Dolphins off Brighton

A large pod of bottlenose dolphins, in two groups, one of about 8 the other 10 seen off Brighton 3rd Oct. The group included young dolphins and a large male.

The dolphins were spotted off Brighton Marina, playing in front of and around sailing boats near No. 1 bouy, around mid morning.

This might be the same group of dolphins reported earlier back in August http://sussexmarinejottings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/bottlenose-dolphin-herd-off-west-sussex.html

and also http://sussexmarinejottings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/more-on-sussex-dolphin-herd.html

First school visit to Shoreham after the summer hols.

A wet and drizzly day marked the first school visit to Shoreham beach following the summer hols. However the weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the children.

There were around 80 children from a school in Horsham. The children were divided into 2 groups, one group would explore the beach, the shingle plants and  strandline. 

The latter would link to their classwork after half term where they would be discovering what creatures lived under water off the beach. The strandline objects give clues to the animals that live off the coast and they also studied the man made objects that pollute the beach.

I led a group rock pooling. After an introduction the children explored the beach in small groups. The adult with each group had an id sheet and some activity sheets to record the animals the saw, where they found them and what they were doing. All the groups would share this information back at school.

We also collected a few creatures and put them in trays and containers on a table I had set up at the top of the beach. This was a chance for the children to get a closer look and to find out more about the animals they had found such as sea anemones, shore crabs, prawns, cockles, mussels, rock pool fish, periwinkle and dogwhelk.

After a rather wet lunch, we swapped over and repeated the actives with the other group.


The children were full of enthusiasm and excitement and were a joy to work with, they had many great questions too.

While we were on the beach a little egret and some turn stones foraged in and around the pools. A kingfisher, that had flown down river did a slow low circuit of the beach before heading off toward the harbout mouth. There were also several terns diving into the sea and catching small fish.

You can find out more about the marine education programme I deliver on the Shoreham Beach Local Nature reserve and across Sussex at http://www.fosbeach.com/education-on-shoreham-beach/

Seal sighting off Brighton

I received a seal sighting yesterday at Brighton. The seal was spotted by Jonathan just off the beach  by west pier brighton. The seal slowly swam underwater west along the coast towards Hove surfacing occasionally.


It is not known if this is a common or a grey seal.

Seal obseved Bexhill East Sussex

A seal was reported feeding at Cooden beach at Bexhill (by old flag pole between Cooden Beach Hotel and the Star Inn). The seal was seen feeding and resting. A seal was previously reported feeding near here on 3rd July

More on Sussex dolphin herd

I have just heard today that the dolphin herd I posted on 18th August, seen in West Sussex, were later seen that afternoon (Sunday) at the West Pier Brighton and later at Saltdean near a group of wakeboarders.

Bottlenose Dolphin Herd off West Sussex

I was contacted by the Worthing gazette yesterday to verify a possible dolphin encounter off West Sussex on Sunday. The sighting was a possible group of 30-40 dolphins. The sightings were made by Luke Biddlecombe and accompanied by some brilliant video footage of bottlenose dolphins.

Luke was returning from the Isles of Wight with a group of friends traveling in three separate boats. The dolphins were about a mile off the coast from Bognor when they were first encountered the dolphins.

One dolphin appeared first and then it became clear that there was a herd of dolphins. Luke and his friends estimated there were between 30 and 40 dolphins.

The dolphins followed the vessels for about 30 minutes, playing in the wake and in the bow wave. 

 

The dolphin herd included possibly as many as 4 or 5 juveniles. From the video footage there appears to be at least 3 juveniles. 

 

It is likely that this is a female herd with juveniles.

Luke and his friends said that it was a great experience and they were absolutely amazed by it.

Offshore groups of dolphins are only rarely encountered off Sussex so this was a great sighting. 

Sadly, the annual inshore sightings between Worthing and Brighton (100-200 metres from the shore) have greatly decreased in recent years, possibly due to the great increase in water sports.

The dolphins probably continued along the coast and would have been offshore when they passed Shoreham and Brighton.

St Nicholas and St Mary’s School visit

The last school visit before summer hols. Sadly after the sunny weather, the day of the visit was dull and drizzly however it did not dampen the enthusiasm of the children.

The visit was in two halves, the first focusing on the rock pools near the Shoreham Fort where the children explored the pools. A table and some trays where set up so the children could bring back some of the creatures they found and then I talked about the creatures in the trays which included juvenile shore crabs, blenny, shrimps, prawns and edible periwinkle.

The second part of the visit focused on the vegetated shingle as plants was one of the topics the children were learning about this term. I brought along a plant from his garden and asked the children that if he planted it on the beach would the plant survive. They said no. I then asked them why and the children listed lots of reasons such as no soil, no freshwater, sea spray, strong winds etc.

                                                                                                                                                                                       
The shingle plants have adaptations that allow them to overcome the problems of living on the beach.
The children used an activity sheet to look for these special adaptations and then identified the plants using an ID guide sheet. The children did well despite the strong wind but unfortunately because of the weather they did not see any bees, butterflies or other invertebrates.


The children still had a great day and the teacher said the children had learned lots.

Dolphin sightied off Shoreham and Brighton

A group of 8 or more dolphins were seen off the coast on Monday evening. They were close to shore, between 100 and 200 metres and were first seen off Shoreham beach.


The dolphins were later spotted by kayakers off Brighton, alerting people on the beach to their presence. The dolphins were very active and frequently seen leaping and twisting before splashing back into the sea.


 The dolphins were too far from shore to make a definite identification. Most likely species is bottlenose dolphin, a costal species seen from time to time close to shore. Other possibility is common dolphins, a more deep water species but also seen near the coast locally on occasions. I have seen some video footage but the dolphins were too far out to make out much more than a rough shape.


I am hoping that someone out there has been able to photograph the dolphins and then it might be possible to confirm the species identification.


Inshore sightings have become far less common in recent years.

Seal near Cooden

A seal was reported near Cooden Beach today in East Sussex.


The seal was first seen mid morning and stayed in the  area until about 1.30pm. The seal was 100-200m off shore and was diving, possibly searching for prey.

EYE Project Eco Summit

I participated again this year in the E.Y.E Project (Eco Young and Engaged) Eco Summit which this year was hosted by Shoreham Academy.


The E.Y.E. Project brings local schools together to focus on the importance of caring for our planet and to provide an additional opportunity for the young people within those schools to learn about environmental matters through fun and educational activities available at Eco-Summit events. The EYE project is made up of schools from Shoreham, Lancing and Worthing

I has participated in the eco-summit on numerous occasions and this year I was asked to be the Key Note speaker. I started the keynote by talking about Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve, why it’s important and the role of the management group and the Friends of Shoreham Beach in caring for the reserve and engaging the public.


I also spoke about the educational opportunities on the reserve.


I then spoke about the adventures of Ed the Bear and how he has used Ed to create links with scientists around the world and to share their knowledge about the oceans. This includes the possible impact of climate change on Shoreham Beach as well as other issues.


I also ran three workshops during the day based around Ed the Bear. The first two focused on topics touched on in the keynote such as how oceans moderate our climate and weather; provide 50% of our oxygen, freshwater, food, new medicines and more. This was followed by an activity where the children took on the role of albatross to explore the dangers of plastic pollution to marine life. The third workshop was for secondary school pupils and explored the same issues but in a more scientific context.


During lunch and break I manned a stand and gave out the LNR leaflets and educational flyer. The day was a great success.

Beach Clean with Shoreham Academy

A group of students 11-14 years from Shoreham Academy undertook a beach clean on Shoreham Beach. Their teacher Mrs Firth said: “My form group wanted to give something back to the community. They have done a great job organising this themselves and it is so lovely to celebrate their integrity as young teenagers within their local community”.


A student Mia, 13, said: “Shoreham is such a nice place, you expect to see a nice beach but it is ruined by lots of litter. We just wanted to make it the nice place it is”.

The students walked down from their school and collected a lot of rubbish at Ferry Road end of the beach before walking along to meet me and Chris at Shoreham Fort. Chris talked to the students about the importance of the nature reserve and the vegetated shingle and I spoke about the damage plastic does in the oceans to wildlife – which followed on from materials he had sent to the school prior to their beach clean.


As part of the beach clean, I organised a beach clean survey of a 200 m stretch of beach collecting and recording every item they collected which totally 436 items. This included 144 small pieces of plastic, 31 pieces of fishing line, 14 pieces of nylon rope, 19 plastic drink bottles and 9 plastic bags. They also found some unusual items such as a 4 way plug socket, a nappy, several cotton buds and a shot gun cartridge.

I finished the beach clean with a debrief about the items they had collected and where they may have come from. This included some items that had washed down river, including cotton buds, that are often flushed down toilets. Some items have been washed up from the sea but many items have been left behind by beach users and if we could stop this we would greatly reduce the debris on our beaches.


8 million tons of plastic find their way into the marine environment each year. While some animals can become entangled in plastic and some mistake plastic bags for their jellyfish prey a huge problem is the many tiny pieces of plastic that can be easily swallowed by a wide range of marine animals.


We ended with a look at some of the natural items that are washed up onto the beach, (from shark and ray egg cases to seashells and cuttlefish bone) and what they can tell us about the amazing animals that live off our coast.

Big Bang Stem Science Event

I took part again this year in the Big Bang Stem Science Event at South of England Show Grounds. I took a display that looked at how Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve is connected to the global ocean system and how Shoreham Beach may be impacted by climate change, sea level rise and other global issues. Friends of Shoreham Beach member Jacky Woolcock, helped at the event again this year.


Science is making a great come back in the South East and attendees this year reached 7000 pupils and teachers. The display looked at how our marine character Ed the Bear (based at Shoreham) has been visiting ‘real’ scientists around the world to find out how we benefit from the oceans, which includes our climate and weather, 50% of our oxygen, freshwater, food, new medicines, wellbeing and much more.

The display included some science experiments. An experiment demonstrated how the thermohaline circulation helps to control our climate and weather. Another focused on thermal expansion – how climate change is warming the ocean which causes it to expand contributing to sea level rise.


We also demonstrated how an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic threatening corals and shellfish. We also had an activity to help demonstrate the problem of micro plastics in the ocean.


The display is all about how we are part of the global ocean and how global issues might impact our beach at Shoreham.



You can find out more about this event at Big Bang Stem Science and more about Adventures of Ed the Bear at One World One Ocean Adventures of Ed the Bear

Sussex Marine Education Conference for Teachers

I was the lead in a Marine Day Conference for teachers today, which took place on the Shoreham Beach Local Nature Reserve to inspire teachers about our amazing coast and how they can implement marine studies into the school curriculum.


The conference was attended by teachers from 19 local schools and was based on two sites, Adur Outdoor Activity Centre for the inside sessions and Shoreham Beach LNR for the beach workshops.


Armed with ID guides the teachers searched for clues as to how these plants not only survive in this inhospitable environment but actually thrive. The teachers also explored the vegetation looking for invertebrates, birds and lizards that also visit the shingle habitat.
The delegates explored the tide pools and discovered a variety of marine creatures from crabs and shrimps to cockles and sea anemones.


A workshop also examined the pebbles and the dynamic coastal processes that formed and continue to shape Shoreham Beach. At the same time the teachers collected strandline objects which they examined back in the centre including crab shells, cuttlefish bone, ray egg cases, whelk eggs and even cuttlefish eggs.


They discovered how these objects and even the beach pebbles have a fascinating story to tell.

Not all local schools can actually visit the beach so the afternoon workshops also demonstrated the use of simple USB equipment used in our programme, demonstrating live marine creatures in schools using USB microscope devices. This session also looked at marine myths and folklore and marine conservation issues.


The conference was run in partnership with South East Grid for Learning Associates and supported by Friends of Shoreham Beach, who kindly sponsored the room hire. The event was a great success; the feedback from the South East Grid for Learning Associates evaluation forms all listed the quality and usefulness of the sessions and support materials as either good or outstanding. It is hoped that the conference will become an annual event.

Seal spotted at Hove

A seal was seen from Hove prom heading east towards Brighton at 8.00am. At one point the seal surfaced with a fish.

Seal in Eastbourne Harbour

A seal was seen hanging round the entrance of Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne. I have received various anecdotal reports of a seal in the harbour and may well be the same animal.

Probable grey Seal at Hove

Just received an e-mail from SWT Wildcall about a seal off Hove Beach. The attached pic was from a phone and relatively poor quality. My best guess is it could be a grey seal (hard to see from position and quality- if nostrils were visible it would be easier to ID). 

The size and position of the eyes also suggest a grey – but I may be wrong. The picture is very low quality (but as always, better than no picture.

The seal was spotted off Hove seafront at about 7.30 am this morning, by the groyne near Embassy Court/ King Alfred. The observer reported the seal appeared healthy.Unfortunately I was unable to get to the beach in time to take a look.

 

Sad death of a seal pup Brighton marina

BDMLR were called out to a seal pup in the Brighton Marina which sadly did not survive.

It appears that the seal had turned up in the marina back on 15^th January but this had not previously been reported.