- Adur Marine Life Reports
- Coastal & Intertidal 2013
Reports
from
the sea, shore
and coast, including Widewater Lagoon
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.
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Events
Reports
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A noisy
cacophony
of a few thousand gulls congregated at the east end of Shoreham Beach,
a thousand of so resting on the calm sea and even more feeding on the wreck
washed up on the strandline after the recent
storm, or wheeling about in flight in the late afternoon. Herring
Gulls, Black-headed
Gulls and Common
Gulls seemed to be most of them, but silhouetted
in the fading light is was difficult to identify the species. The wreck
consisted of brown seaweeds,
the empty egg masses of the Common Whelk
Buccinum
undatum, hundreds of Common
Starfish Asteria rubens,
a few large adult Long-spined
Bullheads Taurulus
bubalis, in noticeable numbers, with
lumps of Sea Coal (Lignite),
and Mermaid's Purses
(egg cases of the Undulate Ray and Lesser Spotted Dogfish).
| 23
December 2013
It is very windy, up to a steady Force 8 and it rained continually all afternoon and into the evening.
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| 22
December 2013
A flock of six Red-breasted Mergansers floated on the surface of Widewater Lagoon. |
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10
December 2013
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Pochards are frequent enough on Brooklands Boating Lake, east Worthing, not to be newsworthy. The two pairs spent at least half of the time I was watching completely underwater in the shallow lagoon.
3 December
2013
A
small flock of about a dozen Pochards
swam on the still surface of Widewater Lagoon at the eastern end in the
afternoon.
29
November 2013
A
made a causal visit the shingle beach at Shoreham over the Adur
Ferry Bridge, but there was nothing interesting,
just a few Pied Wagtails
on the strandline.
| 18
November 2013
On a high tide, the twenty or so Turnstones sheltered on the strandline a few metres above the gently lapping sea where about a dozen Sanderlings congregated. |
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7 November
2013
A
variety of gulls including Black-backed
Gulls and immature Herring
Gulls as well as a score and more Carrion
Crows gathered to forage on the strandline
near Shoreham Fort. The strandline
contained empty whelk
and scallop shells,
a handful of dead Lesser Spotted Dogfish
and a few lumps of lignite
amongst the seaweed,as
well as the inevitable Mermaid's
Purses, with those of the
Undulate Ray noted in profusion. A small
Wheatear
was clearly seen by its white rump flying from the seaweed covered strandline
to the western harbour wall. It looked leaner than the plump birds usually
seen as it constantly seemed to snap at small flying insects. It also looked
like a much later than normal emigration after the warmer than usual October.
5 November
2013
A
dead Porpoise
was washed up on Southwick Beach by Carats Cafe.
A red-head Goosander was seen on the Widewater, Lancing at 1.00 pm.
1
November 2013
One
of the three Cormorants
on the articial island in Widewater played with a flatfish which was two
large for it to swallow whilst two other Cormorants
and at least two Little Grebes
were seen diving under the surface of the lagoon. Three Little
Egrets stalked in the margins.
| 28
October 2013
Gale Force winds blew in hours of darkness until dawn. Shoreham Met Office page recorded a gust of 67 mph (Violent Storn Force 11) at 6:00 am from a steady 45 mph (Force 8). A few trees came down in Shoreham. Shoreham Beach Weather Station recorded 78 mph (Hurricane Force 12). |
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Fishing
Vessels at Shoreham Harbour, Sussex
with
Shoreham Power Station
Photograph
by Andy Horton
28
- 29 October 2013
Over
the night and morning, the south coast was battered by a Gale
Force
8, gusting to Storm
Force 10, with exceptional gusts of Hurricane
Force 12 in exposed parts of the coast. The
fishing fleet was moored up for two days and nights in ports all along
the coast, including 20 of the the larger fishing vessels in Shoreham
Harbour.
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Storm
at Dawn
Western
Harbour Arm, Shoreham
Photographs
by Mark Bond
| The photograph shows the rolling waves on Southwick Beach around 2:30 pm when a gust was recorded at 48 mph and it felt like it continuously on the exposed beach when it was a great struggle (more than seriously impeded) to walk against the south-westerly gale. Unlike the previous day, occasional (one every four minutes) waves could be seen above the western harbour wall. |  |
| 27
October 2013
A visit to Southwick Beach was blustery with it seeming windier than the recorded Gale Force 7 gusting to Gale Force 9 (49 mph) around 1:00 pm. Shoreham Beach Weather Station recorded 63 mph (Force 10) and I was out in it and it was believable. Shoreham Met Office page recorded a gust of 52 mph (Force 9) at 3:00 pm.
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| 22
October 2013
It seemed that there was a bigger swell than the Moderate Breeze (Force 4) indicated on the open sea in the afternoon.A few whitecaps showed so was about right. At about 8:00 pm there was a lightning show in the west but no rain or thunder heard. |
hunkered down in a Moderate Breeze (Force 4) |
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11
October 2013
A
Wheatear
was seen on top of a beach hut by Widewater.
| 23
September 2013
There were six grown-up Mute Swan cygnets on Widewater this year. A Southern Hawker (dragonfly) visited the fringes of the saline Widewater Lagoon. |
22
September 2013
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 A pod of 25 Dolphins were spotted eight miles off Shoreham. Report
& Photographs
by Steve
Murrell
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13
September 2013
I
managed to see the head of the Common Seal
in the Shoreham Harbour entrance as it surfaced briefly three times too
far away for a photograph. It spent most of its time underwater and it
was frustrating to find out where it would surface. My last sighting was
close to the western harbour arm where there was at least a dozen anglers.
Neither the seal
or the anglers seemed to be catching any fish.
2 September
2013
A juvenile
Seal
was seen in the filled lock gates at the entrance to the canal section
of Shoreham Harbour.
Video by Ashley Paul Richards (Link)
31
August 2013
A Seal
was seen in the entrance to Shoreham Harbour at Kingston Beach.
14
August 2013
A
Painted
Lady was spotted flying in from the sea
at east Worthing, and a Clouded Yellow
was spotted on the shingle beach by Brooklands.
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| 24
July 2013
In the early evening one Bluefire Jellyfish, Cyanea lamarkii, was discovered washed up on the shore on Lancing Beach. Other specimens of this stinging jellyfish were seen in the shallow water. This jellyfish has not been recorded on the shore locally in my records and the species is usually associated off the western coasts of Britain although there have been North Sea reports. Report
& Photograph by Carol Thomson
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7
July 2013
On
the warmest day of the year so far (26.4 °C),
a Common Seal
was reported from Lancing Beach
by Widewater.
2 July
2013
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29
June 2013
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A Little Egret stalked the shallow pools at mid-tide level on Kingston Buci Beach. It was surmised that it was successfully feeding on prawns in the muddy pools and a photograph revealed this to be the case. At least half a dozen prawns were caught in as many minutes as the Little Egret lunged forward repeatedly. Often it had to adjust head to capture prey hiding under shelter of rocks and boulders. |
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9 June
2013
The
Annual Friends of Shoreham Beach
Wildflower Walk took place on Sunday
at the Shoreham Fort at 2:30
pm.
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Shoreham Fort Beach
8
June 2013
Adur World Oceans
Day
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Adur
was one of the UK leaders in presenting the thirteenth environmental exhibition
of World
Oceans Day on Coronation
Green,
Shoreham-by-Sea.
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. Nikki
Hills on behalf of the Sussex
Wildlife Trust produced an interactive
display on the sea and seashore for the younger age group. David
and Marion Wood produced a presentation about
Widewater
Lagoon (brackish lagoon) LNR. Exhibitors were able to find the time
to answer questions about marine life.
Other
participants included Southwick
Camera Club with an exhibition of seascapes and marine life, and Colin
Knight and Mark Colvin
with a butterfly presentation on the behalf of the Sussex
branch of the Butterfly
Conservation Society.
World
Oceans Day on Facebook
United
Nations: World Oceans Day.
5 June
2013
There
has been reports of a smelly plankton bloom in the sea and River
Adur. The offending organism is Phaeocystis.
The
live and dead plankton could be seen in the estuary
water and the visibility was severly impaired. As the salt water lapped
against the muddy shore, it looked the colour of orange juice in patches
and overall it was murky.
| 30
May 2013
Four small Common Starfish Asterias rubens, were discovered on Southwick Beach at the sea end ot the the most westerly of the syenite rock sea defences. |
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29
May 2013
An
overcast morning was a least dry and with little or no wind, it was the
first opportunity of a shrimping
expedition with the small one metre wide net to Lancing
Beach by Widewater on the low (0.2 metres) incoming tide
from 9:11 am.
There was disappointingly little caught apart from a pint of Brown
Shrimps, Crangon crangon,
one
small Common Hermit Crab,
Pagurus
bernhardus, and one South-clawed
Hermit Crab,
Diogenes
pugilator .
27
May 2013
In
an early evening visit to under Worthing
Pier at a very spring low tide, the notable
discoveries included one sub-adult 5-Bearded
Rockling, Ciliata
mustela,
two tiny thread-like juvenile
Butterfish,
Pholis
gunnellus, and one slightly large one, a smallish Velvet
Swimming Crab,
Necora
puber, one Dahlia
Anemone, Urticina felina,
and the usual species of crabs
and sea anemones,
although Snakelocks
Anemones,
Anemonia
viridis, were smaller and only occasionally
spotted.
Full
Rockpooling Report
26
May 2013
The
most interesting discovery on an early morning low spring tide
at Lancing Beach were two Small-headed
Clingfish, Apletodon
dentatus, which I had not seen since 2005.
Also of interest were a small Common Starfish
Asterias
rubens, and two Common
Hermit Crabs,
Pagurus bernhardus.
Full
Rockpooling Report
7 May
2013
On
Widewater Lagoon, a pair of Mute Swans
escorted six small cygnets,
and three Bar-tailed Godwits
probed repeatedly in the mud on the shore edge. A Swallow flew low
over the shingle.
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Bar-tailed
Godwits seem to be only a recent visitor to
the lagoon and
I have not recorded before the winter of 2012-13.
Previous
Report
2 May
2013
A
push-net shrimping expedition off Southwick
Beach, caught a meal of Brown Shrimp,
Crangon
crangon, plus some large venomous
Lesser
Weevers,
Echiichthys
vipera, as well as a few Sand
Sole, Pegusa lascaris
and 5-Bearded Rocklings,
Ciliata
mustela.
21
April 2013
Another
Dolphin
(or the same one as before?) was seen in the entrance to Shoreham Harbour.
14 April 2013
Bathed
by a weak sunshine and the welcome signs of a long awaited spring with
my first Swallow flying
low over the Adur mud flats seen from the southern end of the old Footbridge.
Later two adult Wall
Lizards,
Podarcis
muralis, poked their heads of the carnot
wall of the Old
Fort, Shoreham
Beach.. They were a bit tentative and skittered
back into their holes in the wall when they got nervous, but the second
lizard popped back out again about ten seconds later. The west facing wall
was heated by the sun (at 13.0 °C)
The
air temperature reached a high of 16.1 °C
at 4:00 pm. This
was easily the highest of the year so far. (This
reading seems like an anomaly.)
Shoreham
Weather 2013
Met
Office: Shoreham
4 March
2013
I
spotted by first reptile of the year: a single sandy coloured Wall
Lizard,
Podarcis
muralis, skittered
over the south facing wall of the Old
Fort, Shoreham Beach.
21
January 2013
There
was still some snow on the ground out of town and the downs were covered
in a white carpet. Even on the beach there was snow to be seen above the
high tide mark.
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Two
black Brent Geese
visited Widewater
where a male Kestrel
landed on the beach side of the car park near the bridge. A Meadow
Pipit perched on a chestnut fence. At
least one Teal
swam on the lagoon.
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10
January 2013
We
were amazed to see a Painted Lady Butterfly
flying north past Shoreham Old
Fort while out birding; our first butterfly
of 2013.
