Ranger Round-Up 2026: Week 5

Welcome to the new weekly ranger round-up, where our Summer Marine Rangers Emma and Charley as well as our Gull Ranger, Patrick, will come together to share everything they have been up to! Enjoy reading through these weekly summaries and please pop into Blue Adventures if you want to say hi to the team.

New windows 

This week we had a makeover, with the wonderful Haley Morrison painting our windows of Blue Adventures. She did an incredible job portraying the marine life that can be discovered along the BMR, from an orca to bottlenose dolphin and a diving gannet! Thank you so much Haley for showcasing your talent, making Blue Adventures more enticing for those walking along the High Street. We really appreciate it.

WDC Shorewatch - Eyemouth 

Earlier in the week, Charlotte and Charley ran a WDC Shorewatch at Eyemouth Gullies with a lovely mix of families joining us for a slightly overcast, but thankfully warm morning by the sea. We had plenty to watch, with several grey seals popping up throughout the session. One seal swam along the shoreline, giving everyone a feel good moment and a brilliant close-up view of them in their natural habitat. Quite a few of the other seals were making the most of the tide not yet reaching its peak, so they were having a nice relaxing morning chilling on the rocks. With binoculars in hand, everyone managed to get a great look at them relaxing.

Once the event wrapped up and most people had headed off, apart from only a few, is exactly the time that a HUGE pod of bottlenose dolphins appeared! They were travelling north and having the absolute time of their lives. They stuck around for a good while, breaching, leaping and showing off their playful nature as they moved along the coastline. It felt like a private little encore performance just for us. 

A perfect reminder that even when a Shorewatch officially ends, the sea never stops surprising you.

Gull Project Updates

Since the last update on here, Patrick has continued the urban gull surveys, which are thankfully producing data in line with what we would expect! This is good to know as it shows the methodology is working effectively. We had our first juvenile Herring Gull flying on 16th July and by the end of the month there were 19 fledged juveniles off St Abbs and 21 off Eyemouth bantry. Good luck to them! Defensive swooping seems to have decreased noticeably as the chicks have fledged, although reports of stealing food are still regular. Patrick and Lauren spoke to Giacopazzi's and The Ship about this to discuss plans moving forward for next summer. Otherwise he has been in the MEC, and is mid-way through a series of talks held here, one about the ecology of gulls, species identification, aging and behaviour, a second about the phenomenon of 'urban gulls' and the scientific research (or lack of!) that accompanies them, and a third presenting the results of our urban gull surveys and the implications of the data. All of this will be essential in taking the correct steps to co-exist more peacefully with our gulls, so it is pleasing to see the pieces starting to come together!

Edible Boat Race 

On Thursday, Emma was kindly invited to judge the Edible Boat Race alongside someone from the RNLI and boat yard in Eyemouth. This event is held every year and contributes to the Eyemouth Herring Queen celebrations! Liza from Splash came up with the fabulous idea to focus on edible boats, rather than paper or plastic boats, to reinforce the importance of sustainable beach activities! Releasing non-biodegradable boats would mean components could remain in the sea for years - for example, plastic straws take around 200 years to decompose.

There were three boat awards: the most spectacular, the most seaworthy and the fastest boat. It was incredibly difficult deciding the winners, as the turnout was amazing. So many enthusiastic kids took part, all eager to see how their boats would fare in the sea! There was a massive variety of boats, from melons to courgettes and squash - it was fascinating to see how creativity can be used to promote conservation and encourage more sustainable activities.

Rockpool Ramble - Eyemouth 

To celebrate Eyemouth Herring Queen week, we organised a rockpool ramble which was incredibly well attended with over 30 people! It was lovely seeing the kids searching for starfish and identifying the different seaweed species on the rocks, noticing the changing species due to the shore zonation. For example, we noticed a lot more channelled wrack in the upper shore, with a wider diversity of seaweed species in the lower shore including sugar kelp and oarweed. Moreover, we managed to identify plenty of hermit crabs and beadlet anemones with their tentacles out - you could even see the blue beads (acrorhagi) hidden beneath their tentacles! These are packed with stinging cells for defence against predators or fight off rival anemones.

This summer, our rockpool rambles appear to be our most well attended event. It is an incredible opportunity for the rangers to educate and inspire kids, as well as the parents - it is a great activity for everyone to learn something new!

St Abbs Lifeboat Gala 

Saturday brought another community gala - this time to support and celebrate 10 years of St Abbs Lifeboat. It was awe-inspiring observing the local community volunteer their time to unite and create such a wonderful event for a wonderful cause. We spoke with many families and tourists about the marine life that can be found at St Abbs, with discussions of wolffish and nudibranchs with visiting divers, to talks of rockpool rambles with kids! Once again, the trash or treasure game was a hit - helping kids understand what natural life can be left on the beach and emphasising the importance of safety too. For example, always using hand sanitiser after picking bits up or using thick gloves when picking up sharper objects. 

NWDW Seasearch with NTS - St Abbs Lighthouse 

On Sunday, Charley set up camp at St Abbs Lighthouse with Ciaran, the Head Ranger for National Trust for Scotland, along with an enthusiastic team of his volunteers. Together they ran a Seasearch to celebrate National Whale and Dolphin Watch Week! It was a beautiful summer’s day at the lighthouse, which probably explained the incredible turnout. Around 200 visitors joining us between 11am-3pm, making the event a huge success! 

We were incredibly lucky to have two confirmed minke whales, possibly three, feeding offshore for around two and a half hours. We tried our best to make sure everyone got a chance to see them, although it was definitely a challenge! Minke whales usually only surface two or three times before plunging into a deep dive, and only surfacing for a second or two! Every time one appeared, people were calling out directions and helping the rest of the group follow their movement. It created such a great shared sense of excitement and made the whole experience feel even more special!

At one point, Ciaran laughed and said if there was anything to complain about the day, it would be the fact there were ‘too many whales!’ - might be the best seawatch complaint we have ever heard! Today, the Minke whales definitely got the memo we were hosting our NWDW Seawatch!