Reports of marine wildlife from all around the British Isles, with pollution incidents and conservation initiatives as they affect the flora and fauna of the NE Atlantic Ocean

15 June 2012
A rare record of a Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, breaching in the Irish Sea was snapped at a distance by Peter Christian off the Isle of Man. This is an unprecedented event in British seas. 

9 June 2012

6 June 2012
A pod of half a dozen Killer Whales, Orcinus orca, were spotted in Loch Swilly a glacial fjord in County Donegal, north-west Ireland.

1 June 2012
An Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola, was seen underwater on a dive out of Seaford, East Sussex in choppy conditions. Although the Sunfish is spotted occasionally off southern and western coasts they are rarely reported from the eastern part of the English Channel. 

31 May 2012
Another successful rescue story as a 2.7 metres long sub-adult Risso’s Dolphin, Grampus griseus, stranded at Perrranporth, north Cornwall, is successfully returned to the sea through the efforts of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue using their pontoon system.

30 May 2012
A Silver Dory (=Sailfin Dory), Zenopsis conchifer, was caught by Pierro Le Cheminant from his trawler, Amy Blue, at the northern end of the Big Russel to the north of Sark, in the Channel Islands. The trawl at the edge of a reef netted this deep water (mesopelagic) Atlantic Ocean fish which is very rarely caught in British seas. The fish could be mistaken for John Dory, Zeus faber. 

29 May 2012
A pod of five to seven Minke Whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, were spotted by anglers from their boat off Hastings, East Sussex. Minke Whales are a very rare sight off the Sussex coast at any time of the year.

 The encounter lasted 15 minutes and this one minute clip showed three of the whales.

 

24 May 2012 This blenny was spotted at a depth of 12 metres at Eastern Kings, Plymouth. Its body was narrow, not deep like the Tompot, Parablennius gattorugine, about 150 mm long, has head tentacles, as you can see, but lacks noticeable dark face markings. Report & Photographs by Martin Palmer This is the Variegated Blenny Parablennius pilicornis. It is out of the known range of the latter blenny. It has been seen before at Plymouth on the same dive site.  Comments by Andy Horton BMLSS Blennies

23 May 2012
An exceptionally large Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus, was caught on road and line by Wayne Comben and Graeme Pullen and released 300 metres off Boscastle, north Cornwall. It was measured at about 10 ft (3 metres) long with a girth of about 2 ft (60 cm) which experts think was likely to be a pregnant female with an estimated weight of 550 lb (250 kg) and this would have exceeded the previously largest shark caught by an angler in British seas beating the previous 1993 world angling record for the species of 230 kg. The shark towed the small boat for a mile before it was hauled alongside. Even if it was possible to land the fish on to the boat, the Porbeagle is now a protected species under European Union (European Commission on Fisheries) legislation. 

22 May 2012

A Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, swam around our boat, one of four seen off the Isle of Man. Minke Whales are regular visitors in the seas around this large island in the Irish Sea, but they are rarely seen up close.
facebook Report
BMLSS Cetaceans
Whales & Dolphins in British Seas

FORUM NEWS

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Mailing Groups

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean 
Yahoo Group
New Group: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus

British Marine Life Study Society
facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/glaucus/

This Wall is now working properly and members can now post on it. This is designed for quick less important chatty news items. Photographs can be uploaded quickly which is only possible on the Yahoo Group by going to the web page. 

Images can be uploaded to flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/glaucus/

Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum Link
 
 
 

Lots of marine wildlife reports from Shetland on facebook Photographs include undersea, sea mammals and birds.  Click on the image to connect

Aquarium Display	Common Starfish

Using the Magnifying Glass	Long-clawed Porcelain Crab Long-legged Spider Crab Common Brittlestar

8 June 2012
As we set-up the exhibits in the marquee for Adur World Oceans Day 2012, on the exposed site next to the River Adur, we suffered the most horrendous conditions. White caps appeared on the waves driven diagonally across the river from the WSW in a constant Gale Force 7, gusting to Storm Force 10, constantly throughout the day without remission. 

Photographers submitting pictures should indicate if they wish them to be considered for inclusion as confirming permission takes work and time and can delay publication of the news bulletins. 
 

Click on the album for more links (On-line link)

NEW BOOK
 

This is a book about an ocean that vanished six million years ago: the ocean of Tethys, named after a Greek sea nymph.  The oceans are important to climate and environment, and therefore to life on Earth. The story of Tethys is also a story of extinctions, and floods, and extraordinary episodes such as the virtual drying up of the Mediterranean, before being filled again by a dramatic cascade of water over the straits of Gibraltar. 

Dorrik Stow
300 pages, 15 b/w illustrations and maps.
Oxford University Press
ISBN-13: 9780199214297
 
 

by Paul Kay & Frances Dipper 
£19.95 incl. p&p
Soft cover

With 256 pages and numerous photographs supported by drawings, this book is the most comprehensive photographic guide to marine fish currently available in the UK. Published for the Marine Conservation Society with support from the Countryside Council for Wales. 

Click on the image to order this book through the Marine Conservation Society

RECOMMENDED PURCHASE *****

July 2010

PS: A second revised edition of the book has been published. 

SEASHORE SAFARIS
 
 
 

Publisher: Graffeg
Publisher's Review (click on this text)
Review by the City and County of Swansea

This is the book I should have written (and I dare say a few others as well) and is a much needed introduction to the world of the seashore and the hobby of rockpooling. It is a photographic guide to most of the common species encountered which is much appreciated as newcomers and even experienced rockpoolers will try and match up what they have seen to a visual image (and photographs work better than line drawings) and this will usually get them the correct species, (unless there are two very alike species and then you will need a specialist identification guide like the Collins Guide to the Seashore).

However, the seashore is a rich and interesting habitat with a myriad of species and 225 pages of this large pocket guide are comprehensively covered to suit the enthusiast.

Extract from the foreword by Keith Hiscock:
"Being able to names to what you see and, better still, to use your observations to add to our knowledge about the natural world is what this book is about."

But the book for a popular audience is more than this. It starts from the assumption that the parents and teachers and older children are unfamiliar with the seashore environment.

RECOMMENDED PURCHASE *****

Not just a cookery book: you have to go down to the shore and catch or collect the food yourself. The 240 page hardback book (with an index) is exceptionally well produced in quality of the binding, paper as well as the quality of writing, information and clear useful colour photographs. It is well organised into nine chapters:
 
 

Sharks in British Seas Richard Peirce 138 pages, colour illustrations, line drawings, colour & b/w photos. Lots of newspaper reports. Publisher:  Shark Cornwall Softcover | 2008 | £9.99 ISBN: 978-0-955869402

Seashore by Lucy Beckett-Bowman Consultant: Andy Horton Usborne Publishing   £3.99 Usborne Beginners Series Level One (very young children) ISBN 978-0-7460-8864-7 BMLSS Notes for a Primary School Teacher

Whales & Dolphins
of the European Atlantic
The Bay of Biscay, English Channel, Celtic Sea and coastal SW Ireland
by Dylan Walker and Graeme Cresswell
with the illustrations by Robert Still
WILDGuides  2008
£ 12.00 (includes standard UK P&P)
ISBN:  978-1-903657-31-7

This is the second fully revised and updated edition of this comprehensive guide to the identification of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) in the European Atlantic. Until very recently, most researchers and whale-watchers were unaware of the great variety of cetaceans that can be seen so close to the shores of western Europe. Indeed, it is only during the last decade, when detailed cetacean surveys have been carried out in earnest, that we have discovered how important this area is for cetacean biodiversity.

This field guide describes all of the 31 species of whale, dolphin and porpoise that have occurred in the European Atlantic.
 

BMLSS Cetacean Book Reviews

 
 
 

Seashore (Collins New Naturalist) (Paperback) by Peter Hayward Collins 2004 ISBN:  0-00-220031-7 Amazon Web Site

Paperback. Pp 288. Colour & b/w photographs, illustrations, charts, maps and bibliography. Fine copy. "New Naturalist" Seashore is a comprehensive, authoritative account of the natural history of the seashore.
 

BMLSS General Guides
BMLSS Advanced Guides