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.
27th October 2007
Dr Paul Chanin, international otter expert, talked about the milestones of the last 30 years of otter studies.
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.
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! The water sparkled against the soft green of the Helford woodlands.
Sunday, 11th July 2010
Once again, the weather was kind, producing a warm, dry and wind-free day. With 95 passengers on board, plus tanks containing a variety of live fish, crabs and other creatures, the Enterprise boat headed to the mouth of the estuary and around into Gillan Creek, in sight of St Anthony church. The National Trust owns two small properties on the south bank, one containing Bronze Age barrows and an Iron Age cliff castle. Looking seaward there was a clear view of Nare Point and its observation post, now occupied by Coastwatch, but, during WWII, part of a testing range for air-drop torpedoes.
Saturday, 13th November 2010
The term ‘plankton’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘wanderer’ or ‘made to wander’,an apt description for creatures which drift at the mercy of winds and currents. Some are large and easily seen – the Macroplankton, such as jellyfish and the Portuguese man-o’-war. Others are small – the Microplankton, which measure a millimetre or so across – or less – and are studied using a microscope. These are collected with a conical fine-mesh net swept or towed through the water and they include a great variety of plants and animals, in adult or larval stages. There is a third, even smaller, size category – the Nanoplankton, such as coccolithophores, which are just a few microns across and only seen with the aid of an electron microscope.
Saturday, 11th December 2010
Is that a pin-tailed duck? No, it’s a long-tailed duck. Isn’t that a gannet? No, it’s a black-tailed godwit. We were trying to identify birds on David Chapman’s jumper, knitted by his mother who had produced separate jerseys for different talks. His outdoor gear depended on conditions, one photograph showing military-style camouflaged top and trousers, plus a back-pack to carry a tripod, camera and lenses and a chest-pack containing a portable hide. When erected, the last looked like a camouflaged igloo, just large enough to accommodate David and Adrian Langdon for several hours bird watching at the Walmsley Reserve. His account of that outing was returned by Adrian with the comment that the phrase “the mud came nearly to the top of our wellies” had a typographical error in the final word!
