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

24 February 2014
A small Zulu Fish, Capros aper, was discovered by Jess Hughes washed up dead on the shore at Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth, Cornwall. 

20 - 21 February 2014 

A six metre long Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, was washed ashore dead on the estuarine mud at South Swale, Isle of Sheppey, north Kent. The whale was present the second day, this time on the south side, just off Seasalter YC. The coastguards sent a tug from Sheerness and waited until the tide came in enough for them to put a rope around its tail then tow it to Sheerness for the autopsy. 

19 February 2014
A juvenile Loggerhead Turtle, Caretta caretta, was rescued after being washed up alive on Freshwater Beach West in Pembrokeshire, SW Wales. The 17 cm (6.7 in) male turtle was placed in a special quarantine tank at Bristol Aquarium where it is being treated before, hopefully, being returned to warmer Caribbean seas from where it had travelled across the Atlantic Ocean helped by the North Atlantic Gyre (Gulf Stream). 

18 February 2014
After the storms, a most extraordinary discovery of a rare Kemp's Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, washed up on Saltdean Beach, east Brighton, East Sussex, It was unbelievable as it is both the world's rarest sea turtle and thousands of miles out of its natural range, and unprecedented in the seas off Sussex. 
Kemp's Ridley Turtles are listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union, with only 35 previous records of the Kemp's Ridley species in UK and Irish waters. According to the Marine Conservation Society the latest estimates suggest that only a few thousand adult females still nest on only one stretch of beach on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

14 - 16 February 2014

The storms at the beginning of the months stripped away the sand and peat at the beach at Borth, Ceredigion, (in the Cardigan Bay part of the Welsh coast), revealing, on the low spring tides, an ancient submerged forest dated to the Bronze Age, 1500 BC or earlier. The stumps of ancient oak, pine, birch, willow and hazel (preserved by the acid anaerobic conditions in the peat) were revealed in greater extent where there used to be sand. Peat is highly combustible and despite the recent heavy rain (peat retains water) the peat bog inland of Borth caught fire. 

6 February 2014 Scores of Mantis Shrimps, Rissoides desmaresti, were washed ashore at Felpham, near Bognor Regis, West Sussex. They were discovered by Mike Burgess on the strandline. The records from this area were only in ones or twos before. Report and Photograph by Mike Burgess

3 -- 6 February 2014
 

More storms battered the coast of Cornwall combining with high spring tides, causing flooding and damage, notably at Looe, south Cornwall. On 5 February 2014, the waves wrecked the sea defences and resulted in the closure of the railway main line from Exeter to Penzance. The railway track was undermined at Dawlish by the collapse of the sea wall and ballast. 

Sperm Whale Photograph by Colin Arthur	Sperm Whale Photograph by Gary Fox

After the recent storms it is was only expected that at least one large whale would be washed ashore. A young 13.8 metre long Sperm Whale, Physeter catodon, was found dead on the mud at Joppa Beach near Edinburgh, on the east coast of Scotland.

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

After the storms, Lumpsuckers are one of the unfortunate species of species of fish that have been found dead along the strandline. They breed in shallow seas just off the coast, the male fish guarding the eggs (image, above right) and attached to a boulder or bedrock by a strong sucker that is its pelvic fin on the underside of this strange rugby ball-sized  fish. In the southern part of the range (e.g. the English Channel) of this northern Atlantic fish, breeds from February to May so it is vulnerable to early year storms, Breeding may be later off Scotland and its islands. This is the largest fish that uses the shallow seas and even the intertidal zone as part of its life cycle where it is vulnerable to attack by Seals and Otters. On English Channel coasts, the fry of this fish are the first to be seen in small shoals of pea shaped fry from March to June. By August they attain the size of a table tennis ball and may be seen swimming in circles near the surface. As adults they are mostly bottom dwelling or mid-water fish in the colder seas. Its most southerly area of distribution is the English Channel.
They are also known as Paddlecocksby Scottish fishermen. 
 
 

The cliffs at Burton Bradstock, Dorset, mostly comprise the 180 million year old Bridport Sand Formation, a grey, brownish (weathering to a yellow colour), micaceous silt and fine-grained sandstone with stronger sandstone beds occurring irregularly throughout the succession, typically every metre or so. 
The rock is excessively crumbly and large cliff falls were anticipated during the storms of late January and early February 2014. A major rock fall occurred over night on 15 - 16 January 2014. Just water soaking into the rocks from prolonged rain can cause dangerous landslides on their own. These landslides can occur without warning on a sunny day after periods of bad weather. 

"Don't step too near the edge!" Erosion of soft chalk cliffs can occur after pounding at the base of the cliff, the power of the sea undermining the cliff face from below and by rain water in the porous chalk expanding (typically by freezing) and retracting causing sudden and treacherous landslides with little or no warning. In the storms of early 2014 in late January and February, the chalk cliffs of Birling Gap on the East Sussex coast suffered years of erosion in a period of six weeks of gales and storms. A three metres wide stretch of the cliff was lost in places. The beach and viewing platform at the top of the cliff have been closed to the public. 

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)

 

Publisher: marine scotland

Scotland's Marine Atlas

Scotland's Marine Atlas is an assessment of the condition of Scotland's seas, based on scientific evidence from data and analysis and supported by expert judgement.

Click on the image for the free publication. 
 

Published: 27 March 2013 
ISBN (EPUB): 9781782564485 
ISBN (MOBI): 9781782564478 

EBook Reader Software (Adobe Digital Editions)
Change the font size to small for square monitors.

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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.
 

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