Ranger Roundup - Week 3

Welcome to our new blog! Each week, our Summer Rangers Anj, Finn and Becca will be providing a roundup of all that's happening at the BMR. Read on to find out more about the new rangers and what they have been up to in their third week.

Rockpool Ramble at Coldingham Bay

What a fantastic week we had down in Coldingham with our MEC on Tour! We started this week with a wonderful rockpool ramble on Monday morning - although it did get a bit wet! We headed down to Coldingham Bay and met our group of Rockpool ramblers to collect all the equipment before walking down to the rockpools.  Within the first five minutes, we had already found the three main crab species shore, edible, and velvet swimming crabs - most of which were hiding underneath the seaweed. 

We also brought along our bathyscope, which helped us to see what was hiding in the sand, and we found a few tiny flatfish. There was a starfish which was missing one leg, but luckily, they can regrow their limbs. Unfortunately, the rain did decide to start about halfway through our rockpooling and got steadily heavier so we ended up heading back slightly early, but we had some incredible finds already!

Marine Education Centre

Week two of our MEC tour took us to the charming coastal gem of Coldingham, and what a delight it was! This wee village is bursting with character, holds such a vibrant history, and is full of warm, welcoming faces. We were lucky enough to be based in the heart of it all at the Village Hall, where there was a steady stream of visitors popping in for a blether from curious locals to energetic youth groups. We had an influx of creative folks helping us add to our jellyfish smack! It's now turning into a wibbly-wobbly masterpiece. 

There’s something special about seeing people light up with excitement over Scotland’s incredible coastline. That spark of passion? Totally contagious. Here’s to another week of coastal adventures and community magic — Coldingham, you’ve been brilliant!

Beach Clean

One of our rangers was joined by an incredibly enthusiastic volunteer for a beach clean, we made quite a dent! In just a short time, we collected a surprisingly big haul of litter. You wouldn’t suspect it on what looks like such a pristine beach. One curious find? Loads of discarded bits of cord were scattered along the shore. A bit mysterious… maybe some further investigation into what is causing this?

Wildlife Tour

We also had the absolute treat of hopping on board a Wildlife Tour with the amazing Sally, who assisted us in educating a community youth group about the local wildlife.  However, the waves were a bit on the dumpy side, so we only managed around 20 minutes on the water until we decided to abort our mission! But what a wild 20 minutes it was! We spotted nearly every seabird species on the Reserve... and yes, even a puffin made a star appearance!  As if that wasn’t enough, our friendly local seals popped up to say hello.