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