Sandy and I decided
to spend a couple of days away in the Poole
area. The main reason was to join Mark Everard and his crowd, mostly
Environment Agency scientists or associates in a species competition to see how
many sea fish species we could catch off Poole
harbour.
However, after
travelling up on the Wednesday, we went by ferry from Sandbanks to Brownsea Island to try and see a red squirrel. I
remember them as a kid, but Sandy had never seen
one having been brought up in the Black Country.
It was one of those days when the young were grown and feeding for the winter
on the abundance of cones and nuts. We counted over 20 as we walked a circular
route. We also spotted a Peregrine Falcon land with a bird in its claws on top
of a pylon-like structure in the centre of the island. It proceeded to watch us
as it pulled the feathers from its pray and devoured it.
Before we caught
the return ferry, we decided to have a cup of tea and cake for a late lunch. We
were plagued by wasps, so Sandy
put the little jam jar on the next table.
Then suddenly a squirrel appeared and started to lick the jam pot.
Clearly the wasps annoyed him too, so he picked up the jar and ran off with it.
We returned to
our hotel for a truly uninspiring evening meal, but a much better breakfast the
next morning before the angling party gathered at 7.30 on the quay. There were
about 20 of us split between two boats, all trying to catch the most species. The
fishing was very enjoyable on a flat calm sea although I only managed 4
species; pouting, plaice, black bream and this tub gurnard - a species I had
not caught before, which differs from the red gurnard by the flash of blue
(might not be, could be purple as I am colourblind) around the edges of the
fins.
I was also
amazed by the number of massive jellyfish floating by. We must have seen
between 20 and 30, all about two feet (600mm across). I was also equally
surprised how quickly they move when you poke them with a rod. I even had two
line bites from them.
We had 13
species on out boat, but the other boat had 19 aided by Adrian Pinder who had
12!!! A great way to spend a day and see fish species I had never seen before
which were readily identified by the scientists on board.