Members of the public are invited to take part in dolphin, whale and porpoise surveys around the UK as part of the 14th National Whale and Dolphin Watch. The data collected during the event will help in developing a snapshot of the distribution of dolphins, whales and porpoises around the UK. This is an opportunity for everyone to become involved in the research which goes into understanding and protecting these magnificent creatures.
Sea Watch Foundation

BMLSS Cetacea

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

July 2015
Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, are seen every year off the western shores of the British Isles as the they follow the plankton on which they feed on enormous quantities. 

Basking Shark Scotland reported fifty of these huge sharks off the Hebrides in a day's sailing. 

BMLSS Basking Sharks
 

July 2015
With large numbers of jellyfish recorded washed up and in the shallow seas around the British Isles, there were also numerous sightings of the Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola, which feeds on jellyfish and other medusa. The photographed Sunfish was caught off Dorset. 

BMLSS Sunfish
Barrel Jellyfish Reports

19 July 2015
A Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, with a measured weight of 123 kg was caught on road and line by Dai Pig off Milford Haven and the measurements made it the largest recorded Thresher Shark angled off Wales. It was returned to the sea.

July 2015
The "low bushy blows from a snow-white Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaengliae," was reported by skipper Pat Collins and crewman Gerard Minihane about 14 miles off Baltimore, West Cork, south coast of Ireland  The whale surfaced close to their fishing vessel.

16 July 2015
A Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was spotted at sea near the Skerryvore Lighthouse, (12 miles SW of Tiree), Inner Hebrides, Scotland.

15 July 2015

An exceptional sighting of a group of over fifty sharks seen in a shallow sandy pool at RSPB Medmerry, near Selsey, West Sussex, were seen on a rising tide in the morning. The pack of adult sharks were identified as Starry Smooth-hounds, Mustelus asterias, and many of these predatory sharks was about up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) in length, and with the typical triangular shark fins sticking out of the knee-deep water. The consensus opinion that this was a hunting pack that had possibly followed prey into the shallow water and got trapped at low tide. 

12 July 2015
An extremely rare vagrant, a Black-browed Albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys, made an unexpected to visit to RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk. It was likely that the albatross was blown off course. This large pelagic bird is globally endangered and normally found over the southern oceans, and breeds on various islands throughout this extensive region. 

9 July 2015 Thousands of Moon Jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, were washed ashore at Westward Ho! north Devon. And probably in other places on the rocky shore facing the Atlantic Oceans. It was a prelude to numerous strandings all around the British coasts, depending on which way the wind was blowing.  Moon Jellyfish Photograph by Thiago Bosque

27 June 2015

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 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

To the unpractised eye the two animals in the photograph may not easily be discerned. Attention is drawn to the the two stalked eyes of the Hermit Crab, Pagurus prideaux, cloaked with the mutualistic sea anemone Adamsia prideaux, The purple threads are acontia expelled through the column of the sea anemone which wraps itself around the adopted shell of the hermit crab. The acontia contain stinging nematocysts which are emitted readily as a defence mechanism when the anemone is attacked or under threat. This defence also serves to protect the hermit crab. Other sea anemones found in British seas emit acontia, noted regularly in Sagartia elegans and the other hermit crab commensal species Calliactis parasitica. 

St Kilda is an ancient extinct volcano in the North Atlantic Ocean rising above the waves about 64 km* (40 miles) west-northwest of North Uist. The isolated archipelago contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The photograph on a clear day captures the uninhabited island of Boreray, a lump of rock with a height of  384 metres (1,260 ft) above sea level at Mullach an Eilein. 
Boreray is formed of a breccia of gabbro and dolerites. The island is important for breeding sea birds including thousands of pairing Gannets.
(*main island of Hirta, Boreray is 66 km from North Uist.)
 

A cloudy view of Boreray from Hirta, the largest island in the St. Kilda archipelago. Hirta lies on the south-west rim of the former volcano and Boreray lies on the north-east rim. Google Maps shows the distance from the far side of Hirta to the far side of Boreray is 9.82 km (6.1 miles), the rim of the volcano. The two named large sea stacks are Stac Lee & Stac an Armin.

On Stac an Armin, in July 1840, the last Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, seen in the British Isles was caught and killed. The 75 year old inhabitant of St Kilda told Henry Evans, a frequent visitor to the archipelago, that he and his father-in-law with another man had caught a "Garefowl," noticing its little wings and the large white spot on its head.

The resident population of St. Kilda all left for good in 1930.

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)