.......don't deter serious rockpoolers, said Heather Buttivant, an old friend of Coastwise, as she stiffened members' backbones and inspired them to get out despite the season.
Heather's message was simple; winter's still a great time to get out and look for marine life. There is less weed, so it's easier to see into pools, there'll be more juveniles, and there will be many fewer people out.
................according to Sam Hallam, who's researching oceanic trends that influence climate at Southampton University, with support from Spitfire, Southampton Partnership for Innovative Training of Future Investigators Researching the Environment (I wonder how many PhDs it took to think that acronym up ?).
Bev Phillips gave a very animated talk on Dynamic Dunescapes, and described her work on Braunton Burrows. These are one of the best dune systems in the UK and along with Croyde and Woolacombe are the focus of the Devon project. Dunes are very important habitats for plants and animals, and have been been identified as being one of the most at risk habitats by international conservation bodies.
Mike Puleston, from The Shores of South Devon, highlights some of his favourite images of marine organisms from the inter-tidal zone of the county's well known rock and sand beaches.
.....is the (very) cautiously optimistic picture that Jonathon Porritt gave to Coastwises members, while talking about his new book.
He outlined the familiar picture of frozen arctic sediments melting and releasing methane, accellerating climate change, a growing gap between reality and political will. However, attention is being diverted by Covid-19, although in the overall scale of what's happening, the effects of this are tiny compared to what climate change will do, which will affect the world population for all the next century, if not longer.
Copyright Coastwise