| MARINE
LIFE NEWS
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
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.
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
FORUM
NEWS
Marine Wildlife
of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Mailing Groups
.jpg)
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
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 |
All
reports by Andy Horton unless the credits are given
to
other observers or reporters.
Cornish
Marine Wildlife (Ray Dennis Records) 2009
|
