Comb weed - Plocamium cartilagineum

Event outputs: Now starting to arrive!

Press release to coincide with BBC TV programme, added 8th October '11:

Just species counts (from above), added 20th November '11:

Species lists, added 20th November '11:


Event information:

Organisers: Dawn Watson and Rob Spray - 0780 118 1964
Expert surveyors: Claire Goodwin, Lin Baldock, Juliet Brodie (unfortunately now busy and will contribute remotely)
Planning team:  Rob Spray, Recording - Paula Lightfoot, Wildife Trusts - Kirsten Smith, Seasearch - Chris Wood

Dates (logistic): Meet in Essex 31th July, end in St Abbs 12th
Dates (surveying): Monday 1st (Essex) to Friday 12th (Berwick) August 2011

Accommodation: On the whole we'll be aiming for the more modest end of the market :-) There are opportunities to camp, most sites with proper indoor accommodation and there's always B&Bs etc if you want to upgrade yourself.

Transport: We'll try to use the minimum number of vehicles... Depending on how people arrive, what they want to bring and where they are going afterwards they may decide they want to drive the route themselves.

Travel and event times:
Here's a table of travel and events timings... well what I hope will happen

Participants:
Here's a table of who should be where, when they should be there and what I think they should be doing...

We'll have a boat - just a 4.3m inflatable - to launch in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. It can be launched by 2 people on a slipway, 2-4 people over packed sand but needs a crowd for gravel - which we'll avoid!

Diving: The diving will be quite mixed, starting in counties where there is little reliable inshore diving - and we need to dive inshore as we are primarily looking for seaweed. The typical visibility of the Southern North Sea is limited over the winter which restricts the growth of large perennial algae such as kelp.  We tend to have tough brown algae - wracks - at the shore, greens in the extreme shallows and copious reds. We rarely see algae below 15m down in East Anglia, although in the summer the visibility can be in excess of 10m. We should see more species further North.

Air: We'll have mobile compressor available which will cut down on the need to travel for fills and help keep the group together.

Shore surveying: We have some excellent experts taking part, see site by site summary below.

Lots more detail down below the tables!

North Sea Seaweed Survey 2011 - Proposal

Background
During 2010 a highly successful ‘Seaweed Week' was carried out on the Isles of Scilly by some of Europe’s most prominent marine biologists, including Professor Juliet Brodie, of The Natural History Museum, Dr Claire Goodwin of The Museum of Ulster and Dr Lin Baldock. All have confirmed their interest in carrying out a similar North Sea survey. Positive responses received from local councils, academics and naturalists have encouraged us to go ahead.

Support
We are very grateful to have had support and advice from:

Experts:
The expertise of the surveying party is the key to the value of this event. We have been very lucky that several acknowledged experts have been keen to lend their support. Professor Juliet Brodie, Dr Claire Goodwin and Dr Lin Baldock have so far committed  -  with the normal caveats of course (we have to be reasonable!)

Core Team (whole trip, maybe bar a day or two):

	Dive party	Specialism/role	Shore party	Specialism/role
1	Claire Goodwin	Sponges, squirts + Multiple	Juliet Brodie	Sadly can't attend
2	Lin Baldock	Seaweed + Multiple	Fergus Drennan	Wild cooking + seaweed pressing
3	Dawn Watson	Surveyor/County Recorder	Rob	Kayak exploration
4	Emily Priestley	Surveyor/Super diver	-	-
5	Rob Spray	Surveyor/Photographer	-	-
6	Simon Parker	Surveyor	-	-
7	Nick Owen	Surveyor/botanist	-	-
8	Charlotte Bolton	Seasearcher	-	-
9	Jon Chamberlain	Seasearcher	-	-
10	available	Local Seasearcher	-	-

Numbers not always limited! Spaces varies - 12 spaces on Durham and Farnes boats

Part time Team (less than a week):

	Dive party	Specialism/role	Shore party	Specialism/role
1	Paula Lightfoot	Data guru (NE sites)	Jane Delaney	Dove labs
2	JL Solandt	Reef conservation (Norfolk)	Sue Hull	Hull Unversity
3	Georgia Conolly	St Abbs Warden	David North	NWT
4	Ruth Fletcher	NE Seasearcher	Gemma North	NWT
5	Barry Lister	Britain's fastest Observer qualifier :-) (Norfolk)	Sarah Allison	EWT
6	Bryony Chapman	Seasearch superperson (Essex)	David Miller	LWT
7	Ann	Seasearcher	Ant Hurd	YWT
8	-	-	Claire Carey	Berwick & Northumberland EMS
9	-	-	Steve Lowe	NWT Cresswell
10	-	-	Kat Sanders	Seasearch NE and YWT

Aim: To undertake an East coast shore and sea based seaweed recording survey using specialists within their field and local expertise where possible. The primary benefit of the event is to coordinate an intensive survey by some of the UK’s foremost experts. The East Coast is under surveyed and under reported. The event offers the chance for both an increased level of survey and an increased profile for the East coast.

Day	Weekday	County	Shore venues	Underwater venues TBC	Support/advice TBC	Stay
31th	Sun	Essex	The gathering	-	-	Essex
1st	Mon	Essex	Blackwater Estuary	Oyster rafts and beds	EWT	Orford
2nd	Tue	Suffolk	Orfordness		National Trust	Sheringham
3rd	Wed	Norfolk	West Runton	Sheringham	NWT	Sheringham
4th	Thurs	Norfolk	Hunstanton	Weybourne	NWT	Gibraltar Point
5th	Fri	Lincolnshire	Gibraltar Point	TBC	LWT	Gibraltar Point
6th	Sat	Yorkshire	Flamborough Head	Flamborough Head	Hull University /YWT	Boggle Hole
7th	Sun	Yorkshire	Robin Hoods Bay	Robin Hoods Bay	Hull University /YWT	Boggle Hole
8th	Mon	Durham	Blackhall Rocks	Blackhall Rocks		Beadnell
9th	Tues	Northumberland	Beadnell	Farne Islands		Beadnell
10th	Weds	Northumberland	Cresswell	Farne Islands		Beadnell
11th	Thurs	Northumberland	Beadnell	Beadnell		St Abbs
12th	Fri	Berwick	Off duty	St Abbs	St Abbs MR	...leave :-(

Planning matrix: Tide times (all GMT - which means +1 hour)

Day	Weekday	County	Tide station	Tide 1	Tide 2	Tide 3	Tide 4
31st	Sun	Essex	Harwich (New)	L 06:26 0.7m	H 12:51 4.1m	L 19:01 0.4m
1st	Mon	Essex	Harwich	L 07:11 0.6m	H 13:33 4.2m	L 19:45 0.3m
2nd	Tue	Suffolk	Lowestoft	L 05:44 0.7m	H 11:52  2.7m	L 18:21 0.3m
3rd	Wed	Norfolk	Cromer	L 04:10 0.8m	H 09:54  5.4m	L 16:40 0.5m	H 22:34 5.2
4th	Thurs	Norfolk	Cromer	L 04:49 0.9m	H 10:36  5.4m	L 17:20 0.6m	H 23:16 5.1
5th	Fri	Lincolnshire	Boston	L 06:14 2.2m	H 10:59  7.7m	L 18:46 2.0m
6th	Sat	Yorkshire	Bridlington (FQ)	L 03:54 0.8m	H 10:00 5.0m	L 16:29 0.7m	H 22:42 4.5
7th	Sun	Yorkshire	Scarborough	L 04:33 1.8m	H 11:00 5.0m	L 17:21 1.8m	H 23:32 4.8
8th	Mon	Durham	Hartlepool (for Blackhall Rocks)	L 05:12 1.6m	H 11:24 4.2m	L 18:02 1.7m	H 23:56 4.1
9th	Tues	Northumberland	Berwick upon Tweed	L 05:26 1.4m	H 11:43 3.8m	L 18:17 1.4m
10th	Weds	Northumberland	Berwick upon Tweed	L00704 1.2	H 12:56 4.0m	L 19:29 1.3m
11th	Thurs	Northumberland	Berwick upon Tweed	L00805 1.2	H 13:57 4.2m	L 20:20 1.0m

Site by site itinery: The info for each venue below includes aspects of the travel and accomodation for the day - please check the timing and people  tables for a clearer layout. 

Venue 1: The Blackwater, Essex - confirmed

        Arrive 31st July, survey on 1st, leave evening 1st August for Suffolk

Based at Essex Wildlife Trust's headquarters

Accommodation: It's planned (sounds idyllic) to camp by the Blackwater marshes by the sea wall.  The site is a farm with plenty of potential for natural food finding and barbeque friendly.

Map to download (1MB):
http://www.1townhouses.co.uk/seasearcheast.org.uk/EWT%20Abbots%20farm%20map.pdf

Park by the main building at the top and then walk down South and turn left (East) after Beetlebank. Half a mile on turn right South towards the Jetty hide (proposed) and we'll be camping by the picnic table.

Shore: We have the Blackwater Estuary to play with - early! 

Diving: Diving might not be possible. At present the whole of Essex is a bit of an unknown quantity. There are however shore sites and floating oyster rafts - which sound very interesting. There's a jetty to launch the boat. Water temperature was 16^oC when I dived there in June

Local contact - Sarah Allison, Essex Wildlife Trust

Venue 2: Orford Ness, Suffolk  - confirmed

        Arrive 1st August (2 hr drive), survey on 2nd, leave for Norfolk same day

Access is either by boat from Orford quay (free parking on street 1/4 miles back from quay)

Orford Quay
Orford
Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 2NU

Diving: Diving may not be possible in Suffolk, so surveys may be entirely shore based. No diving is planned but if the opportunity presents itself...

Shore: We will focus on the shore and saline lagoons.

Accommodation: We plan to stay on Orford Ness on the night of the 1st

Local contact - Gen Broad - Suffolk Naturalists, Grant Lahoar - National Trust

Special preview showing of Norfolk Wildlife Trusts Marine week show in the Forum in Norwich.  We'll park here and walk into town...

Norfolk Wildlife Trust
Bewick House
22 Thorpe Road
Norwich
NR1 1RY

Drive on to Sheringham afterwards

Venue 3: Sheringham, Norfolk

        Arrive 2nd August (2hr drive), survey 3rd and stay

We should be pretty organised here :-) As it's our home ground for diving and shore work.

Diving: Shore and boat dive the Norfolk chalk reef from Sheringham. Water temperature was 19^oC in July

Water Lane
West Runton
Norfolk
NR27 9QP

Accommodation: At the Sheringham YHA , camping options are available but won't be so good for lab work

Address:
1 Cremer's Drift
Sheringham
Norfolk
NR26 8HX
Tel: 0845 371 9040

There are lots of campsites about. One of the most popular is Breck farm where they let you burn things!

Local contact - Rob Spray or Gemma Walker - Norfolk Wildlife Trust for shore events

Venue 4: Sheringham and Hunstaton, Norfolk

        already here, Survey 4th, leave on 4th for Lincolnshire

We should be pretty organised here :-) As it's our home ground for diving and shore work.

Diving: Shore and boat dive the Western chalk reef from Sheringham..

Shore: Hunstanton (later) where a rocky shore allows seaweed to establish - NWT will be there 2-6pm

 Yet to get exact meeting location but it's the start of the cliff at the North of the main town promenade

Accomodation: Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Gibraltar Point field centre

Real (indoor!) accommodation and lab space at the field centre

Limited cooking facilities (microwave and sink!) or catered food

Gibraltar Point Field Centre
Gibraltar Point
Skegness
Lincolnshire
PE24 4SU

Local contact - Rob Spray for diving and Norfolk Wildlife Trust for shore events

Venue 5: Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire - confirmed

        Arrive 4th August, stay, survey 5th, stay, leave early morning 6th for Yorkshire surveying

Based at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Gibraltar Point field centre. We can launch from here to sample from the coast or dive.

Diving: Diving in Lincolnshire, and close to the Wash, is an unknown quantity. We'll be investigating the options beforehand - this may be the place where we just motor our into the sea and jump in... let me know if you are game!

Shore:  Ditto

Accomodation: Real (indoor!) accommodation and lab space at the field centre

Limited cooking facilities (microwave and sink!) or catered food

Local contact: Rob Spray or Dave Miller - LWT Coastal Ranger and Volunteer Coordinator

Venue 6: Flamborough Head, Yorkshire - confirmed

        Arrive 6th August (3hr drive!), survey 6th, stay Boggle Hole YHA

We will travel up in the morning - early - to South Landing

South Sea Road
South Landing
Flamborough
YO15 1AE

There may be some WildlifeTrust space nearby by then, but at the moment we would be based by the beach. Using the slip at South Landing to launch for diving around the head. Only the boat launch vehicle is allowed to stay down by the slip, the rest have to park up at the top. Yorkshire is the only weekend stop and it may be busy!

I've not had good information about slacks here - but the drifts are good!

Diving: Small boat diving around the Head all day, water temperature was 14-16^oC in July  '10

Shore: North and South Landings or Thornwick Bay

Accommodation:  Boggle Hole YHA 

Address:
Mill Beck
Fylingthorpe
Whitby
North Yorkshire
YO22 4UQ
Tel: 0845 371 9504

There are several camping options nearby, one is just at the top of the road down to Boggle Hole so close enough to be there for the good stuff and have break from seaweedy conversations :-)

Local contact - Rob Spray or Ant Hurd - Yorkshire Wildlife Trust or Sue Hull - Hull Uni for shore events

Venue 7: Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire - confirmed

        Already here, arrive by waking up at Boggle Hole! , survey 7th, stay Boggle Hole YHA

Dive: We could be retracing the steps of a survey conducted around 15 years ago which conducted a series of surveys perpendicular to the coast here...

Shore: same location - right on the shore outside the hostel

Accommodation: Boggle Hole YHA

Local contact - Rob Spray or Ant Hurd, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for shore events or Sue Hull, Hull Uni

Venue 8: Durham - Dive boat from Mill Dam, Newcastle

        Arrive from overnight stay at Boggle Hole (2 hr drive), survey 8th, drive on stay at Beadnell (1 hr drive)

Dive: Spellbinder II skippered by Allan Lopez  http://www.divespellbinder.co.uk/
We hope to carry out 3 shallow dives at sites in the northern part of the Durham Heritage Coast. MAP.

Surveying on the Durham Heritage coast, to complement recent surveys and extend the work to shallow areas.

Meeting the boat at 9.30am here:
Mill Dam car park
South Shields
NE33 1EQ

Shore:  Survey at Blackhall Rocks - Wildlife Trust PDF guide or Council PDF guide

Shore numbers are low - public event shelved, volunteer survey is on

Location: Just south east of Peterlee on the Durham Coast
On the A1086 north of Hartlepool and south of Peterlee.
Nearest postcode for GPS purposes TS27 4AT

Accommodation: We'll go on to Stan Hall's B&B place in Beadnell, the Beadnell campsite 1/4 mile away.

STAN & LEE HALL
ST EBBAS HOUSE
13 THE HAVEN
BEADNELL
NORTHUMBERLAND
NE675AW

TEL 01665720615 OR 07534988445

Local contact - Rob Spray

Venue 9: Farne Islands, Northumberland

        Already here survey 9th, stay for day 10

I'm sure you all know about the Farnes - focus here definitely on the shallower, weedier sites

Diving: Boat based around the islands - with Farne Diving services, water temperature was 11-12^oC in September

Shore: Trip to Lindisfarne? This dive day has moved, the shore diving at Beadnell is on the 11th now.

	Safe (dry) road crossing to Lindisfarne
				Safe			Safe
	Day	August		From	To		From	To
	Tue	9		01:25	10:00		14:15	22:30
	Wed	10		02:45	11:15		15:45	23:30
	Thu	11		04:15	12:10		17:05	00:20 (Fri)

Accommodation: Stan Hall's base in Beadnell

Local contact - Rob Spray

Venue 10: Farne Islands, Northumberland - confirmed : Creswell for shore survey - confirmed

        already here, survey 10th, stay overnight at least - apres survey TBA

        I'm sure you all know about the Farnes - focus here definitely on the shallower weedier sites

Diving: Boat based around the islands - with Farne Diving services from the harbour

Shore: Down the coast a bit, at Cresswell

Cresswell Pond Nature Reserve
Blakemoor Farm
Cresswell
Northumberland
NE61 5EH

Accommodation:  Stan Hall's base in Beadnell

Local contact - Rob Spray

Venue 11: Beadnell, Northumberland - (details swapped for 9th)

        already here, survey 11th, drive on to St Abbs (1 hr) for stay overnight at the Rock House.

Diving: We can launch our boat and/or shore dive here

Shore: The rocky shore here looks ideal, and it's very close to a fish and chip shop :-)

Map: here

Local contact - Rob Spray

Accommodation:  We'll move on to The Rock House bunk house at St Abbs: info here

Venue 12: St Abbs, Berwickshire - highly recommended - confirmed

        stayed overnight, survey 12th, home (long, long drive!), all over, the end :-(

Diving: We can shore dive here obviously ;-) 

Shore: There's rocky shore here and nearby, water temperature was 10.5^oC mid July

Local contact - Rob Spray or Georgia Conolly, St Abbs Warden

The second day at the Farnes will also give shore folk the opportunity to visit the islands themselves or Lindisfarne

St Abbs is only an hour up the road, well worth dropping into while you are so close!

I will head back the night of our last dive, the 12th. It's an awfully long drive for everyone but I'd rather get it over with so I can start on all the things put on hold during the survey...

If you'd like to stay on  I'll assume you can sort yourself out - I hope that's OK. That could allow for stops, revisits and/or additional events.

Accommodation - things to bring

Even if you aren't camping everyday please bring a sleeping bag and your own pillow case - for Orfordness and Gibraltar Point. At Gibraltar Point you could bring a duvet cover and pillow case if you want to be more civilised.