Rockpool Ramble at Prisk Cove

21st August 2012

The weather didn’t bode well for our Rockpool Ramble event at Prisk on Tuesday 21st August, with heavy showers hitting hard as we drove to our meeting point. However, by the time we all assembled at Mawnan Church car park the sun was shining and the afternoon turned out to be warm and beautiful.… Read more

Helford Conservation Cruise

1st July 2012

The 19th Annual Conservation cruise set off on a dry day with a few grey clouds and
a brisk westerly wind. The “Enterprise” boat skipper with his intimate knowledge of
the channels and mud banks took us high up into the creeks, the haunt of shelduck,
sandpiper, redshank, heron and little egret.… Read more

What’s beneath your feet? (Dr Tegwyn Harris)

Bar beach, Helford Passage 6th June 2012

On a slightly blustery afternoon an intrepid group of Helford VMCA members headed out on to Bar
Beach to explore the squidgy, muddy but intriguing world living beneath our feet. The event was
planned to find, identify and learn a little more about some of the unusual critters to be found hidden
in the muddy shores of the Helford River.… Read more

Coastal Ketches and Inside Barges (Andy Wyke)

14 January 2012

‘A sewn boat? What’s that?’ ‘Well, it was a way of constructing boats in the Bronze Age, about 2500 BC, before nails had been invented. With the tools available at the time, bronze axes and adzes, logs would be split and fashioned into planks, to be stitched edge-to-edge with fibres from yew branches.… Read more

Leatherback turtles and their jellyfish prey (Dr Matt Witt)

31st March 2012

Of the 7 species of marine turtles, 3 are seen regularly in UK waters: the Leatherback, Loggerhead and Kemp’s Ridley turtles. However, Britain also has interests in overseas waters, such as the Caribbean, and so the work of the Marine Turtle Research Group of Exeter University, based at Tremough, encompasses the world’s oceans.… Read more

Seashore Safari, Helford Passage with Ruth Williams

Monday, 18th April 2011

If shellfish, crabs and other marine creatures have an early warning system, it must have clicked on ‘Red Alert’ today as the Seashore Safari got underway.  But to no avail.  A horde of searchers, 30 adults and 45 children, with ages ranging from 2 to 80, was advancing over the rocks, armed with nets and buckets.  There was little chance of any creature remaining undetected as sharp eyes and quick hands and nets probed the rock pools and watery gullies; and soon treasured finds were being placed in the buckets and carried to Ruth for identification.… Read more

British Divers Marine Life Rescue

BDMLR is a fairly new charity, set up in 1988 by a group of divers who were concerned at their observations of the distemper virus in Britain’s wild seal populations. At the time, divers reported sick seals to the RSPCA. Recognising their unusually close encounters with marine mammals, and with many divers having an obvious concern for environmental issues, BDMLR was born.… Read more

Form and function of underwater life

1st December 2007

Dr Thomas Bligh, who lives beside the Helford River, has enjoyed an illustrious career in precision engineering and craftmanship, explosives research, energy conversion, robotic systems, underwater diving equipment, catamaran design and more recently until his retirement, Fellow and tutor at Caius College, Cambridge.… Read more

Fascinating Fish – the story of Bass and other special species

3rd November 2007

National sea bass expert Graham Pickett described the life-cycle of this fish so familiar to our shores and also commercially important, these days attracting higher prices than salmon. Spawning took place offshore in the English Channel and the Celtic Sea in the Spring, when water temperatures were between 9º – 15º C.   During their first 2-3 months, the larvae, now about 2.5cm in length, moved inshore to the main nursery areas in rivers with rich feeding potential, such as the Helford, Fal, Tamar, Camel, Taw and Torridge where they needed to reach a reasonable size (7cm) to survive the colder winter months.… Read more

Otter Conservation: meddling, monitoring and muddling through

27th October 2007

Dr Paul Chanin, international otter expert, talked about the milestones of the last 30 years of otter studies. Much of the early recording of British otters was found in reports kept by the otter hunting fraternity noting their successes which were fairly constant until they lapsed during the Second World War.… Read more

Rockpool Ramble

30 August 2007

Out at sea, yachts were heeIing in a brisk wind. Onshore, all eyes were directed downwards as Ruth Williams explained the mysteries and delights of the Rosemullion rockpools to 9 persons (and a dog). It must he admitted, since it was our dog, that the latter was more interested in splashing than learning: and his curiosity to discover why we were staring quietly and intently into the water was of no help in persuading timid creatures to emerge from their hiding places.… Read more

Port Navas Regatta

28 July 2007

Sat. 28 July 2007 was the day of the Port Navas Regatta Family Fundraising Day, where the Helford MC Members Group for the first time decided to have a stall to further the public awareness of the HVMCA.… Read more

Annual Conservation Cruise

8 July 2007

After weeks of heavy rain countrywide we hardly dared to hope for our “traditional” sunny day for the cruise but we were not disappointed as the sun shone brightly until obscured by cloud at the very end of the afternoon!

Strandline Search and Marine Mosaics

16 June  2007

By the middle of June we had expected a return of the earlier spring sunshine but it was not to be and some beefy showers proved off-putting for this Saturday event at Durgan. A handful of adult HMCG members joined Margaret on the shore but the younger generation were less robust and missed a very pleasant morning on the shore.… Read more

Wildflower Wanderings

6 May  2007

Two weeks later Goongillings Farm was again the venue for an HVMCA event but this time it was for an afternoon look at the flowers and other vegetation.  A relaxed stroll for the 21 participants  with Keith Spurgin and other botanists highlighted the amazing variety of plants appearing on an organic farm under countryside stewardship management.… Read more

Dawn Chorus Beside Polwheveral Creek

22 April  2007

An early start did not deter an eager band of some 28 people armed with binoculars converging on Goongillings Farm where a delicate grey mist  swirled amongst the trees edging the creek. The expertise of Martin Rule, the group leader was much appreciated in recognising the songs of the unseen vocalists.… Read more

Seashore Safari

3 April  2007

A warm Spring day attracted an enthusiastic group of 17 adults and 32 children to explore the magical seashore exposed as the tide fell at Helford Passage. Colourful sea anemones, scuttling crabs, wonderfully sculptured shells, delicate worms and skulking shore fish were all discovered to the delight of the young explorers under the guidance of marine biologist, Ruth Williams.… Read more

Regenerating the Helford Oyster Fishery

24 March  2007

After many years under the management of the Hodges family, in 2005 the Duchy of Cornwall Oyster Farm had been acquired by Ben Wright and Wright Bros Oyster Merchants. Ben gave a lively description of his current operations to rejuvenate the native oyster beds by lifting and cleaning all the stock, initially by hand – a daunting task but to be continued with a recently acquired oyster barge.… Read more

Helford River – Where The Land Meets The Sea

17 February 2007

A detailed look at this watery world and how we influence it gave a large audience (67) much food for thought as the issues of pollution, clean seas, farming and recreation were highlighted. This followed recent studies by scientists from the Environment Agency, University of Exeter, and the Farming and Wildlife Group as described by Dr Peter Jonas, Dr Julian Greaves and Annabel Keast.… Read more

Ramblings on the Helford River

20th January 2007

Leslie Collins, vice-chairman of the Group, delighted a large audience (57) with his fascinating narrative on his favourite pictures as he shared a lifetime of local experience in Gweek.

An active quay with timber carts, lime kilns and sailing barges, the post office and people from many local families sprang to life again.… Read more