Porpoise
and Gannets at Hunmanby Gap, North Yorkshire
28th May 2007
I received a call out at 09:30
from Bev Drayton to attend a stranded "whale" as reported
by MOP on the beach at Hunmanby gap.
I was out and about with my wife Gill and pooch Ryker at the time
on our way to Filey for a nice cloudy,windy,cold walk on the sand
like you do on a bank holiday monday, after the initial "A
WHAT", we thought it may be something else and said Iwould
go and check it out for Bev.
On arrival we met the car park
attendant who said a couple of teenagers had reported a whale on
the beach, and also two Guillemots laying together dead or injured
further along the beach, having looked himself from quite a distance
he told us he thought it was a seal, which seemed more likely, we
could see the dot in the distance just in the edge of the surf.
Once on the beach I had a look
through my binoculars and could see it was a small porpoise or dolphin
and was getting washed about in the surf.
Bev had already guessed it may be a porpoise and she was right,
not very old at all, having checked for any signs of life of which
I found none I moved it up the beach out of the surf for closer
inspection. It was a Neonate with the lingual papillae present around
the tongue, a small female.
No other signs of injury and in good condition (if that can be said
of a dead porpoise) it looks likely that it may have got separated
from mum in the heavy seas and got washed up.
The weather was cold and cloudy
with a stiff north wind blowing making the sea rough and she would
have had no chance of getting back to her mother.
Having phoned Bev with the bad
news it was decided to remove her from the beach so using a towel
to wrap her up in I carried her up the beach onto the stones at
the base of the cliff.
Now all we had to do was find
the birds, (what a quiet walk this was turning into).
Gill who had been dog sitting at a safe distance away now came with
our dog (on lead) to help look, we saw a man I knew and asked him
if he had seen anything and he pointed them out to us (cheers for
that Paul).
When
we got there it looked like one of the birds had died and the other
one was laid right next to it's mate not wanting to leave it, I
have to say they look like Gannets to me but I am not sure, (see
photo's). [Yes, indeed they are Gannets. Tony-Editor]
Any way having got up close and
about to get personal with them it appeared that they were fastened
together by some sort of fishing line around their bills. I pulled
on my heavy duty gloves and cut the live one free gave it a check
over and let it go, it sat on the beach for a while and then took
off and flew away to wherever big sea birds fly to when they have
just been handled by a medic with big gloves on. I put the other
bird in a bag for removal from the beach.
On the way back to pickup the
porpoise Simon phoned to see which part of the beach we were on
so he could meet us, he had come down with Bev and Garion (hope
that's right), we met up and took the two bodies off the beach to
a corner behind a building so Bev and Simon could have a look to
see what they thought. Simon took some photo's for their records
and Bev asked me if I would fill in the appropriate forms and file
a report, we then went to the beach cafe to get warmed through with
a coffee, for which I must say thank you to Bev for buying.
While we were there Bev arranged
for the council to take the bodies away out of harms way.
A big thank you to Gill (my wife)
for dog sitting on a very cold beach while I was doing what medics
do, and also a big thanks to Bev and Simon for coming out and supporting
me on the call.
Bruce
Pawson.
Filey MMM.
Adult
Grey Seal Rescue - Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, Kent
23rd
& 24th May 2007
On Wednesday 23rd May, Sue White received a call
from Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, on the Southern Kent Coast,
as an adult grey seal was trapped in the inlet tank of the power
station.
The triangular inlet water tank processes a high
volume of water which is sucked into the power station. The constantly
churning water meant the seal had to constantly swim or be dragged
against the side of the tank.
Ten years ago a three seals did the same thing and
as a result BDMLR drew up a protocol for dealing with this situation,
so when staff noticed the seal they were straight on the phone to
BDMLR for assistance. The incident was kept confidential and a minimum
team of medics were call on to deal with the rescue in a professional
manner.
Medics Alec Anscombe, Jason Carter, Frauke Fehse
and myself drove to assess the situation. Our main concerns were
that the seal was becoming stressed trying to climb up the walls;
and becoming tired as there was no haul out site.
We had two main aims.
1) To provide the seal with a temporary haul out. 2) To provide
a rescue platform and organise the materials and equipment to undertake
the rescue and release.
We knew the crane
would not arrive untill the following day, and we were worried about
leaving the seal swimming all night. Alan Knight was asked to bring
the whale pontoons across from the Uckfield office and Sharon Gisby
was also asked to assist.
A 8ft x 4ft plywood
board was attached to four scaffold poles and these were attached
to the hand straps on the two pontoons. Ropes were attached and
the temporary platform lowered the 40ft to the water. As the water
rose and fell with the tide Alec and I stayed until 11pm to ensure
the ropes were not too short leaving the pontoons high and dry;
and the seal no where to haul out.
Stephen Marsh was
asked to attend first thing Thursday morning to check on the pontoons
and monitor the seal until the net arrived. Unfortunately the net
was delivered to the wrong address causing several hours delay.
However, the net finally arrived mid afternoon at Dungeness. A crane
had arrived on site during the morning and when Alec and I arrived
with the nets the seal was trying out the new 8ft x 8ft scaffold
platform which had been made by the rigger from Dungeness.
Using the protocol
established last time this occurred, ropes were threaded through
the nets forming a draw string. The centre of the net was then secured
in the middle of the platform which had a hard plastic base. Ropes
attached to the four corners were threaded up through a strop on
the crane to give an upwards lift of the net when the ropes were
pulled.
The platform was lowered to the water level. On
each rope was a BDMLR medic and a British Energy staff member. Within
10 minutes the seal was resting on the side, but no far enough in
for us to be successful.
At one point the seal
started playing with one of the ropes and pulled so the platform
needed to be raised and re-set. Alan Knight arrived early evening
and further adjustments were made to the net.
As the evening progressed
further adjustments were made and about 9pm the seal hauled himself
into the middle of the platform and the “go go go” shout
went out and ropes were pulled like mad. The crane started lifting
the platform out whilst the rescuers struggled to hold the massive
seal which was thrashing round in the net.
Boards were placed
around the sides of the platform just in time as the seal managed
to escape from the net. Luckily the boards held the seal on the
platform allowing the large transportation crate to be attached
to one corner. Using the very technical method of 'using a broom'
Alan encouraged the seal into the crate- even though the seal decided
to go in backwards!
After some thrashing
around the seal was loaded into the back of the veterinary ambulance
and driven to a beach to the east of Dover. The seal was extremely
heavy and certainly made the van rock about during the journey.
Just after midnight the seal was unloaded and placed on the beach
were a vet from Dover tried to check over the seals eyes, which
were thought to be fine. The end of the crate was opened and seal
clambered down the beach swam off out into the English Channel.
Our big thanks to all the staff at British Energy
for there hospitality and support throughout the entire rescue and
to the BDMLR medics for their long hours and dedication to getting
the job done without being able to tell anyone until the rescue
was complete.
Trevor Weeks
- BDMLR National Coordinator
6Mb 4min video - HERE
click on images to enlarge
- all images copyright BDMLR |
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PRESS
RELEASE
Successful
2 day operation ends in rescue of seal from Nuclear Power station
25th
May 2007
A
team of expert volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue
[1] have successfully rescued and released an adult Grey seal from
a large water inlet tank at Dungeness Nuclear Power Station [2].
The seal had managed
to get through a grill and up an inlet pipe before entering the
massive open air water holding tank. This tank had constantly churning
water flowing through it to be used for the cooling of the turbine
plant at the power station.
The adult male Grey
seal weighing approximately 250kgs and 8ft in length [3], was not
able to get out of the water and would quickly become exhausted
and potentially in danger of drowning.
Martyn Butlin, British
Energy press officer, said: “We called BDMLR then and they
rescued the seal so when it happened again we knew who to call.
Staff and contract partners here at Dungeness worked closely with
the fantastic volunteers from BDMLR and I am delighted that the
seal has been rescued and released.”
Trevor Weeks, National
Coordinator of BDMLR said, “We were delighted that British
Energy called us to help with this unusual and logistically challenging
problem. When we first saw the seal on Wednesday we could see that
he was in good condition but we needed to act quickly to give him
the ability to haul out and get out of the water. We attached two
of our inflatable pontoon tubes, usually used for whale rescue,
to a plywood board and a crane lowered this into the tank. The seal
took only a few minutes to start using the raft.”
On Thursday a special
net was attached to the raft and rope threaded around the edge to
form a bag in which to trap the seal. The net was placed on the
raft and when the seal used the raft the bag was quickly closed
catching the seal. He was winched out of the tank and into a seal
carrying crate.
A veterinary surgeon
quickly examined the large animal and gave the ‘all clear’
that the seal was OK to be released.
The seal was transported
to a beach to the east of Dover, well away from Dungeness but still
close to the Grey seal colonies at Goodwin Sands. Here he was released
at 12.15am on Friday 25th.
It is believed that
the seal was able to access the 18ft diameter water inlet pipe as
a grill at the ‘sea end’ had become detached.
[ printable PDF version
- HERE
]
Atlantic
White Beaked dolphin stranding
19th May 2007
Rob and I received a callout to
a stranded dolphin at Allonby near Maryport at 10:15 yesterday,
19th May and we were quickly on our way.
The Coastguard had been contacted by a member
of the public.
The Coastguard were first on scene with two
Maryport inshore rescue members who are also medics, Paul and Michael.
The dolphin was on its side and it was moved
into an upright position. It was struggling and was estimated to
have been stranded since the last high
tide the previous evening. The weather had been very stormy and
was a force 6.
Water was poured on to the dolphin. He was
struggling and bleeding. After 10 minutes all movement ceased and
there was no reaction to stimuli.
Rob and I arrived on site a few minutes later
and the dolphin was identified as a 'White beaked dolphin' and this
was confirmed when Tony Woodley received the photo on his mobile.
The dolphin was later moved to a Vets to await
collection by the Natural History Museum for Post Mortem.
A sad ending to another dolphin.
Thanks to all the medics who attended, Coastguard,
Maryport Inshore Rescue, Police and others who supported our efforts.
Jenny Watkins
BDMLR Area Coordinator
Click
on images to enlarge |
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Pic by BDMLR Medic Julia Cooper
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Pic by BDMLR Medic Julia Cooper
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Further
Press Release from Bahrain
15th May
Stranded
whale is identified
A WHALE
that has found its way into Bahrain's waters may be a Sei whale,
say environmentalists.
This is the initial
identification put forward by the Environment Friends Society (EFS)
and various international organisations, including the UK's British
Divers Marine Life Rescue.
Full news item :
CLICK
HERE
BDMLR
assisting Bahrain group monitoring 'Bahraini whale'
14th May
BDMLR Message Board member, Karen Kirk,
alerted Communications Liaison Tony Woodley to an online news story
concerning a whale (or whales) potentially causing concern in waters
off the Bahrain coast. ( original news item - click
here )
Tony
was able to contact the President of the Environment
Friends Society of Bahrain, Khawla Al Muhannadi, to offer any
advice possible.
BDMLR has received a low resolution
film of the whale surfacing and early suggestions are that it may
be a Sei Whale ( Balaenoptera borealis ) but this is still not 100%
confirmed.
Khawla
is hoping to be able to be able to receive some aerial images of
the animal and has asked the public to provide any images they have
so that the animal(s) can be identified fully.
It is
most unusual for a large whale to be so far into the Arabian Gulf
and those at the Environment Friends Society are observing the animal
and hoping it will make its own way back to the open sea.
Further details will be published on
this site as they become available.
click on images
to enlarge |
Arabian Gulf
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Area whale regularly sighted
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Library image of Sei whale
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Mobile phone video clip of
whale
- click
here -
copyright Bahrain Environment
Friends Society
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BDMLR
receive land rover from Born Free
9th May
The four-millionth vehicle built by
Land Rover in its 59-year history has been donated to the Born Free
Foundation.
The Foundation is a charity dedicated
to wildlife conservation and animal welfare. Its founder patron
is actress Joanna Lumley, who collected the historic Discovery on
the Foundation's behalf.
"This important vehicle will enable us to carry
out important frontline conservation and animal welfare missions
at will," says Foundation Chief Executive Will Travers. "Without
Land Rover's support we simply would not be able to reach some of
the off-road remote destinations or tackle some of the rescues that
are a vital part of our work."
"We are delighted to hand this car over to
Born Free," adds Land Rover's Managing Director Phil Popham.
"The production of the four millionth Land Rover is a major
milestone and it is only fitting that it goes to such a worthy cause.
"I'm proud of our support for the charity and
the company's contribution to both the local and national economy
over the past 59 years."
The Born Free Discovery is likely to be used by
partner organisation British Divers Marine Life Rescue to the benefit
of marine mammals - particularly seals - which get into trouble
along the UK coastline during the breeding season.
Alan Knight OBE, BDMLR
Chairman, said "It is very generous of our friends at Born
Free to allow us to use this Land Rover to help our volunteers with
their rescue work. With many rescues of seal pups ongoing throughout
the year we will place this 4x4 in the most suitable location depending
on the time of year and frequency of rescues."
The
keys are handed over. From left ; Joanna Lumley, Alan Knight OBE
and Anne Tudor (Born Free)
