LATEST
NEWS:
25
September 2018
Beluga
Whale
Photograph
by Neil Philips
A most
unexpected discovery of an all white Beluga
Whale, Delphinapterus
leucas, seen actively swimming in
the narrow part of the estuary of the River
Thames, was first spotted by ecologist and
ornithologist Dave Andrews,
who said it had been feeding around barges near Gravesend
in Kent. The video showed the whale looked in healthy condition despite
being thousands of miles from its normal home in Arctic seas.
22
June 2018
A tall
black fin appearing above the surface of the water in Plymouth
Sound was thought to be a rare appearance of a Killer
Whale, Orca
orcinus, off the south west coast
of England.
BMLSS
Cetacea
6 June
2018
Common
Octopus
Octopus
vulgaris
Photograph
Gallery by Philip
Shinton
At
the depth of ten metres off the Dorset coast I discovered my first Common
Octopus, Octopus
vulgaris, in thirty years of
diving. This was a very large octopus,
at tip to tip about two metres long and his head was about double the size
of a rugby ball. It seemed about as big as me. Octopuses
are usually nocturnal, but this one was active in the daytime.
The
Common
Octopus is most easily identified, if discovered
in the English Channel, by having two rows of suckers. A hearsay reports
says they were all wiped out in the cold winter of 1963.
This octopus
is a southern species at its northern biogeographical limit in winter off
British coasts.
BMLSS
Octopuses
18
May 2018
A
Bearded
Seal, Erignathus
barbatus, was spotted at Lerwick
in the Shetland Isles.
Bearded
Seals are a non-migratory Arctic species that feed on molluscs including
clams. Visits to the most northerly of the Scottish isles are rare and
newsworthy.
Previous
Report 2013
BMLSS
Seals
8
-10 March 2018
Walrus
Photograph
by Russell Neave
Click
on the above image for a short video recording
A
Walrus,
Odobenus
rosmarus rosmarus,
made
a visit
to the sea around North
Ronaldsay, (the most northern of the Orkney
Islands),. The sea mammal was spotted by Lewis
Hooper, a volunteer at North
Ronaldsay bird observatory. it slowly cruised past The Lurn, close
inshore, followed by a big flock of gulls before hauling out for a couple
of minutes on a small beach
On the
second day and the Walrus
hauled out on the rocky beach for a day on the island of Sanday
to the south.
The
Walrus
is an Arctic sea mammal and is only very rarely
seen in the seas surrounding the British Isles. It feeds mostly on molluscs.
" This
is a young one. They are known to roam quite widely for some time before
they return to the Arctic. Single individuals, usually males, have been
spotted along the Norwegian coast in recent years. One moved in to rest
on a small deck in a private marina in Northern Norway last winter, making
the access to the boats a bit difficult for some days. Some years ago one
even turned up along the Skagerrak coast, and almost made it in to Oslo,
Norway."
Previous
Report 2013
BMLSS
Pinnipeds
26
February & 5 March 2018
John
Coe and Aquarius
from the West
Coast Community of Killer Whales,
Orcinus
orca, were spotted by Nick
Massett in Dingle
Bay, Ireland, heading south. Exactly seven days before they were seen
off the north coast of the Isle
of Mull, Scotland.
BMLSS
Cetacea
British
Marine Life News 2012
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