Seven of our club members recently
attended a BSAC Marine Life Identification course held at the
Mount Batten Centre, Plymouth, with diving kindly hosted by
Plymouth Sound Sub Aqua Club. The course was expertly organized and run by Peter Messenger and Keith Hiscock, ably assisted by
many of their friends and colleagues from the marine biology and
diving worlds.
This course did much to answer many
questions and fill in many blanks in our knowledge of the sea and
the creatures and plants that live in and around it. However it
has left me with one burning question, 'Why didn't I
attend the course years ago?'.
It was such an eye opener and so
compliments our hobby. Not only were the lectures, field studies
and lab sessions both instructional and interesting, but also
when it came to the dive on the Sunday I was amazed at how much
more I saw and appreciated. Dare I say it, in some cases I was
even able to recognize a few more of the things to be found.
Think small. Slow down. Get close up -
then look closer again! Look under things. Light things up with
your torch - even in bright daylight. It's amazing just what is
there to be seen if you take the time and trouble to look.
We spend a lot of time, money and effort
for what is a comparatively very short time actually under the
water. Maximize on it - go on a Marine Life ID course and trust
me, you will get more out of your diving.
Don't get me wrong, it's not going to
perform miracles and turn you into a Marine Biologist over night,
you know, like 'Sparky' who woke up one day to find he could
suddenly play the piano (if you are old enough to know what I'm
on about). Nor are you going to be able to impress your friends
by reeling off the scientific names for all and sundry. Well, you
can practice a couple just to show off!
What it will give you is some basic
knowledge and appreciation of the biological groupings, the
biodiversity, the habitats (biotopes), and the effect mankind can
and does have on them. It will start to train your eye and your
mind to see things you previously may have missed. It will tell
you where to look for more information to help you identify
things you see. It will tell you of schemes and initiatives and organizations you can get involved in if you want to do or know
more. And importantly - if it is like the course we attended, it
will be a lot of fun too!
Tim Clouter. October 2000
Pages from Racheals' Diary
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- Friday
29th September (pm).
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- Setting
off on a cold and wet Friday afternoon.
Surprisingly when we arrived the weather was
actually quite warm and good enough to pitch a
tent in.
- Once we'd
arrived it was time to do the rounds with the
mobile, but alas, no one's phones were on -
conclusion - what is the point of having a phone
in the first place? For those of you who have
been away with Matt, you'll know what I mean.
- Starting
to get a bit peckish - mmm, camp site fish and
chip shop smells good.
- A fish
and chip shop with no fish? I ask you - last day
of the season.
- We
praised her chips and were rewarded with another
free bag. Feeling a bit sick afterwards though.
- By this
time Jo and Steve had arrived. They pitched
Steve's tent and off we went to meet our
classmates at the Mount Batten Centre.
- The
classroom was already buzzing - tanks full of sea
creatures and magnifying apparatus - looking very
much like a school biology lab. All I could think
of was, "Ah, that's cruel, has that fish got
enough water?" I don't think I'd make a good
marine biologist.
- Tim was
off, someone mentioned computers and 'SmartGroups'
zzzzz
- Ah, time
for a beer, and it did go down well.
- Remainder
of the group concluded we must be mad - camping.
"We're rufty tufty divers" we replied.
- It was
some time during our 2nd
pint that Matt phoned through to tell us they
were still in Taunton. Leanne's' poor car had
boiled over and they were waiting for the AA. It
was during our 3rd
pint we heard they were on their way home to
Bristol.
- In Tim's tent I shared a bedroom with Jo, and did she
snore? (only joking - that was Tim). Having a
double li-lo meant that every time one got up the
other was nearly thrown out of the tent! That
happened rather a lot during the night as we both
had weak bladders.
-
- Good night!.
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- Saturday
30th September.
-
- Breakfast
was to be at Sainsburys. Tim was supplied with
weekend fix of Fisherman's Friends, which was just
as well as we all had the sniffles.
- Matt, Lee
and Leanne arrived part way into the first
lecture (having left Bristol, this time in Matt's car, at 6am - not bad considering they hadn't got
home until 2am). The first lecture was sitting
and listening - learning about classifications -
which creatures belonged in which groups, i.e.
crustaceans. You'd be surprised - but you'll have
to go on the course if you want to find out.
- Lunchtime
arrived and we were supplied with a lovely packed
lunch and off we set to the beach to find our
specimens to bring back - under rocks - up and
down dale. Taking our finds back to the lab to be
magnified and identified. A little dogfish was
born, an anemone was born, and I missed it all.
- Well the
time had arrived. It was dive time. Everyone was
paired up and off we went. The route in was a bit
rough. Clambering over big rocks to get to the
sea.
- I buddied
up with Matt and Lee. Lee doing his regimental
buddy checks.
- It was
time to dive, dive, dive. Vis was really bad -
the best bit was holding hands, with Matt
sandwiched in the middle. I had a good excuse to
abort my dive (pain in sinuses) and leave Matt
and Lee to the murky bad vis.
- Back for
a well deserved shower - and was it good!
- Time for
dinner - our poor waitress. The men were being
boys as usual, arguing over size…… of
the profiterols. Tim was that desperate he even
licked a bit of escaped chocolate sauce off the
waitresses' arm - yuck.
- After
dinner tutors giving us a quiz to see how much we
had listened too. I have to say he was quite
impressed with all his little students.
-
- Good
nite!
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- Sunday
1st October.
-
- We left
the tent up so it would dry during the day and
off we set for breakfast. Arrived at Sainsburys
for our usual - but alas it was a ghost town - we
had forgotten it was Sunday - oops!
-
- Luckily
the Mount Batten Centre was still serving, mmm it
was good and of course, I had to get my moneys
worth.
- Lee had
to embarrass us by burning the toast and setting
off the fire alarms. What was worse, he didn't
even own up - how honest!
- Time to
dive again - the Mewstone was the chosen site and
off they all went. I excused myself, sinuses
still bunged up, and Jo just couldn't be
bothered.
- Jo and I
visited the Plymouth Aquarium - using our new
marine ID skills to view and find things. Very
interesting.
- Meanwhile
the others had a good dive, even seeing a Basking
Shark. Jo and I were gutted. Matt didn't enjoy
the ride though and decided to feed the fish. All
divers bringing back more specimens for everyone
to examine.
- Tim must
have had withdrawal symptoms as he had to find an
unusual specimen just so he could record it on
the Internet. He was like the cat who got the
cream. It was a Gaping File Shell.
- Alas it
was time to say goodbye and we set off for our
long trip home. The weather had taken a turn for
the worst. Tim and I found ourselves taking the
tent down in a wet hurricane. So instead of a
slightly damp tent we had a soaking wet one and
the rest to go with it - including us!
- Anyway, a
good time had by all.
- Thanks
for arranging it for us Tim.
- I advise
people to go on the course next time it comes
round.
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The BSAC Marine Life Identification
Course Syllabus can be viewed at http://www.bsac.org/page/585/marine-life-id.htm
It may strike you as strange that a page which is devoted to a
Marine Life Identification Course does not itself have any
photographs of any marine life on it. I agree - it is. But the
fact was, we were all so busy enjoying the course that none of us
took any photos!
So the only way we could include some pictures here would be
to break the copyright laws and nick someone else's. Instead of
that, if it's marine life pictures you want, check out some or
all of the links below.
Many thanks to Peter Messenger and Keith Hiscock
for organizing such an excellent course.
- Page created and maintained by Tim Clouter
- Last updated on: 21-November-2000
- Copyright © 2000, 2008 Bristol Aerospace
Sub-Aqua Club
