2006

Adur Flood Plain

Chalk Downs

Coastal Fringe

Intertidal (Seashore)

River Adur Estuary

Lancing Nature Blogspot

Sea (off Sussex)

Town & Gardens

Widewater Lagoon

Garden Bird List 2006

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overview
 
 

Link to the Marine Life Reports (Sussex) 2007

31 December 2006
A dead Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, was discovered on Rottingdean beach east of Brighton amongst dozens of dead Starfish, Asterias rubens. 

30 December 2006
Thousands of dead Common Starfish, Asterias rubens were found on Seaford Head beach, East Sussex, and in amongst the rocks as the tide receded.

19 December 2006
More, about sixty, small Goose Barnacles, Lepas anatifera, were discovered on a piece of wood stranded on Shoreham Beach (Ferry Road). 

16 December 2006
A badly decomposed Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was washed ashore on Selsey beach, West Sussex. There was much remaining of this large turtle, but the distinctive outer shell and at least one flipper is seen in the photograph by Justin Atkinson.

9 - 10 December 2006 A two metre long Conger Eel, Conger conger, was washed up dead on Shoreham Beach after the gales.  Report and Photograph by Dave Mason

29 November 2006
About a hundred small Goose Barnacles, Lepas anatifera, were seen washed up attached to a broken plastic fish box on the strandline of Shoreham Beach (Ferry  Road access) after the recent southerly gales. 

2 October 2006   6:45 to 6:55 am
A whirlwind for seen for several minutes off Brighton beach, Sussex. The reports said it was not a waterspout as the funnel cloud did not reach the sea. 
Eyewitness: Peter Machin

23 September 2006
We dived in Brighton Marina in the same area (near the entrance) that the adult Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, was discovered in June, and over a period of a few hours we spotted about a dozen juvenile Seahorses ranging in size from 10 to 25 mm. They were not all found together. This looks as if there is a population breeding in the marina. 

Seahorse     Photograph by Michelle Legg

All Seahorses are a protected species in British seas and collection for whatever reason is illegal. 
 

My basset dog found a Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, just east of Splash Point on Worthing beach. My dog Maurice regularly finds remains on the strandline and he usually eats what he discovers. The Seahorse was found at high tide.   Report & Photograph by Mark Hyadon BMLSS Seahorses Marine Life News (Summer 2006)

18 August 2006

A single Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, was spotted by kayaker Martin Edmonds as the sun below the horizon off Shoreham Beach.

1 August 2006
Another Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, was discovered washed up on the strandline, near Brighton Pier (=Palace Pier) by beginning of Volk’s Railway (TQ 315038). The finder was a Mr J Chapman.

20 July 2006

1 July 2006
Swimming amongst large numbers of Moon Jellyfish just inside the lock gates at Shoreham Harbour, was an impressive large 150 cm (5 ft) Conger Eel that seemed quite keen to reach the open sea.

15 June 2006
The River Walks TV company with Charlie Dimmick filmed on Lancing beach (at the Shoreham end near Widewater), referred to as Shoreham-by-Sea, featured shrimping with Peter Talbot-Elsden (British Marine Life Study Society).

12 June 2006
My son and I watched a seal off Hove beach for about a half an hour.  We were walking from Hove Lagoon towards Brighton when we spotted it and it swam parallel to the shoreline in an easterly direction all the way from Hove Lagoon past the King Alfred then must have gone out to sea. 

10 June 2006

Adur was one of the UK leaders in presenting an environmental exhibition of World Oceans Day on Coronation Green, Shoreham, as part of the Adur Festival.

Adur World Oceans Day 2006 was bathed in a heatwave, but the show was over before the warmest day of the year so far was recorded as the air temperature measured 25.8 ºC at 5:40 pm. The crowds were concentrated in the morning because of the dubious alternative afternoon attraction of England versus Paraguay in the World Cup 2006. 
 

Len and Wayne Nevell and Samantha (British Marine Life Study Society), and Marc Abraham (PETS) presented the lobster and large crustacean display, Andy Horton (BMLSS) with the rockpool aquaria, John Knight and Kathy Eels (West Sussex County Council Rural Strategy Unit) with the strandline display, David and Marion Wood (FOWL) with the shingle flora photographs, Dee Christensen (Nature Coast Project) with the help of the Beach Wardens, Steve Savage (Sea Watch Foundation) dolphins exhibit and ORCA (Organisation Cetacea), the national cetacean group based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Images 2006

Shoreham Beach Nature Reserve was declared at Adur World Oceans Day 2006.

c. 8 June 2006
A Sea Horse, Hippocampus sp., was spotted and collected in a bucket by Edward Wilson (aged 8) near the entrance of the outer harbour of Brighton Marina, Sussex. The adult fish of an estimated height of 150 mm (6 inches) was seen to swim away in a healthy condition. The identification was confirmed by a photograph. Sea Horses were regarded as rare from the seas off Sussex until this year. 

28 May 2006
Two miles out of Shoreham Harbour, we saw a large Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus,  which played around the yacht for some time and then headed towards Hove at about 4:30 pm.

28 April 2006
An extremely interesting report of three Sea Horses, Hippocampus hippocampus* reported by Southwick fishermen; the fishermen say they are the first caught for several years and other fishermen are reporting them in their fixed nets several miles offshore. The identity of these fish has not been verified personally, but Sea Horses are known to be rarely captured from the Sussex coast.
(*The species, one of two, is not known.)

Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, washed up on the beach at Felpham (near Bognor Regis) West Sussex in late March 2006. Photograph by Dee Christensen (Nature Coast Project)

BMLSS Seahorses
 

27 April 2006 The small crustacean on the right was discovered on the shore at Eastbourne, Sussex.   Report by Dr Gerald Legg (Booth Museum) This is Alpheus, the Snapping Prawn and not Axius. Note the absence of the triangular plate that extends to a minor rostrum between the eyes. It is Alpheus macrocheles, a scarce species found on the south coast of the British Isles (in British seas). ID help from the CRUST-L Forum

18 March 2006
We were out sailing from Brighton Marina on Saturday and we had two dolphins, (I believe they were Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus), around the boat. They stayed around for a while and then headed east. 

28 February 2006
A single Great crested Grebe with a very white breast was seen diving under the water off Weald Dyke, Shoreham Beach, in the shallows on an ebbing tide just below the rock sea defences. 

Great crested Grebe
Photograph by Noel Cornwall

24 February 2006
An oiled and very old and worn Grey Seal, Halichoerus grypus, was washed up on the rocky shore at Cuckmere Haven (near the Seven Sisters), East Sussex. It was at the end of its life span and was euthanised. 
NB: Grey Seals are almost unknown off Sussex, where the Common Seal is only occasionally seen.

29 January 2006
A Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, had washed up dead on the beach west of Grand Avenue Worthing West Sussex, and the fish was beginning to smell a bit. 

16 January 2006
A bright orange Red Band Fish, Cepola rubescens, was discovered alive but in a moribund state in a rockpool on the shore of Pevensey Bay in East Sussex. This fish is rarely recorded as it lives in burrows in the sea bed offshore. This is one fish that has been discovered more often since we have ben recording its occurrence and it seems quite widespread around the coasts of the British Isles. 

Link to the Sussex Marine Life Reports for 2005

Marine Life of Sussex 2005

Sussex Sea Fisheries District Committee

Adur Coastal 2006

Adur Nature Notes 2005:   Index Page