
On Widewater Lagoon a handful of Little Grebes dived under the calm waters and at least one surfaced with a silvery fish its beak. The fish seemed too large to be a 3-spined Stickleback but it was the same shape. The five birds appeared to be juveniles. There was also a single Coot which was not usual. On Lancing Beach Green a Wheatear perched on a wooden fence between the green and the shingle, prior to emigration. Pied Wagtails trotted along the strandline. |
 |
25
October 2012
A
beautifully marked first winter male Desert
Wheatear delighted birders at Worthing
Splash Point (east of Worthing
Pier). Virtually tame, it was flitting
around the rocks and actively feeding - and not at all bothered by people
or cameras. The little beauty was confident enough to make eye contact
with his many fans.
 |
 |
The Desert Wheatear, Oenanthe deserti, is a very rare visitor to Britain. If an Eastern race bird does land here, it has been blown off course quite a bit as it would have been on its way from its breeding grounds in central Asia to its wintering grounds in Pakistan and north-east Africa.
Sussex Ornithological Society First Report18
October 2012
A
flock of about 20 Turnstones
were seen feeding high up on the strandline
where the seaweed
had been deposited very high tide up on the shore,
and some of it over the concrete protecting the beach huts by Widewater.
These wading birds avoided the spray from the waves blown in by the southerly
wind.
The
Widewater
gauge registered 1.76
metres, the highest I have ever recorded by 10 cm, after
the high tides and storm surge.
20
September 2012
Widewater
Lagoon was in flood on a high spring tide
on an overcast day, bordered in places by the dark red Glasswort.
Suddenly, a largish wader descended and began wading in the shallow fringes
of the lagoon, poking its beak in the soft mud rapidly (about twenty times
a minute?) and repeatedly for a period of ten minutes or more without a
break. Its long beak was pink but half black nearest the tip. The bird
was clear through the binoculars but I could not see what it was eating.
At
a guess it would be small amphipods or perhaps small molluscs or worms.
I had seen this bird before on the River
Adur mud but not very often. I have identified
it as one of the Godwits
which I had not seen before on Widewater.
It was an interesting bird to watch its almost frantic feeding (or searching
for food) which I had not seen with such intensity before. Three birders
identified it as a Black-tailed Godwit. I
and one other thought it was a Bar-tailed Godwit.
TQ
19913 04150 (Grid Reference
Finder)
 |
 |
 |
Godwit
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
19 September 2012
Tree Mallow
 |
 |
Widewater
4 September
2012
A
Little
Egret perched on a Tamarisk
shrub on the margins of Widewater.
31
August 2012
Large
White Butterflies flew around the
Sea Kale by the Old
Fort at the eastern end of Shoreham
Beach. But I was there to try an get a
photograph of a Wall Lizard after my sucess with a Common
Lizard the previous day. Nineteen Wall Lizards
were spotted on the south and west facing carnot flint walls of the
Old Fort, skittering
into holes in the wall at the earliest opportunity, with none of them keeping
still in the open and basking in the sun. At least half of them were adults
with a distinct green colouration, but one was a small brown coloured juvenile
on the pebbles. Field Grasshoppers were lively in the grasses around the
Old Fort.
Adur
Lizards
10
August 2012
 |
.jpg) |
Rockpooling Event at the Old Fort organised by the Friends of Shoreham Beach (FOSB)
Over
150 rockpoolers descended down on to the
safe beach at Old
Fort, Shoreham Beach at low tide
and they were able to forage in the pools for over two hours. The critters
of the seashore never had a chance to escape
the flimsy nets and probing fingers of the youngsters. Fish fry swam in
the shallow pools, notably scores of the young of the Two-spotted
Goby, Gobiusculus flavescens.
Many
of the captures were decamped to temporary
aquariums
further of the beach and returned to the pools before the incoming tide.
Other notable captures included a juvenile Greater Pipefish,
Syngnathus
acus, looking like a thin strip of seaweed
until it wriggled, juvenile flatfish including two small Plaice,
Pleuronectes
platessa, with more escaping the nets,
the first intertidal Sand Sole,
Pegusa
lascaris, and the expected mixture
of
Bass fry,
Dicentrarchus
labrax, small prawns
and shrimps, tiny Bullheads,
Taurulus
bubalis, Shore
Crabs,
Carcinus
maenas, of all sizes and colours and
the common intertidal molluscs.
BMLSS Gobies
30
July 2012
 |
 |
The
Cormorants
that rest on the Widewater Lagoon islands were fishing in the sea in shallow
water at high tide in the morning. Later, after
midday,
a Little Egret
was spotted fishing in the small flooded area cut off from the main lagoon
at the western end. Initially, this seems
an unpromising feeding area.
24
July 2012
On
the warmest day of the year
so far Large Whites
and one Red Admiral
coming off the sea were seen on Lancing
Beach with a handful of Meadow
Browns. Although very
warm there were no Wall
Lizards to be seen on the carnot
walls of the Old
Fort.
23
July 2012
There
were frequent double flowers of the
small Childing Pink, Petrorhagia
nanteuilii, on Silver
Sands on Shoreham
Beach. One treble flower was discovered.
Hare's-foot
Clover (illustrated on the left)was widespread
in the same area.
5 July
2012
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Cerastium tomentosum |
26
June 2012
A
Little
Egret was feeding in the shallows as the
tidecame
in by Silver Sands
on the River Adur estuary.
Eventually the breeze died down sufficiently so it was worth checking out
the population of Childing Pink, Petrorhagia
nanteuilii, on Silver
Sands on Shoreham
Beach.
 |
 |
 |
Childing Pink
There
were well a hundred single flowers showing
and I eventually discovered just a single double flower with scores of
the second flowers budding. This population
of this scarce protected
plant was thriving in numbers unprecedented this century. Other
prevalent flowers in the area included Kidney
Vetch, Biting
Stonecrop and Hare's-foot
Clover.
9 June 2012
Adur
World Oceans Day 2012
Understanding
and celebrating our marine environment
.jpg)
The twelfth Adur World Oceans Day 2012 took place in the marquee on Coronation Green, by Shoreham Footbridge at the High Street end on the second Saturday of the Adur Festival. Len Nevell of the British Marine Life Study Society presented the usual exhibition of lobsters and crabs. The Friends of Shoreham Beach (FOSB) took an active role with their display of the wonders of Shoreham Beach. Wildlife writer Steve Savage presented the whale and dolphin exhibition with the life sized replica of a Bottle-nosed Dolphin.
United Nations: World Oceans Day
"The
aim of the event is to introduce the young visitors to the world of the
sea and seashore,
an opportunity they may not get .It is an educational event with an opportunity
for children to participate in the interactive activities."
Quote
by Andy Horton (British Marine
Life Study Society)
 |
Adur World Oceans Day 2012 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Long-legged Spider Crab Common Brittlestar |
from Southwick Beach |
|
Specimen at Adur World Oceans Day 2012
 |
 |
 |
4 kg Lobster, Homarus gammarus
Waves
from the south-west battering the Shoreham Harbourwall
8 June
2012
|
7
June 2012
A
brief early morning trip to collect some Beadlet
Anemones
Actinia
equina, from the syeniterock
defences at Southwick
Beach was rewarded by two medium-sized Common
Starfish Asterias rubens,
which will prove ideal for the Adur
World Oceans Day 2012. There was a small
Common
Starfish as well.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Thousands
of small mussels
had attached themselves to the huge boulders that form the sea defences.
The littoral community
also included limpets,
winkles
and the predatory Dogwhelk.
The
rolling waves over the sandy flats would have made shrimping
very wet but not impossible.
4 June
2012
A
rockpooling
visit to Worthing Pier on a low (0.4
metres) spring tide produced a surprise
Common Brittlestar, Ophiothrix
fragilis, as well as some infrequent
summer occurences like two large Velvet
Swimming Crabs, Necora
puber, a handful of small Common
Hermit Crabs, Pagurus bernhardus,
in winkle shells, a single Common Starfish
Asterias
rubens, one Dahlia
Anemone, Urticina felina, one
small Long-legged Spider Crab Macropodia
rostrata, and one sub-adult 5-Bearded
Rockling, Ciliata mustela.
Velvet Swimming Crab
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
A Greater
Pipefish, Syngnathus acus,
was rescued from the beak of a Herring
Gull. Daisy Anemones,
Cereus
pedunculatus, were frequently found in chocolate
brown hues. Snakelocks
Anemones,
Anemonia
viridis, were common as usual with frequent
Beadlet
Anemones Actinia equina.
Full
Rockpooling Report
Brittlestars
of Cornwall
3
June 2012
A
steady Fresh Breeze (Force
5) was not conducive to the Shoreham
Beach Wild Flower Photography Walk, organised
by the Friends of Shoreham Beach
(FoSB). At least the rain that was promised by the weather
forecast the previous week was not present on the windy coast, but
conditions were still very difficult for photography.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Swathes
of Red Valerian
in flower dominated the shingle on east Shoreham Beach with the contrasting
leaves of Silver Ragwort
which was beginning to bud, and the patches of Sea
Kale
which were showing their first flowers.
Starry
Clover, Trifolium stellatum,
was flowering on the grass and herb banks of the Old
Fort and on the shingle. Other flowers
noted for the first time this year were Mouse-eared
Hawkweed, and unidentified Hawkweed
on
the same herb strewn bank.
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Yellow-horned Poppy flowers were blown silly in the wind and these were noted for the first time on the shingle this year as well. Other prominent wild flora were the woody stems of Tree Mallow swaying wildly in the breeze, Slender Thistle (sometimes called Shore Thistle) and the slender Viper's Bugloss on the grassy banks and shingle, with patches of Sea Thrift, Kidney Vetch, Sea Campion and Bird's Foot Trefoil, on the shingle. Two Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis, skittered by the Old Fort, one over the shingle making for the safety of the wall and another large greenish one in the long grass near the west facing flint carnot wall.
2
June 2012
A
quick Adur World Oceans
Day 2012 collection visit to Kingston
Beach on a 0.8 metre low tide brought one notable
discovery of a a Worm Pipefish, Nerophis
lumbriciformis, under a rock. There was also
a fine first year Corkwing Wrasse,
Symphodus
melops .
Full
Rockpooling Report
BMLSS
Worm Pipefish
28
May 2012
A
special shrimping trip Lancing
Beach (by Widewater) (with Dudley and
others) in ideal weather conditions (1.5
metre neap low tide)
caught three pints of Brown Shrimps, Crangon
crangon,between us, but there was
not much else in the nets: frequent flatfish
fry, two small Lesser
Weever, Echiichthys
vipera, one swimming
crab Portumnus latipes with
"fleur-de lis"
markings, one Vernal Crab, Liocarcinus
vernalis, one badly damaged (but still
alive, it nipped me) Masked Crab, Corystes
cassivelaunus, a few large green Shore
Crabs, Carcinus maenas, and
a small Plaice,
Pleuronectes
platessa, (or possibly a Flounder?).
24
May 2012
I
went to test out my waders but the tide was not low enough (2
metres at 6:30
pm) at Lancing (by Widewater bridge) and there
was a big swell on a seemingly calm sea. There were few Brown
Shrimps but not enough to persist in getting
soaked on a warm evening. On the shingle of
Shoreham Beach and by the Church of the Good Shepherd there were great
swathes of Red Valerian
in flower.
Of greater interest, further east, the large patch of Kidney
Vetch was
notable because this plant was not yet flowering on ther road verges of
Buckingham
Cutting (south) where it is prevalent and flowers later.
7 May
2012
A
short trip to Kingston Beach on a cool evening
low spring tide produced a sparse mobile fauna
including two small Common Starfish Asterias
rubens on the underside of the larger
boulders with a chiton Acanthochitona
crinita and a Sting
Winkle Ocenebra erinacea
as noteworthy discoveries. Juvenile (first year) Blennies,
Lipophrys
pholis, were frequently found under
boulders on the estuarine (west of the Lifeboat
Station) part of the beach.
BMLSS
Rockpooling
BMLSS
Rock Pool Fish
BMLSS
Molluscs
6 May
2012
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
The
low equinoctial tide at Lancing receded as far
as had seen it uncovering rocks that are rarely seen. It was early in the
year and the intertidal fauna was exiguous:
two Snakelocks Anemones,
Anemonia
viridis, frequent Hairy
Crabs, Pilumnus
hirtellus, one Short-legged
Spider Crab Eurynome
aspera, and one 5-Bearded
Rockling, Ciliata mustela,
were notable (and the first wild sea anemones,
crabs
and fish I had noted this year.)
Over
thirty Herring Gulls
fossicked amongst the rocks but it was only one Crow
that
tried to drop shells to break them open (without success). Three Sanderlings
pattered over the sand and rock fringes. Hoary
Cress was flowering profusely next to
the cyclepath and there were swathers of Thrift
on the Widewater flood plain.
British
Marine Life Study Society
4
May 2012
Wild
flowers
on the shingle and earthen banks at the Old Fort end of Shoreham Beach
included Tree Mallow, Sea Thrift, Common
Vetch, Ragwort
and
Field
Mouse-ear; and beginning to flower were
Sea
Kale,
Red Valerian and
Slender
Thistle. The Slender
Thistle is also known as the Shore
Thistle.
This
alternative name was a recent discovery on the Wikipedia
page for Carduus
tenuiflorus. There
was also Irisesgrowing
wild on the shingle.
Adur
Thistles
22
March 2012
Stalking
in the shallows of Widewater Lagoon, a Little
Egret caught a fish much larger than its
usual diet of sticklebacks.
It had reposition the fish in its beak before swallowing its prey with
a distinctive bulge in its long neck as it went down. The Teals
were
still present and the flock had separated off into two pairs.
29
February 2012
Around
midday
the sun shone weakly under a blue sky, but the warmth was enough for the
first reptiles of the year to come out. On the south and west facing carnot
wall of the Old
Fort (on Shoreham Beach) I noted at least
16* separate
Wall
Lizards, Podarcis
muralis, energetically skittered
over the flint cobbled wall and into holes and crannies. All but one had
intact tails and virtually all of them were large adults, but only the
largest had a distinctive greenish tinge. (*
duplicates excluded). Two
Turnstones,
with bright red feet, clambered over the seaweed-covered timber inner harbour
wall on the western side.
Adur
Lizards
 |
 |
|
|
|
On Widewater Lagoon a paddling* of ten Teals were seen swimming on the still lagoon, and distinctively upturning themselves to feed. A pair of the larger Mallards landed on the water nearby. One of the three Little Egrets was feeding in the shallows: it was seen swallowing half a dozen 3-spined Sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, in four minutes, with only two failed attempts. The Snow Buntings were not spotted. (*Collective noun ? paddling in a V formation of three at times. I think instead of a raft of Tufted Ducks (12 together) (used a few days before) I could use a flotilla of ducks and raft of Teals.)
23
February 2012
On
the still waters of Widewater Lagoon, a raft of exactly a dozen Tufted
Ducks rested, only swimming more to the
centre of the eastern end of the lagoon when approached.
 |
 |
|
|
|
The two visiting Snow Buntings were not so reticent feeding on the flat beach shingle in the same area as before just above the sea high tide mark at the western end of Widewater.
12
February 2012
A
Slavonian
Grebe, Podiceps
auritus, was spotted off Lancing beach
(just west of Widewater) in the early afternoon, close in to shore but
swimming briskly east.
26
January 2012
Four
visiting Brent Geese
looked at home at the western end of Widewater
Lagoon on the water and trotting out on to
the shingle with four Mute Swans.
 |
10
January 2012
The two small Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax nivalis, were well camouflaged amongst the pebbles, feeding on seed provided for them and attracting a handful of birdwatchers with telephoto lens. Because they look like Sparrows with the naked eye, they would have been hard to discover if they did not stay on the same stretch of beach south of the western end of Widewater, despite disturbance by dog walkers. Snow Buntings are a very scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to the Shoreham area. |
 |
6 January
2012
An
Iceland
Gull was photographed
on Shoreham Beach, on the seaward side of the west arm of the harbour
from late morning to 1.15 pm.
The
Iceland
Gull is a very
scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to the Shoreham area.
4
January 2012
The
Iceland
Gull was seen by other birdwatchers on
several occasions. Earlier it was photographed
over the River Adur.
Native
Sussex (Mick Davis) Birding Blog
2 January
2012
On
east Lancing Beach
(by Widewater),
I finally managed to get a look at the small Snow
Buntings camouflaged amongst the pebbles,
the sparrow-sized fawn and cream birds crouching down and one of the two
hiding behind a cobble-sized stone only slightly smaller than it. As I
searched for the Snow Buntings,
I nearly gave up after just spotting Pied
Wagtails amongst the shingle. The first
wild flowers of the year were some Red
Valerian on the beach fringes near the
Church of the Good Shepherd.
