Grey Seal, Eastbourne Harbour

I received reports of a seal that had been seen and photographed at the Eastbourne Harbour. Most sightings have been common seals, but the photographs look like grey seals.

The head shape is definitely grey rather than common, but the colouration and lack of markings is unusual.

Possibly a juvenile as no size was indicated for the seal. There can be quite a difference and markings and patterns of both common and grey seals.

common seals

Common seals are still very active off Sussex in the winter months. A seals is still being observed from time to time between Eastbourne Harbour and Pevensey.

A common seal was also seen off Hove Beach on 26th October

Common dolphin sighting

A common dolphin was sighted very close to the shore on Saturday 22nd September at Brighton, between the Brighton Pier and the Brighton Marina.

Sunday it moved along the coast to Seaford, again in the shallow, feeding and playing with another common dolphin.

During a heavy storm later on Sunday they both disappeared and have since turned up at Eastbourne. This is a very interesting sighting, especially as common dolphins are usually found in the deeper waters off shore and even then not often along the Sussex Coast.

I was also called by BDMLR on the Friday re a porpoise in the outer Brighton Marina – I was at the hospital visiting my mum so only got a brief message they left my wife. Hope to find out more.

Sad death of marine conservationist

It is in great sadness that I report that the Australian marine conservation pioneer and renowned shark expert Ron Taylor has died at the age of 78. (9th September 2012)

Along with Jacques Cousteau, Ron and Valerie Taylor have pioneered ocean conservation and both were a great inspiration to me in my youth. I am sure between them they have inspired more people into marine science and conservation as well as raising awareness of the beauty and mystery of the underwater world.

They also brought to our attention the fragile balance of the underwater world and how humans are ever increasingly impacting on this marine habitats.

It was a great privilege to have Ron and Valerie Taylor provide the foreword and some of the narrative for a children's book on oceans I wrote a few years ago called 'Oceans' for a series called 'Voyages' (into) by Kingfisher publishers.

Ron and Valerie Taylor started in a series of nature documentary programmes for Anglian TV series 'Survival' shown in my youth. As with Cousteau, it was the passion that came across, as well as the subject matter, that made it fascinating to watch.

For more information about Ron Taylor, visit the link below

http://anmm.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/ron-and-valerie-taylor-and-their-quest-to-protect/

He will be greatly missed by many. Out thoughts go out to Valerie in this sad time.

Eastbourne Seal

I received a fascinating seal sighting from Ellie who was kayaking with her family off Seaford beach when a seal swam past about 10 feet from shore, it was heading towards Newhaven way. There were lots of people in the sea but the seal nether showed an interest in them or avoided them. It swam past about 2 feet from Ellie's kayak. The time was about 3.00pm.


She later found out from a friend that she had also seen a seal off Eastbourne Beach which was heading towards Seaford way. This seal was seen about 11.00am. This seal may be the same seal seen in Eastbourne harbour from time to time.

Pevensey seal sighting

A seal was observed today by the freshwater outlet at Pevensey Bay. This was a common seal and probably the one that has been visiting Eastbourne Harbour on and off this summer. The observer also provided an anecdotal sighting of a seal in the same location about a month ago.

Seal sighting

A large seal (possibly a common seal) was observed just off the beach at Lancing West Sussex at 4.00pm.

Juvenile common starfish

A pleasant dip in the sea at Hove (East Sussex) on the evening following a very hot day.

As we walked along the waters edge I discovered tiny common starfish, some floating in the shallows others laying on the sand.

Excited kids were picking up and running up the beach with them and so Ii collected the ones I found on the sand and put them in the water.

On the way back back I found a large number of tiny starfish in a pool at the end of a sea defence.

Starfish were once very common on the beach in my youth and nowadays a rare find so I was pleased to see so many.

Another Fascinating Inter-tidal Event at West Beach Local Nature Reserve

Another session on the West Beach Local Nature Reserve at littlehampton in West Sussex.

As before we met at the visitors centre. It was a hot sunny day and a nice sized group of adults and children gathered for the tide pool session.

This time the tide was out further providing better access to the pier and tide pools.

We found lots of creatures attached to the rocks and pier including mussels, barnacles, limpets, periwinkles, top shell and dogwhelk. More about these in the previous post Saturday 11th August.

We also found some sea anemones, but they were closed up because the tide was out.

I drew a sea anemone in the sand to show what they looked like underwater and told them some facts about sea anemones.

We found lots of green shore crabs in the pools, last time the tide was not out as far and we only found a couple of tiny crabs.

We caught a few for a closer look. I asked the children questions about the crabs such as what they eat, how they catch thweir food, etc.

We also looked at how crabs can be picked up safely without being pinched and without harming the crab.

We also found lots of prawns, tiny shrimp-like amphipods and some small rockpool fish.

These tiny fish are juvenile common blennies.

We found lots of different animals in the tide pools and everyone said they had a great time. It is hoped that by running such guided session, people will come back and explore the beach or use what they have learned to explore another piece of coastline.

You can find out more about the West Beach Nature Reserve at http://www.arun.gov.uk/main.cfm?type=WESTBEACHRESERVE&objectid=4399

Inter-tidal event at West Beach Local Nature Reserve

This is the first of 4 educational sessions I am leading on West Beach Local Nature Reserve Littlehampton, West Sussex.

The nature reserve is a SSSI, a site of special scientific interest.

A major feature are the sand dunes (rare in Sussex) which run along the back of the beach and stretch off to the west.

Sand dunes form when sand blown from a large area of exposed sand travels up the beach and forms mounds. These can starts as sand builds up around a piece of drift wood, a rock or a clump of dried seaweed.

Grasses, such as marram grass, grow on the dunes and the roots help stabilize the sand.

Even so, sand dunes are very susceptible to damage from trampling and so parts of the dunes are fenced off to protect them.

Many small flowering plants grow on the sand dunes and in turn provide a valuable habitat for birds, sand lizards, bees, butterflies and other invertebrates. 

Between the sand dunes and the sand exposed at low tide is a large area of flint cobbles, which eroded from chalk cliffs way back in the past history of the coastlines formation.

Growing amongst the flint pebbles are special vegetated shingle plants such as sea kale and yellow horned poppy. Vegetated shingle is also a rare habitat.

At low tide a wide expanse of sand is uncovered by the tide creating a fascinating habitat.

Worms and other invertebrates live beneath the sand.

Today’s tidal event focused around the pier area where tide pools provide temporary homes for marine life and permanent attachment for animals such as mussels, limpets, barnacles and sea anemones.

Attached to the wooden supports were a large number of algae grazing limpets. 

As we explored along the pier we discovered a large number of dog whelks. Looks can be deceiving, not an algae grazer, these are predators. we found the usalwhite coloured dog whelks and also some of the orange variety.

Dog whelks can drill a hole through the shells of a mussel using its radula – sharp teeth on a conveyor belt like tongue. However its takes about 2 days for the dog whelk to bore through the shell. The dog whelk produces a secretion that softens the shells making boring much easier.

Once the hole has been bored into the shell the dog whelk injects a secretion that paralyses the mussel.  Digestive enzymes are secreted into the shell and the dog whelk sucks up the mussel-soup.

In one of the larger pools beadlet anemones remained open as they were covered by water. Sea anemones look like plants but they are infact animals related to jellyfish.

Their tentacles swaying waiting fir a small fish or prawn to blunder into the tentacles upon which the anemones will sting and paralyze its prey before passing it to the mouth in the centre of the tentacles. Sea anemones do not have eyes, so rely on touch. They are able to tell the difference between food and their own tentacles so they don’t attempt to eat part of themselves.

While we did not find any shore crabs, a girl who was rock pooling nearby caught this hermit crab.

Unlike other crabs, they don’t have a hard shell protecting the main part of their body, so they live in empty seashells – like this whelk shell.

As we waded out into the water, shoals of small fish swam around our legs.

A special find was this juvenile Solenette (Slipper Sole). This species often lives around the mouths of rivers.

Like other flatfish they can change colour to match their surroundings, helping them to avoid predators and to catch food.

Now you see me…

Now you don’t…

They often burry themselves just beneath the surface of the sand where the can catch passing prey.

A great day of tide pooling. The next event on Tuesday will have a lower tide and we will be able to explore further along the pier.

Friends of Shoreham Beach Annual Tide Pool Event

The day started quietly. I arrived early and started to fill up the large trays I had brought to display some of the animals we found. As the pools where quite shallow we walked across to the water edge (and back many times) until they were filled.

Hunting amongst the pebbles at the waters edge was a pair of turnstones, carefully flipping over pebbles to find invertebrates. They seemed quite sure that they were perfectly camouflaged amongst the pebbles as they carried on feeding as we carried the water back and forth.

A solitary cormorant preened itself at the top of a marker.

 I noticed that people had started to gather at the top of the beach. Soon they were making their way down. We usually gather at the top of the beach for an introduction but too many to do this today, so I let them down onto the sand.

Once we were all down on the beach, as the lead, I gathered them together into groups to give them an introduction and health and safety guidance. I also spoke a bit about the friends of Shoreham, Beach, the organisers of this annual event

As on previous rock pooling events we had set up containers to demonstrate some of the creatures we discovered.

These included some large shore crabs

Shore crabs are the perfect seashore dweller. Jointed armour for protection but also allows movement. If that doesn't work, they can shed a limb to enable them to escape. This can be regrown when they shed their carapace body shell.

Prawns and shrimps

 Edible periwinkle and much more.

PARTICULARLY INTERESTING DISCOVERIES

This juvenile greater pipefish was a really good find.

Three juvenile flatfish were also found on the day. Flatfish can change their colour to match their surroundings. This helps them avoid predators and lay in wait for a tasty meal

Estuary areas are very important nursery grounds for flatfish and other marine life.

 4 different types of fish fry were found, but they are difficult to identify when they are this small. These are not tide pool fish but temorary inhabitants trapped by the out going tide.

We did identify some larger juvenile bass.

 Along with the usual common blenny and goby we found a specimen of long-finned sea scorpion.

 This fish is perfectly camouflaged in the tide pools and has protective spines on its head and gill covers so needs to be handled with extra care.

This fish has a large mouth and can easily gulp down small prawns and fish.

At the end of the event we returned all the sea creatures back to the pools where they were found. We usually have about 60 people attend the event - this year there was way over 100 people!