For the past couple of years, Coastwise has held a photographic competition, and it has become clear that members have a vast range of lovely pictures of all sorts.
So this year a complete session was devoted to member's photos, which ensured a great range of topics, plenty of mysteries for identification, and at times a lot of amusement, the animal kingdom being very entertaining sometimes !
Pictured R is a very small selection of those shown. From the top :-
Rare red chiton and keyhole limpet (both courtesy of Janice Whittington)
Rare mutant grey robin, and dalmatian pelican alongside a grey heron showing the astonishing size of the pelican….approx. 6ft long and withan 11ft wingspan (both courtesy of Rob Jutsum)
Closeups of greenleaf worm, and the mouth parts , or 'Aristotle's Lantern' of a sea urchin.
National marine life authority Keith Hiscock (Emeritus staffer at the MBA) also attended having given a talk at the Ilfracombe Dive Club the previous evening, and gave members a quick preview of his new book "Exploring Britain's Hidden World – The Natural History of Seabed Habitats", which will be available from wildnaturepress.com in the autumn. Keith describes this book as a 'dip-in coffe table volume' !