Electronic News Service                                                     ISSN  1464-8156

On August 11th most eyes will glance towards the celestial bodies, as in Cornwall and parts of the English Channel the Moon will be seen to move directly in front of the Sun.  If the weather is favourable, viewers in a path about 100 km (62 miles) wide will be able to see a total solar eclipse. This path is known as the “zone of totality, or annularity”. Because the Earth is rotating whilst on its journey around the Sun, while the Moon revolves around the Earth, the narrow shadow of the Moon moves rapidly from west to east (at about 3,200 k.p.h. or 2,000 m.p.h.) across the Earth. 

Zone of Totality 

In a 13 km (8 miles) wide band in the centre of this zone the total eclipse will occur for about 2 minutes. This will be seen first over Cornwall south of Truro from 11.10 am BST, and will move rapidly across the English Channel to fall over the French coast between le Haura and Dieppe. The centre of the eclipse track falls over Swanpool Beach in south Falmouth. A total eclipse can be seen for a shorter period over the whole of Cornwall; at Padstow the duration will be just over a minute, during which the day will be turned almost as dark as night. 

Partial Solar Eclipse 

A partial eclipse occurs before and after a total eclipse, and can be seen over a much larger area. In Cornwall, the Moon will start to obscure the Sun at 9.55 am BST and the partial eclipse will last for over 2 hours. In the other parts of Britain a total eclipse will not occur, and in London the best that viewers will see will be a crescent Sun at 96% coverage. This is not nearly so impressive as a total solar eclipse; the remaining sunlight will still be far too bright to see the corona. 

Weather 1998

In 1998 the weather at the beginning of August was awful with tornados filmed off Scotland. By the 11th it had cleared up. 

News Item

Devon Wildlife Trust

Wembury Bay  Rockpool Rambles
Contact  Wembury Marine Centre  Tel:  01752 862538

Leaflet from Devon Wildlife Trust  Tel:  01392 279244.

Coastal Visitors Centre
Salisbury Gardens
Dudley Road
Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1EJ

Tel:  01983 855400
EMail: coastcent@iwight.gov.uk

The Centre covers many aspects of the coastal zone, which include coastal flora and fauna, marine and inter-tidal archaeology, coastal defence and particularly coastal instability issues.

Husavik

The Whale Watch capital in Iceland is based at Husavik.  Sights include Blue Whales, Humpbacks, Orca, Minkes and Sei Whales, dolphins, porpoises, plus Northern Bottle-nosed Whales.

The page for whale and dolphin spotting around Britain has not been prepared yet.  If you are interested in marine wildlife, including marine mammals, and are planning a holiday in the UK, especially Scotland, it is work clicking on the image "SeaProbe" and having a look at the page:

Also

New Quay Dolphin Monitoring Group, Cardigan Bay, Wales
http://www.ceinewydd.co.uk/

Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the Moray Firth
http://www.highlanderweb.co.uk/dolphins.htm

Cornwall:
Dolphins are reported from the south coast of Cornwall regularly during the summer. The Lizard peninsula is a good vantage point. 

Shetland Isles:
Sumburgh Head, the southernmost trip is a regular spot for spotting whales and dolphins as is the ferry to the islands.
 

For more cetacean reports click on the Shetland logo below:

The discovery of an Ormer, Haliotis tuberculata, on the Devon coast reported in the special Bulletin to members has now be found to be completely wrong. This was because of a mistake in identification by Andy Horton, which became apparent (Jan Light spotted it first) when the photograph can back from the processors, and then confirmed after the abalone died and even I could see, from the nacreous inside of the shell, it was blatantly not a European species of Ormer. 

It has now been identified as an East African species Haliotis rugosa, Lamarck, 1822 (non Reeve, 1846). It was identified by Daniel L.Geiger, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, (thanks) from the same scanned images on the web site below. 

The abalone/ormer is thought to have entered Richard's tank through the marine aquarium trade. 

A Full Report is in preparation. If you want to look at the photograph of the abalone and check it out yourself and find some scanned images of a species that is not included in the popular books, go to the web page:

ormerp.htm

Green Ormer Database file

5 July 1999
Numerous people (at least 8) have been treated in hospital for Lion's Mane Jellyfish, Cyanea capillata, stings of the north-east coast of England. This Arctic species has blown inshore by the north-easterly winds

  Lion's Mane Jellyfish

Jellyfish of various sizes, were seen between the north and south piers at  Roker, Sunderland, the majority were purple in colour. At least one was roughly the size of a dustbin lid. More information.

BMLSS Moon & other Jellyfish page

Norwegian Marine ***
These web pages are recommended for photographs of Jellyfish

18 July 1999
Fishing and farming for the King Scallop, Pecten maximus, and the Queen Scallop, Aequipecten opercularis  was banned off the west coast and islands of Scotland because of a build up of a naturally occuring toxin in the flesh of the scallop. The ban covered 8000 square miles from the Outer Hebrides south to the islands of Jura and Islay. 

The effects of the toxin is called Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning and the symptoms when injested by humans include memory loss, headaches, vomiting, and even death in serious cases. 

29 June 1999
Seahenge
Archaeologists from English Heritage planned the removal of the Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC) circle of wooden posts (discovered in November 1998, near Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, when the sea eroded the peat protecting the Monument) known as Seahenge (or Woodhenge) just 7 days after the Summer Solstice. The Monument is being dug up and moved to the Flag Fen Centre near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, to prevent it being eroded and destroyed by the sea, and for further study.
Woodhenge Site (with an excellent photograph and lots of information)
http://druidry.org/obod/text/news/woodhenge.html
BBC News site: 
http://193.130.149.130/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_353000/353337.stm

23 June 1999
Three species of large cetacean were seen off Sumburgh Head, the most southerly headland of the Shetland Isles. These include two species of large baleen whales, with two Humpback Whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, and five Minke Whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, together with the ominous presence of five predatory Killer Whales, Orcinus orca.
These large cetaceans were also reported from the same area on 5 July 1999.
Shetland Wildlife News Web Site
BMLSS Cetacean Page

June 1999
An Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, is hunting around Stanbury Point, Thorney Island, (the large peninsula in Chichester Harbour, West Sussex) near where there is a roost of 10 Little Egrets, Egretta egretta.
Havant Nature Notes

19 June 1999
A Grey Seal, Halichoerus grypus, was spotted in the fresh water reaches of the River Severn. Grey Seals usually inhabit the sea where there is more food and visits to fresh water are uncommon.

Welsh Seals
Grey Seals have been observed feeding on Sewin (Sea Trout) in the River Tawe that enters the Bristol Channel past a weir at Swansea.    Welsh Report from Dr Michael Isaac.

3 June 1999
A pup has been born on the rookery of a half a dozen Common Seals, Phoca vitulina, on the Pilsey Sands, Chichester Harbour, West Sussex. Seals are uncommon between the Isle of Wight and Dover on the English Channel coast, the total is only about 12.
Ralph Hollins Nature Pages

 BMLSS Report Forms

Height = 13 mm

Can anybody identify this sea anemone found on the Cornish shore, SW England?
EMail: Simon Birch, simon.birch@virgin.net

August 1999

• Andy Horton's Shore Watch column in the Aquarist & Pondkeeper magazine:

by F E Moen & E Svenson
ISBN  82-9082349-5

The text is written in Norwegian, but an English version is planned. For sample photographs go the web site below:

NORWEGIAN MARINE WILDLIFE

Link to sample page of the book so you can see how the text is laid out.

None

Life on the seashore
Life in the sea
The diversity of life
The animal kingdom
The ecology of the sea
Marine ecosystems
Exploitation and conservation of the marine environment.

The contact for a leaflet, details, etc is Heather Blackburn on 0115 951 3734,
ce-ugs@nottingham.ac.uk or try URL= http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cont-ed.

The fees are quite high since the government removed subsidies but reducable for low income earners.

Regards

Andy Colls
EMail:andy@collsj.freeserve.co.uk

 Sue Daly produces a Creature Feature every month on her web site.

We had orginally planned to bring this service to our  members. However, as Sue is already producing this series, I have decided to devote my energies to producing other information. 
 

     Featured Species:     Limpets, Patella

A similar exhibition is planned for the year 2000. 
Print photographs should be sent in to Glaucus House from March 2000. They could also be used on the BMLSS web sites.
However, if you have a large selection of your own photographs, I would suggest that you should arrange your own exhibitions at a Local Library or similar venue. We will help to advertise the event. 

World Oceans Day:  Details of the BMLSS Exhibitions:

This is a simple project or request to members and readers of this Bulletin. It is to take pictures of the coast when you are next down on the shore. Even general views have value, but ideally we would like photographs of the shore showing the type of rock, topography and rock pools, dominant fauna, and information that cannot be described adequately by words on the Report Cards. The name of the particular coast should be included and the grid reference, if known. Print photographs can be included in Exhibitions and on the BMLSS Web Sites and electronic publications. Electronic images in *.JPG format can also be considered for the web site. Transparency photographs are the best choice of film but these cannot be transferred to the web pages at the present time, but these will be suitable in the future. 

This small wild plant is found in only two known locations on the south coast of England. This very small colony is found on the tiny (about a square metre) remnant of sand dune on Shoreham Beach, West Sussex. It is a true member of the Pink family Caryophyllaceae. It is so vulnerable to trampling that is a surprise that the plant still exists. It is inconspicuous and diffcult to estimate its numbers. Its survival may be because other plants cannot colonise its natural habitat. Rabbits may present a danger in the future. 

The British Marine Life Study Society Web Site has been included as an Encylopaedia Britannica Recommended Site and included on the BBC On-line Internet Guide.
 
 

NEW
The WaterWeb Ring [ Prev 5 | Prev | Random | Next | Next 5 ]                          [ List | Add ]	The Water Web Ring
Friends of the Earth SSSI Navigator http://www.foe.co.uk/wildplaces/intros/intro2.html	Useful site to identify SSSIs  If the URL has changed,  please go to the FOE Homepage.
	BIOSIS and the  Zoological Society of London
Biodiversity News (JNCC)	Regular News Bulletins
U.K ANGLER'S SHARKS, SKATES AND RAYS	For anybody interested in British sharks, this site is a must.
CoralRealm	"A coral reef marine life education web site with 1000 fish, sharks and rays in a searchable database."
The Museum of Paleontology University of California, Berkeley	Probably the best site on the Internet for biological information about groups of organisms Click on the Cowrie to go to the site

Dungeness, Kent, England Orford Ness:  Coastal Ecology of a Shingle Bank (excellent references) Rye Harbour Nature Reserve Shoreham Beach	Shingle Beach sites
Worldwide Sea Anemone DataBase(External Site)

Aquarium Net	Internet Publication for aquarists with extensive marine coverage.  Very Good.
Fishing News Homepage	Recommended, especially for books.
	Contains information on seals and   photographs.
Seaweb	Links and News Bulletins
ENN (Environmental) News  ***	News and campaigns
Planet Ark (Reuters)	News
Sea Mammal Research Unit	Update on seal populations, diets,   telemetry  etc.
Profusion Search Method	One of the best Search methods for   environment and serious information.  Multiple Search Engines.  It is a good tip to used the Advanced features  like typing in a Phrase.
Capt. Tom's Guide to New England   Sharks, USA	Really useful stuff on shark recognition.

BMLSS  GATEWAY 1

BMLSS  GATEWAY 2:   Britain & Europe

BMLSS  GATEWAY 3:   America & the Rest of the World

UK BIODIVERSITY
FISHBASE FISHFINDER
CHANNEL ISLANDS MARINE WILDLIFE PAGE
NORWEGIAN MARINE WILDLIFE
PUBLIC AQUARIA DATABASE
SHETLAND NEWS WEBSITE
BRITISH MARINE FISH DATABASE (UK SEA FISHING)
including the EBlast Internet Search method
BBC Web Guide
SHARK TRUST (EUROPEAN ELASMOBRANCH ASSOCIATION BRITISH BRANCH)
FRANK BUCKLAND & THE BUCKLAND FOUNDATION
MarLIN Marine Life Information Network
National Geographic
Dept. of the Environment, Transport & the Regions  - Press Releases -
EUCC   European Union for Coastal Conservation
Aquatic Conservation Network

UK DIVING INFORMATION

DIVER MAGAZINE

BRITISH SUB-AQUA CLUB

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