Last  updated

9 March 2008

Skomer MNR / Seasearch urchin & starfish surveys June 23/24 and July 7/8

Over two superb weekends - with amazing weather conditions considering the gales in between - 20 volunteers clocked up 80 dives, quantitatively surveyed over 10,000 square metres and measured the size of every urchin found!  

The June weekend was joined by a BBC film crew recording for a new series 'Watching the Wild' due to be screened in July 2008.   The film crew also interviewed Dave Kennard, Neptunes Army of Rubbish Collectors (NARC), and video of him and volunteers collecting angling debris was recorded by the Skomer MNR team for the BBC.

The July 7 - 8 urchin survey team

Kate Lock briefing volunteers - witnessed by the BBC

South and West Wales Seasearch in 2007

The 2007 season was as busy as previous recent years despite repeatedly awful weather.  In total, observer and survey forms were completed for a further 106 sites - a creditable total.  The help and dedication of all the surveyors - many of who turned out for every weekend - is applauded!

Daugleddau BAP species and habitat surveys

The Daugleddau estuary forms the upper part of the ria of Milford Haven waterway in the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC.  Wave sheltered but current swept, this deep arm of the sea brings marine conditions far inland and supports rich communities of marine life.  However, the busy industrial port in the middle reaches of the Haven is a constant source of environmental risks.  

The Daugleddau’s marine life includes Biodiversity Action Plan species native oyster, Ostrea edulis, eelgrass, Zostera spp, and maerl beds. Although the main locations of these species is known, the extent of some beds and the abundance in other areas of the Haven is poorly recorded.  During 2007 two weekends of Seasearch dives helped fill some gaps and also targetted areas identified by multi-beam sonar data that showed potential areas of previously unknown bedrock reef. 

The weekend of 12-13 May dawned blustery and wet.  Nil visibility in the upper parts of the Daugleddau made it undiveable but the team of 10 divers gambled on a uninviting, soupy-looking site just east of the Pembroke Dock ferry terminal to be rewarded by discovering a previously unrecorded 10m high bedrock wall smothered in sponges.  Despite stunningly bad visibility, all the divers came out singing praises to the amazing abundance and variety of life on the reef - something they had not expected whilst sitting in the rain looking down at the muddy water before the dive. 

Two sets of oyster transect counts were also completed and the final dive of the weekend found another previously unrecorded reef directly under the north side of the Cleddau Bridge.

Equally bad weather struck the second weekend on 21 - 22 July, but more reef outcrops revealed by the multibeam data were recorded, this time in Sandy Haven bay and sea squirts were the stars of the show.

The May 12 - 14 Daugelddau team