Ranger Round-Up 2026: Week 7

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.

Rockpool tank

Our rockpool tank is up and running now, although this time with no lobster (as some of you may know we have reared a lobster called Kevin in previous years!). This tank is home to our local rockpool critters, such as scorpion fish, beadlet anemones, shore crab, hermit crabs and much more. Come into the MEC to improve your identification skills and learn more about these cool species!

Junior rangers - Bright Green Nature

We began the week by hosting 10 Junior Rangers from Bright Green Nature - a nature restoration charity based in the Scottish Borders. These Junior Rangers span the ages of 8-15, meeting up weekly to learn and take action for nature in the local area. This involves developing practical skills in Nature Restoration, such as identifying wildlife or caring for habitats. Therefore, at the MEC, the Marine Rangers gave a talk on what we get up to at the BMR,  as well as a fascinating talk on the beauty of our local seaweed species.

Following the seaweed talk, we got our hands dirty and began a seaweed pressing workshop with them! Charley and Emma handily collected three buckets of seaweed in the early morning, whilst the tides were ideal, and separated the seaweed by colour. They guided the Junior Rangers through the seaweed printing workshop - which was a massive success (involving lots of newspaper and nappy liners!). They took home their seaweed wrapped in newspaper, as well as instructions for ‘aftercare’ as seaweed pressing is a lengthy process and can take up to a week to complete.

After lunch, Lauren took the Junior Rangers out along Eyemouth Beach to spot our local seabirds using binoculars, helping differentiate the seabirds by their varying calls and feet colours. All juvenile Herring Gulls will have fledged by now, so they are easily observed out at sea, perched on the waves which can be observed from Eyemouth Beach. To end the Junior Rangers visit, Lauren guided them through a beach clean on Eyemouth Beach, communicating the importance of picking up litter - particularly along beaches, to prevent it from being taken out by the tide!

Seaweed pressing workshops

Whilst the Junior Rangers were out shore watching and beach cleaning, Emma and Charley led a successful and busy seaweed pressing workshop (after quickly dashing out to replenish seaweed stocks!). Don’t worry, all seaweed found and used for these events had been washed up and detached from the shore. We do not promote or advise picking alive seaweeds for pressing, as they are still functioning - taking in carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and creating a habitat for many marine species!

WDC Shorewatch: Eyemouth 

On Wednesday, Emma ran a WDC shorewatch at Eyemouth Gullies, where two local volunteers joined her. Across 3 surveys, they saw feeding gannets and several seals - swimming and resting around 250m from shore. Although no cetaceans were observed, it is still very helpful data for the WDC!

Ocean After Dark Talk - Dr Thomas Davies 

Charley is currently studying at Plymouth University, where she is taught by Dr Thomas Davies, who will be supervising her dissertation as she enters her final year! She had been transfixed in Davies’ lectures on Artificial Light At Night (ALAN), which covered topics such as defining the photic zone and understanding how different marine species would be impacted by the rise in ALAN. Dr Thomas Davies was kind enough to provide a talk online, about his work and ALAN to a group of us in the MEC!

BioBlitz

Every year, the BMR collaborates with National Trust for Scotland at St Abbs Head to pull off a BioBlitz event. A BioBlitz aims to record as many different plant and animal species located within St Abb's NNR and the Berwickshire Marine Reserve as possible. This year, Patrick ran a bat survey the night before the BioBlitz, to idenitfy and count as many bat species as possible with volunteers.

The day began with Lauren and Charley heading down to the harbour at St. Abbs for a ramble over the rockpools, attempting to find, identify and record as many living species as they could! They ended up getting fully engrossed in the rockpools, fascinated by all the lichens and encrusting algae they found underneath the rocks and in the hidden crevices! 

Once they got going, the species list grew alarmingly fast! Beadlet anemones, grey topshells, shore crabs, butterfish, different species of barnacles, topshells and periwinkles too, just to name a few! All the tiny details within the rocky topography made the shore such a good home for an incredible amount of species! Every rock seemed to have something new to show, and it was brilliant watching the BioBlitz buzz build as more people joined in and started spotting things for themselves.

It was a proper hands-on morning of exploring, learning and celebrating the incredible biodiversity right on our doorstep. A perfect way to kick-start the morning of the 2026 Summer BioBlitz.

Following from the rockpool ramble, Charley and Patrick led a shorewatch which was heaving with people observing diving gannets and the coastal birds. No cetaceans were sighted but a good time was had by all. As well as a rockpool ramble and shorewatch, there was an insect safari, moth trapping and a drop-in stall, allowing visitors to ask questions about the event or species they had sighted.

Excitingly, during the moth trapping, a new species for Scotland was sighted: White-point moth (Mythimna albipuncta). This migrant moth was caught overnight in a moth trap set up in the Mire Loch reed beds. Sightings like this are becoming more frequent, with warmer weather and stronger weather events potentially helping more migrant species reach our shores. This sighting emphasises the importance of events like the BioBlitz, to help us understand what species are present in the area.

Seaweed pressing workshop equipment and instructions:

You will need –

1. Newspaper (lots of it!)

2. Nappy Liner 

3. Seaweed 

4. Tray of freshwater 

5. Wooden stick e.g. coffee stirrer 

6. Watercolour card 

Instructions –

1. Wash the seaweed in freshwater to remove the sand.

2. Fill the tray with fresh water and submerge paper in the water.

3. Arrange your seaweed on the paper under the water, let it float so you can arrange the fronds to your desire.

4. Use the coffee stirrer to arrange the fronds.

5. Slowly lift the paper out of the water, at an angle so the water is drained off, but the seaweed is arranged nicely. 

6. Cover the seaweed and paper with a nappy liner. 

7. Place a layer of newspaper on top.

8. Stack a heavy book on top of the newspaper… for around 3-7 days (until they are dried and pressed flat).

Aftercare –

1. Change out the damp newspapers/ towels daily for the first 3 days to prevent mould! 

2. Frame the pressed seaweed behind glass in a picture frame!                               

3. Avoid direct sunlight as it can bleach or fade the natural pigments in the seaweed.      

4. Do not place pressed seaweed in humid rooms like bathrooms, as the dried plant material can reabsorb moisture and loosen or mould.