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
 
 

20 January 2012
At least six Fin Whales, Balaenoptera physalis, up to 20 metres long, were spotted swimming rapidly on and near the surface. These baleen whales were feeding on Herring off Waterford and County Wexford on the south-east coast of Ireland (St. George's Channel). There have been regular reports from this area plotted on the map by the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group. 

18 January 2012
An influx of Arctic species of gulls into the Scotland and the north of Ireland and England has been notable during the coldest month of the year. A rarity was the appearance of a Ross's Gull, Rhodostethia rosea, at Ardglass, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was seen from the harbour wall at the mouth of the harbour entrance, found at 3:20 pm, and viewed until dark. This was the first Ross's Gull for Northern Ireland in 14 years. Eight Iceland Gulls, Larus glaucoides, and three Glaucous Gulls, Larus hyperboreus, were also noted. 

An Iceland Gull, Larus glaucoides, was attacked by an Otter, Lutra lutra, in Baltasound, Shetland Islands. 
Image

Ross's Gull @ Ardglass Harbour Photograph by Craig Nash Peregrine's Bird Blog	Bonaparte's Gull @ Ballygalley Photograph by Kenny & Pauline Majury Northern Ireland Birds & Wildlife

15 January 2012
There were two reports of a Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaengliae, off Aberdeen on the north-east of Scotland. 

The Bonaparte's Gull, Chroicocephalus philadelphia, is the American equivalent of the Black-headed Gull. One was spotted at Ballygalley, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on numerous (over 50) occasions. This was the first one seen in Northern Ireland since 1998.

14 January 2012
A smelly decomposed carcass of a long dead whale washed ashore by the fishermen's huts beneath the cliff at Marwick, Birsay, Orkney Islands, attracted the arctic gulls in like a magnet. Iceland Gulls, Larus glaucoides, and Glaucous Gulls, Larus hyperboreus, were joined by the far rarer Kumlien's Gull, Larus glaucoides kumlieni. "With such a large amount of carrion there is little desire to flee being shown by the birds and at times it was hard to tell who was drooling the most the feasting gulls or the throng of birders atop of the adjoining cliff."

Blubber image by Lorna Whittle	A phalange bone out of a flipper from the cetacean by Orkney Birding

A rare American immigrant Kumlien's Gull, Larus glaucoides kumlieni, was photographed in Galway Harbour on the west coast of Ireland.  The bird on the left is a common Black-headed Gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus.    Picture Report on the Irish Birds in Flight on flickr Photograph by Stephen Lawlor Kumlien's Gull ID Notes

13 January 2012
A a pod of about a dozen Risso's Dolphins, Grampus griseus, was spotted by fisherman Rodger Clarke off Abercastle, about ten miles south of Strumble Head, SW Wales. 

The Cardigan lifeboat responding to call to five miles north of Poppit was surrounded by a large pod of over a hundred Common Dolphins, Delphinus delphis, in Cardigan Bay, Wales, on its return.

January 2012 Two small Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax nivalis, were well camouflaged amongst the pebbles on Shoreham Beach, Sussex, feeding on seed provided for them and attracting a handful of birdwatchers with telephoto lens. Snow Buntings are a very scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to the Adur area. These birds were first reported on 27 November 2011 and were still around on 17 January 2012.  Adur Nature Notes (January 2012)   More Reports on Sussex Ornithological Society News

10 January 2012

A three metre long shark was spotted cruising the shallow seas off Exmouth in south Devon.

6 January 2012
An Iceland Gull, Larus glaucoides, was photographed on Shoreham Beach, on the seaward side of the west arm of the harbour from late morning to 1.15 pm. The Iceland Gull is a very scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to Sussex. 

4 January 2012
A two metre long Blue Shark, Prionace glauca, was washed up alive on to the beach at West Bay, Dorset, and hauled back into the water by Jeannette Longley, but it was found dead on the shore at Burton Bradstock shortly afterwards.

3 January 2012
A young Kemp's Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, was discovered on the shore at Tresilian Bay, near Llantwit Major, on the south Wales coast. This was the second of these young turtles discovered dead after the gales since Christmas 2011. These endangered turtles breed on the coasts of Mexico and are usually found in the Gulf of Mexico and were thought to have blown across the Atlantic Ocean. The turtles are likely to have perished in the cold seas. 
Earlier Report

30 December 2011
An adolescent Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, washed up dead after the gales in Epple Bay, Birchington-on-Sea, on the north Kent coast. Following a post mortem, Jon Brooks, a marine mammal medic and East Kent co-ordinator of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said: “The cause of death has been put as combination of dehydration, starvation and parasitic infestation in intestines and all three stomachs. The whale was in reasonable condition but hadn’t eaten for some time – there was no food in the gut, which also showed a heavy parasite burden.”  There is a resident population of Minke Whales in the North Sea. 

27 December 2011
A Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus, hauled out on a dock at Tayport (on the south coast of the Firth of Tay, near Dundee), east Scotland. Its arrival followed a spate of storms across Scotland. 

A Bearded Seal was also seen at St. Cyrus (near Aberdeen) about 30 miles further north in November 2011. In view of the rare sightings of this Arctic seal around the British Isles it is likely to be the same one. 

Bearded Seals are normally found all along the European, Asiatic and North American coasts of the Arctic Ocean. Its food consists entirely of bottom-living animals including shrimps, crabs, clams, whelks and bottom fish such as flounder. It is a very unusual seal to be found in the waters around Scotland. 

Previous Report 2008

BMLSS Seals
Seals in Scotland (Identification)

24 December 2011

An 16.7 metre adult Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, was washed up dead on Hunstanton Beach, Norfolk. It attracted numerous sightseers over the Christmas holiday.

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
 
 

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
 

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:
 
 

Publisher:  defra

Click on this text
 
 
 
 
 

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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