Friday 17 June 2011

Another seal sighting Brighton

Another seal sighting. It was spotted very close to shore, possibly within 10m, by workers on the Brighton Pier. The seal, first seen at 11.15am kept looking at the beach but was also slowly moving west.

Based on previous sighting records, these current sightings over the last few days do suggest that they are one seal and possibly Twinkle.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Another seal sighting

Another seal report. This is very close to the seal sighting on 12th June, so it may be the same seal. The seal was seen at  9pm and it was about 50 yards from the shore, east of the pier in front of the Volks railway. The observer, Peter, saw the seal pop up 4 or 5 times looking around. Peter left the beach around 9.30 and the seal was still there. It was almost a full moon so it was easy to spot.

Sunday 12 June 2011

Seal off Brighton

A common seal was reported yesterday about 20m from the shore at Brighton. It was observed between the nudist beach and the halfway stop for the Volks Railway. The seal stayed in the same general area disappearing underwater and popping its head back up again.

This could be the rescued and released seal Twinkle whose movements we have been following since November 2010. Twinkle does come very close to shore and always appears to be interested in people on the beach or river bank when he swims up stream.

Of course there is no way to be sure without a photograph (I have been able to recognise this seal from face markings in some close up photographs, even when the tag has not been visible) or seeing the tag which is only visible when it is on land.

If you are new to this blog, there are many earlier entries about Twinkle and reports of other seals and dolphins we see off the coast locally.


I was at World Oceans Day with a couple of displays yesterday in Shoreham so I did not see the seal myself this time.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Adur World Oceans Day Festival and Spring Watch Festival Brighton

We attended the Adur World Oceans Day events again this year. Situated on Coronation Green, next to the high street and River Adur this is a great event at a perfect location.

The weather stayed nice and we were busy all day. Our display focused on two projects.

Project One
Our life sized inflatable bottlenose dolphin was the focus for a display about local dolphin and seal sightings, many of which have been reported on on this weblog.



We were also able to promote an exciting event coming up in November called WhaleFest 2011 organised by Planet Whale. More information about this event will be posted nearer the time. You can also find out more about whale planet at  http://planetwhale.com/

Project Two
I also took along my schools program called One World One Ocean the Adventures of Ed the Bear.


This programme shows how we are all part of one ocean, a celebration of marine biodiversity locally and globally, highlight threats to the oceans, people around the who are helping the oceans and how we can all help the oceans, even by making small changes to our life style.
You can find out more about this project at http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/




The Friends of Shoreham Beach were also here with a bright and informative display and they were also busy all day with children art activities. You can find out more about the beach and special walks, talks and other event they run, including school visits at http://www.fosbeach.com/
 
The previous Sunday we were also at the Brighton Springwatch Festival at Stanmar Park. I took both of the projects mentioned above.
 
Despite the rain it was well attended and we spoke to make interested visitors