.....no, much better, Lydia Deacon from the West Country Rivers Trust gave Coastwise members a comprehensive insight into the work the Trust does to monitor and improve river water quality.
This is clearly a crucial element in coastal water quality that is so important for our marine life.
Lydia ran through the main sources of pollution, what can be done about them, and outlined the ideal catchment to improve river quality.
....or at least occasionally if you'rer looking for seaweed. Professional algologist and Coastwise member Dr Sarah Hodgkiss gave other members a masterly overview of the seaweeds we can find and how to identify them.
Some are indicator species, such as the Spiral Wracks on the upper shore, the Bladder Wracks on the mid-shore and Serrated Wrack on the lower shore.
Then, in the water at low tide are the Kelps.
..........is normal for Coastwise members.
Or at least in the talks series, which this week featured Debbie Frazer on the birds seen during frequent walks along Fremington Pill.
This haven for bird life has yielded a good range for her, including most of those normally seen round our shores, but, only more recently, Little Egrets, Spotted Redshanks and Cormorants.
She also records her sightings on the Birdtrack website.
...............and you're bound to see lots of Limpets and Anenomes.
Nicola Mello gave Coastwise members an identification guide to both; like a lot of things, some are easy, but some are harder.
Limpets come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the large volcanoes to the tiny Semibalanus balanoides. Some are only really distinguishable by internal colour. There is even an invasive version - Darwins barnacles, or Austrominius modestus.
.....come in all sizes, according to ecologist Pip Jollands, who gave Coastwise members a refresher on shells that can be found on the shore. This is to help the survey process, with members getting back to the shore after a long lay-off.
The shells, such as Topshells, Periwinkles and Whelks are easy to find on the shore, but can be difficult to identify precisely.
They have interesting features, such as a hard radula, or tongue, to scrape algae off the rocks that they browse on.
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