LATEST
NEWS:
30
December 2015
Another
Kemp's
Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii,
was
washed ashore dead on Chesil
Beach
in Dorset, west of
West
Bexington.
BMLSS
Turtles
29
December 2015
Ammonites
from Charmouth
Photographs
by Doug Chalk
A mudslide
on Charmouth
Beach, Dorset, attracted fossil hunters underneath the unstable cliff
for ammonites etc. on a pleasant December day, turning to rain with the
cliff battered by waves and Near Gale Force (Force
6 gusting to Gale
Force 8) winds.
Geology
of East Charmouth
Late
November - December 2015
Debris
washed across the Atlantic Oceans housed pelagic
visitors rarely, if ever, recorded in British seas. The finds included
Florida
Rock Shells, Stramonita
floridana, found by Steve
Trewhella living on a Goose
Barnacle covered long line buoy found at Chapmans
Pool, Dorset; over fifty tiny Columbus
Crabs,
Planes minutus. amongst
the wrecks; miniature amphipods Caprella andreae;
and a very special find of the tubes of the tiny Thimble
Jellyfish Linuche
unguiculata,
by Steve Trewhella
on Chesil Beach,
and by David
Fenwick Snr in Cornwall on flotsam.
|
 |
|
|
Cerithium
litteratum
|
Stramonita
floridana
|
Linuche
unguiculata
|
Also,
three 60 mm long native sipunculans Phascolosoma
(Phascolosoma) granulatum were
found inside a buoy with seven Columbus Crabs
washed ashore on Cornwall. In November
another vagrant washed in from America was the Pretty
Jewel Box, Chama
florida. Tracey
Williams found a Scotty
bait pot on a beach near Newquay,
Cornwall, which contained ten attractive shells of Cerithium
litteratum, a Caribbean gastropod
mollusc
never seen before on British mainland shores.
The
snails would have entered the pot as larvae, living on algae growing on
the inside. David Fenwick Snr also
discovered the bivalve mollusc shells
of the Crested Oyster Ostrea
equestris, Isognomon
bicolor and Isognomon
radiatus all attached to the same
bucket washed ashore at Marazion,
south Cornwall.
List
of trans-Atlantic rafting species (Aphotomarine)
BMLSS
Strandlining/Beachcombing
November
- December 2015
Thousands
of clumps of Goose Barnacles,
Lepas
anatifera, attached to floating objects
have been washed ashore all along the south coast from Cornwall to Kent.
Those strandings occur very year, but it seems
that more than the usual number were discovered this winter. Diligent beachcombers
have discovered the tiny Columbus Crabs,
Planes
minutus. amongst the wrecks, as well
as few of the other pelagic
Goose Barnacles like Lepas
anserifera.
Stalked
Barnacles on Aphotomarine (by Dave Fenwick)
Barnacles
at Aphotomarine
Thousands
of By-the-wind Sailors,
Velella
velella, were washed ashore on various
beaches in the south and west.
23
December 2015
A
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was rescued at Chapmans
Pool, Dorset.
Two other
Loggerhead
Turtles were washed ashore dead on the
Welsh coast.
BMLSS
Loggerhead Turtle Reports
12
December 2015
A
Kemp's
Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii,
washed
ashore at Aberystwyth
was still alive and is now in rehabilitation.
These
endangered turtles breed on the coasts of Mexico
and are usually found in the Gulf
of Mexico and was thought to have blown across the Atlantic Ocean.
The turtle is likely to have suffered in the cold seas and would have succumbed
if they had not been rescued.
BMLSS
Turtles
8
December 2015
An
astonishing discovery of the remains of a significant
complex of Bronze Age buildings were revealed
on a kilometre stretch of beach at Tres
Ness on the island of Sanday
in the Orkney Islands.
The four thousand year old remains of 14 houses and stone tools, including
knives, were uncovered by wind and sea that moved the sand dunes which
had hidden them for over three millennia.
According
to Professor
Jane Downes, the scale of the Sanday discoveries
is unparalleled in Orkney. ""This must be one of the biggest complexes
of Bronze Age settlement in the Scottish isles, rivalling the spreads of
hut circles in other parts of mainland Scotland." NB:
The stones have in part been uncovered before but not identified as anything
exceptional.
7
December 2015
A
Green
Turtle, Chelonia
mydas, was found dead stranded
at Porthmadog in
Gwynedd, Wales. The approximately 25 cm long turtle was thought to have
possibly initially stranded alive, given its very fresh condition. The
body of the turtle was recovered from the beach by Gwynedd Maritime Services
and then taken to RSPCA Colwyn Bay for storage prior to pickup and transport
for post-mortem examination by the Cetacean
Strandings Investigation Programme UK (CSIP). This
is only the ninth record of this inhabitant of tropical seas (including
the Atlantic coast of Spain and the Mediterranean Sea) found in the sea
or on the shore around the British Isles.
Previous
Record
6
December 2015
A
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was washed ashore alive but in a moribund condition on
the south-west Scotland shore in Ayrshire.
It was moved to Scottish Sea
Life Sanctuary (SSLS) in Oban, Argyll and Bute, for recovery and rehabilitation
at but died of hypothermia
on 9 December 2015.
The
problem is the seas around the British Isles are too cold for this tropical
turtle.
BMLSS
Turtles
27
November 2015
Goose
Barnacles on Space Rocket
Photograph
by Tresco Boatman
A large
part of a space rocket floated across the Atlantic Ocean from Florida and
acquired a large colony of Goose Barnacles on its one year journey.
It eventually beached on Tresco,
Isles
of Scilly, with the assistance of local fishermen..
BMLSS
Barnacles
BMLSS
Strandline
26
November 2015
Stranded
Juvenile Fin Whale
Cetacean
Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP)
A 10
metres long juvenile Fin Whale,
Balaenoptera
physalus, was washed ashore dead at Cleethorpes
Beach, Lincolnshire. The over night tide washed the body of the huge
whale off the beach and back into the Humber estuary
A
long distant vagrant bird, a Pacific Diver,
Gavia
pacifica, turned up again at Marazion,
Cornwall, where it had been seen in previous years. This
bird is a North American bird whereas the similar Black
throated Diver, Gavia
arctica, is the one found in eastern
Eurasia.
Recent
Reports 2015
Avibase
Loon
ID
Pacific
Diver 2009
25
November 2015
Mauve
Stingers at Perranporth
Photographs
by David Fenwick Snr
Ten
thousands of very small (about 20 mm diameter) Mauve
Stingers, Pelagia
noctiluca were washed ashore on Cornish
beaches, notably at Perranporth
and Porthtowan
and other locations on the exposed north coast of Cornwall. This
small jellyfish has a reputation a a stinger.
BMLSS
Jellyfish
Jellywatch
November
2015
Comber
Photograph
by Douglas Herdson
An
adult Comber, Serranus
cabrilla, of 440 g was caught by a
beam trawler south of Start Point, Devon. A
southern species, a small member of the grouper (Serranidae)
family, turns up from time to time in southern Britain.
Previous
Report
24
October 2015
Anemonactis
mazeli
Photograph
by Peter Bardsley
The
small deep water sea anemone Anemonactis
mazeli was discovered and photographed
for the first time by Peter
Bardsley in shallow water (15 metres)
at two sites in Loch
Duich, south Skye, Scotland. It was only rarely recorded in the distant
past and as a burrowing anemone in mud it is hard to find.
MarLIN
Species Record
18
October 2015
A
two metre long
Porbeagle Shark,
Lamna
nasus, was the unfortunate victim of a net and was washed ashore
dead on Chesil Beach. The body of the shark was returned to sea, as commercial
fishermen in the EU are prohibited from landing Porbeagle
Sharks.
BMLSS
Porbeagle Shark
Underwater
Explorers: Chesil Beach Project
14
October 2015
A
huge 12 metres long whale washed ashore dead in a smelly condition at Botany
Bay, near Margate, Kent, was identified as a juvenile female
Fin
Whale, Balaenoptera
physalus.
BMLSS
Beachcombing
Beachcombing
on facebook
4
October 2015
Several
pods of Risso's Dolphins,
Grampus griseus, were
observed off the coast of Anglesey, north Wales, from the vantage points
overlooking Bull
Bay and from nearby Point
Lynas. A sea trip by Dr
Peter Evans discovered an unprecedented
fifty plus of these dolphins, generally swimming westwards. Their
main diet is squid
and these dolphins
are usually seen in small groups.
BMLSS
Cetacea
BMLSS
Whales & Dolphins in British Seas
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Marine Life Study Society
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