BMR
16 Aug 2023
Welcome to week 10 of our ranger round up. With only 2 more weeks with our summer rangers there are plenty of activities to get involved with - make sure to check out our Facebook page for more information. Take a look at what the team were up to last week, including shorewatches, rockpooling and our Marine Education Centre tank maintenance.
Marine Education Centre
As always our Marine Education Centre in The Hippodrome, Eyemouth, is providing some fantastic education and a warm environment for locals and tourists alike, showing what we really have on offer in the BMR. We caught some great glimpses of our local celebrities trying to catch their morning meal.
We took to cleaning our 1 year old lobsters’ tank (our ‘rockpool’ tank as you enter our centre) for which we removed our small friend momentarily for their safety. We have far smaller, and a far greater number of young lobsters in our hatchery at the back of the centre, where you are more than welcome to visit.
Ruler of the Reserve
Our Instagram and Facebook “Ruler of the Reserve” tournament is entering its final two weeks, with four weeks passed and four of our critter competitors having been eliminated. In the next week, we will see the Minke Whale and European Lobster go head to head and the Wolffish up against the Grey seal. Remember the reserves critter ruler is decided by you so follow us on Instagram and Facebook, keep your eyes on our stories and have your say in who is the “Ruler of the Reserve”.
Shore Watch Shenanigans
On Wednesday Finlay and Seren took to Coldingham Bay with a few eager volunteers to perform a WDC Shorewatch. Over the course of an hour and a half, we performed three surveys and with so many minke whales present in the reserve over the past weeks they were feeling hopeful that there would be another sighting, but to no avail. Unfortunately, there was no sign of any cetaceans however, we were lucky enough to avoid the rain and have a good wee chin wag.
Rockpool Ramble
Following our morning shore-watch duties, Seren, with the help of our volunteer Harriet, took some eager youngsters to the rockpools of Coldingham bay. This ramble gave us lots of interesting finds, from muscles, anemones, shore crabs, shrimp, to what seemed like 100s of young gobbys. The intertidal environment was looking rich and healthy, which is always great to see. Everyone had a great time exploring, and by the end we could all say ANEMOME…well, almost.
Pease Bay Charity Day
On Saturday Head Ranger Charlotte and Ranger Sarah took to Pease Bay charity day to try and raise money for a good cause all while spreading the word of the BMR, highlighting its importance to the coast and how we as recreational and commercial users can make the most of the BMR in a safe, and sustainable way. We had plenty of jellyfish made from our arts and crafts selection and were able to show just how harmful plastic can be to our oceans with our scaled-down nurdle hunt.
