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.
A special feature has been to record this invaluable record for posterity!
Sunday, 23rd August 2009
“Dare you to put your finger in this bucket!”. Then came a yelp, and a rapid withdrawal of the hand. The Velvet Swimming Crab had instantly reared up, arms wide, claws open, its bright red eyes glistening. Only later, when it had subsided, did we see the flattened back legs, with hair-like fringes, that enable it to swim.
6th June 2012
Bar beach, Helford Passage
[caption id="attachment_2930" align="alignleft" width="340"]
What’s beneath your feet? Image: Pam Tompsett[/caption]
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. We were a small group with only three families from Helston, Truro and Perranporth, and a keen naturalist from Penzance who very kindly recorded our day’s findings for the Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. I was also joined by three enthusiastic members of the Helford Marine Conservation Group – Paul Garrard, Dave Thompson and Rhiannon Pipkin.
Saturday, 26th February 2011
“You should clean your bottom every year”! Australians and New Zealanders are known for plain speaking, but this seemed unnecessarily rude. However, just to clarify, they were talking in this instance about the hull of your boat. The point was quickly driven home by an underwater film, taken in N.France, which showed a hull so thickly coated with weeds and invertebrates that it looked like a sagging roll of shaggy carpet. Boat fouling is a worldwide problem and marinas and harbours are important staging posts in the process, because hulls, piers and jetties provide numerous firm surfaces on which sessile plants and animals can gain a foothold.
Sunday, 16th May 2010
Despite the unpromising weather – overcast and drizzly, 35 enthusiastic members and friends, including 5 children, gathered in Helford Car Park to meet Caroline Davey, the ‘Fat Hen’ food forager from St Buryan, and Ruth Williams from CWT, to learn about what natural foods can be gleaned from the vicinity of the Helford.
Saturday, 25th July 2009
Clearly something interesting was about to happen as a group of nearly 30 people, adults and children, gathered on the beach at Helford Passage for a short introductory talk by Ruth Williams, Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Officer. Then, armed with an assortment of nets, buckets and trays, we set off, clambering over limpet- and barnacle-strewn rocks to the shallow pools left by the receding tide. The Seashore Safari had begun. Weather conditions were ideal – sunny and warm with a slight breeze. Intrigued holidaying families joined in; and by now the numbers had swelled to 40, of whom half were children.
