Copy
London Marathon - 1 month to go, Dolphin Day, Lundy Weekend 2018, MARINElife joins the WCA, Dolphin with Hugh, In the marine news, Training weekends, Humpbacks do the rounds
View this email in your browser

 

March 2018 Newsletter
London Marathon Fundraising - 1 Month to go!

 
There's just over one month to go before Hazel puts foot to concrete and runs the London Marathon, and we need your help to get her to hit her fundraising goal.

Send a donation big or small by visiting her fundraising page at Virgin Money Giving page. And if you've already donated, a huge 'thank you' goes your way!

Dolphin Day


The last weekend of February saw us release our first annual report, covering the work we’ve been doing over the last year. The initial conference took place on the Saturday at the Dolphin Shopping Centre (who generously sponsored the event), and as well as the presenting of the report itself, the weekend included further presentations, workshops, and public outreach in the Centre.

Our report provides a wealth of information regarding our research work, from 2017 facts and figures (e.g., 7,361 cetaceans and 140,915 birds were counted during the year’s surveying), and our new data management system ‘STORM’, to our 2018 partnership with the CalMac Marine Awareness Programme. The full report can be downloaded from our website.

Happy reading!

  

Lundy Weekend 2018


We’ve released the places for our Lundy Island adventure (28th June to 3rd July) but there are still places available in both the male and female bunkhouses.

The 5 night/6 day course is a fantastic opportunity to improve your seabird, sea mammal, and seashore wildlife identification skills, both from our detailed presentations, and through sustained field observation. Benefit from our trainers' insights into behaviour, and learn how to accurately record your observations.

Spaces are limited and fill up fast, so if you fancy a long weekend of learning about identifying marine life, plus snorkelling and rockpooling, email us to book your place.

To find out more about what you can expect and pricing, visit our website.

MARINElife Joins the WCA


Another month, and another new partnership to announce. This time we’re thrilled to have been welcomed on board as an official partner of the World Cetacean Alliance.

The WCA is the world’s largest Partnership working on behalf of cetaceans, and we’ll be joining their 72 Partners, from 32 countries (representing whale watching businesses, not for profit organisations, and individual members of the public) who co-operate in protecting and conserving cetaceans and their habitats.

  

Dolphins with Hugh


MARINElife and our work were recently featured on the BBC programme Hugh’s Wild West.

Several of our volunteers, including our chairman Rick Morris, and our conservation science manager Rachel Davies, went out with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to survey Lyme Bay and talk about our research work.

The common dolphins in the area were in a cooperative mood, and provided the team with a close encounter as they came for bow-ride.

If you missed the episode, it’s still available to watch on iPlayer. If you want to cut straight to us, scroll to the 50-minute mark.

In The Marine News


Microplastics a threat to ocean giants.

Noise from ships scares porpoises.

Wisdom the albatross hatches another chick at 67 years old.

Storms cause mass marine life strandings along UK shores.

What impact is climate change having on the UK's seabirds?

Humpback whale skin microbiomes linked to environmental changes.

Marine animals, big and small, explore the oceans in similar ways.

How do you digitise a giant whale skeleton?

Training Weekends


Did you know March is Dolphin Awareness Month? You can learn about these majestic creatures, as well as other cetaceans, seals, and seabirds, by joining us on one of our training days. We’ve got several to chose from, and have added a new date for Kent in October. We've also got more dates being prepared. See our website for further details.

Saturday 28th April with Northumberland Wildlife Trust at Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre, Low Hauxley, Northumberland ● Saturday 19th May with Dorset Wildlife Trust at Fine Foundation Marine Centre, Kimmeridge Bay ● Saturday 30th June with Living Coastal Zoo & Aquarium at Living Coasts, Torquay ● Saturday 28th July with Cumbria Wildlife Trust at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Plumgarths, Kendal ● Saturday 13th October with Elmley National Nature Reserve, Kingshill Farm, Kent.

In Other News: Humpacks do the Rounds


For the last couple of months, humpback whales have been popping up at either end of the UK, making for some once in a lifetime sightings.

In last month’s newsletter, we reported on the whale that appeared briefly off Chesil Cove, Dorset, in January. Then, at the end of February, another whale appeared, this time videoed off Towan Headland, Cornwall. And just this past week, a whale was filmed from a drone as it swam off Sennen. There was no mistaking those giant white pectoral fins! The south is no stranger to humpbacks, and we’ve had the occasional winter visitor for a couple of years now. Who can forget the whales that appeared off Devon in early 2017?

And just as the south has had the odd humpback appear, so too has the north, and it’s Scotland that’s had probably the best humpback show recently. Humpback are often seen near the Shetland Isles, but this winter, several whales made their way up the Firth of Forth, to forage near the country’s capital; their presence making for some spectacular shots of leaping whales in front of Edinburgh castle. Despite this perhaps unusual urban pit-stop location, it’s not the first time humpbacks have been sighted in the Forth, and an individual turned up there last year.

It’s often easy to forget what’s going on under the waves, but the presence of these large predators is a hopeful sign that our coastal waters can provide food for some hungry leviathans. Perhaps, as humpback numbers bounce back from whaling, and if our seas are given a chance to recover from overfishing, such spectacular sightings will become more the norm in the future.

Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
MARINElife
MARINElife
Share
Tweet
Forward
    
Copyright © 2018 MARINElife, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp