Birdwatching. Life on the Torridge Estuary

Sometimes you don't need words, just watching nature is enough. The clip below was taken on a not very bright day on the 2nd December when the tide was out on the Torridge Estuary.  A murmuration, but not Starlings, however we enjoyed watching the flock rise and swirl up, up, down and around then quite a while. I have since found out that the birds were Golden Plover. Are they making a stop on their migration or over-wintering here

The Torridge Estuary is a haven for migrating birds but I haven't seen a flock this large before. In November I saw three Cormorant, each sitting on their own rock spot, four Egret, several gulls and a flock of Redshank swirling over the Skern. Scroll down for video clip....click through to YouTube if you want to watch on full screen....relax and enjoy. 

 Life on the Biosphere - Video clip credit Pat Adams (North Devon Focus)

For the Record, Life on Lockdown  Covid19 Day 254

Appledore Shipping Forecast. Great news fairweather on its way for Appledore Shipyard.

Great news fairweather on its way for Appledore Shipyard. The yard recently purchased for £7m had a visit from the Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday 25th August. That Babcock sign on the door will soon be changing to Harland & Wolff...

350 vessels were built here before its closure on March 2019. The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855. The last vessel to be built at the yard was the LÉ George Bernard Shaw, an Irish Naval Service vessel. 

The photos below features the Appledore Yard on the Torridge Estuary, with its doors open, were taken on 29th April 2018. North Devon coast and countryside heritage come together, farming, fishing industry and shipbuilding. 

On the horizon you can see over to the Goldcoast across Bideford Bay and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

Appledore Shipyard on the banks of the Torridge Estuary, North Devon Photo copyright Pat Adams North Devon Focus (All Rights Reserved)

  The quaint fishing village of Appledore across the Torridge Estuary, frigate alongside Appledore Shipyard. Photo copyright Pat Adams North Devon Focus (All Rights Reserved)  

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READ ALL ABOUT IT 

• Appledore Shipyard: ‘Delight’ as deal for site is reached North Devon Gazette  
• The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson made a trip to Appledore Shipyard in North Devon following the announcement that the historic site is set to reopen. North Devon Live
• Appledore Shipyard to reopen after £7m InfraStrata deal "Speaking during a visit to Appledore on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the shipyard had a "massive history but it's also got a great future" BBC News Devon

New report calls for more protected areas for marine wildlife

Today, The Wildlife Trusts publish a new report, 'The case for more Marine Conservation Zones'. The report identifies 48 areas at sea that still need protection for their marine habitats and wildlife.

Nine of the sites identified are off Devon's coasts, with two areas in the Bristol Channel, one in Lyme Bay and six Devon estuaries recommended as MCZs.

Following the designation of 50 Marine Conservation Zones since 2011 (of which six are in Devon) these new sites would complete a network of special places where habitats and wildlife can flourish to safeguard healthy and productive seas for the future.

All but one of the Devon sites in the report have already been recommended as Marine Conservation Zones in a previous report to the government following local consultations representing all groups of sea-users in the south west.

The new report is published in advance of the government's plans to announce a third and final phase of Marine Conservation Zones - the government plans to consult the public in 2017 and designate the chosen sites in 2018. The report will be presented to the environment minister, Therese Coffey.

Plymouth-based Joan Edwards, Head of Living Seas for The Wildlife Trusts, said: "This is an unprecedented opportunity to create an effective network of protected areas at sea.  If the government lives up to its stated commitments such a network would put us at the forefront of worldwide marine conservation. Designating these 48 wild havens as Marine Conservation Zones would go some way to guaranteeing a future for the extraordinarily diverse natural landscapes that exist beneath the waves off our coast.

"The government designated 50 MCZs in the first two phases. Unfortunately, this does not provide us with the really comprehensive network needed to enable marine wildlife to thrive once more. We need a sensible number, in the best locations and with the right degree of connectivity between areas. We hope that the government will aim high and hit the 48 mark for this last phase."

The nine MCZs recommended in coastal and offshore areas of Devon are:

1. Axe Estuary
Where? East Devon, near Seaton

Why? Important for saltmarsh and mudflats, feeding grounds for wading birds and nursery areas for fish such as bass

2. Dart Estuary:

Where? South Hams, upstream of Dartmouth

Why? Habitats provide food and shelter for huge range of species including seahorses, oysters, mussels, sponges and anemones.

3. Devon Avon Estuary

Where? South Hams, near Bigbury

Why? Important nursery areas for crustaceans, molluscs and juvenile fish

4. Erme Estuary

Where? South Hams

Why? Habitats for lobsters and crabs, spawning grounds for sea trout

5. Lyme Bay Deeps

Where? 1055 square kilometres in south-west of Lyme Bay - westernmost point 4 miles east of Torbay

Why? Area used by white beaked dolphins for feeding, breeding and raising their young. Also important for common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoise. Basking shark and minke whale also recorded here. Feeding grounds for seabirds such as guillemot, razorbill and Balearic shearwater

6. Morte Platform

Where? Bristol Channel, 5km off Baggy Point

Why? Rich communities of subtidal living reefs including ross worm reefs and mussel beds which provide shelter for many other marine species

7. North-west of Lundy

Where? Bristol Channel, north-west of Lundy

Why? Diverse seabed habitats supporting higher than average range of species, including sandy, muddy and rocky habitats

8. Otter Estuary

Where? East Devon, near Budleigh Salterton

Why? Important for saltmarsh and mudflats, feeding grounds for wading birds such as curlew and lapwing. Nursery areas for several fish species

9. Taw/Torridge Estuary

Where? North Devon, near Barnstaple and Bideford

Why? Important habitat for migratory European eels, feeding grounds for wading birds, nursery area for fish such as bass

Harry Barton, Chief Executive of Devon Wildlife Trust, said: "Devon 's marine treasures include spectacular underwater reefs, waving forests of kelp and vital breeding grounds for our most charismatic ocean giants - whales, dolphins and porpoises. We've lost so much in the past, but we can be rightfully proud of what we still have. This is our chance to give our amazing marine wildlife the protection it deserves, and desperately needs."

Cuckoo Wrasse, Male, Plymouth Photo copyright Paul Naylor (All rights reserved)

Common Lobster Photo copyright Paul Naylor (All rights reserved)

 Bass Photo copyright Paul Naylor (All rights reserved)

Proposed Marine Conservation Zones

You can find more information about the individual sites proposed within this report

on our webpages www.wildlifetrusts.org/MCZs>

Devon Wildlife Trust

Devon Wildlife Trust is the county's leading environmental voluntary body, with more

than 31,000 members. To find out more go to www.devonwildlifetrust.org

Short Film: The Bideford Pilot - Out in the estuary whatever the weather.

Yes, the weather's dreadful but spare a thought for those whose work continues rain or shine, day or night and whatever the swell out in the Torridge estuary.  

The Bideford Pilot is an insightful and dramatic new short film showing the work of the pilot, Roger Hoad, who guides ships safely into Bideford, Appledore or Yelland.  In the film, Roger says "People from Bideford often open their curtains to find a ship down at the quay. They go to work while the ship is being loaded and the next morning it has vanished again."

The Bideford Pilot is one of ten short films in the Boat Stories series and local historian Peter Christie, who presented the Bideford premiere screening of the series, commented "I was delighted to see the films which really explored one of those parts of the North Devon economy that we all talk about yet very few see at first hand. It was especially good to see the film on Roger Hoad, the Bideford harbour pilot, whose essential work often happens at very unsocial hours (tides wait for no man not even Roger) and is often very challenging."

Before she began research on the film, Boat Stories producer Jo Stewart-Smith thought that escorting incoming ships over the notorious Bideford Bar would be the most difficult part of the pilot's job.  Jo commented "I know now that transferring the pilot on and off the big ships, gaining the trust of a new captain quickly so the pilot can effectively control the ship, guiding the ships up and down the tidal river through the narrow constantly changing channels and turning a 6,000 tonnes ship against a flood tide - are all tough, challenging tasks."

The work has its rewards as well as its challenges and crew member Thom Flaxman says "I get to see some lovely sunrises and sunsets and appreciate the beauty of the river at all hours of the day and night. Some winter nights the deck of the Pilot Boat is just a sheet of ice. When you're hauling on a line it's worth hanging onto the boat as there's nothing to stop your boots from sliding straight over the side."

John Pavitt is coxwain of the pilot boat and it's his job to keep Roger safe, positioning the boat so they are not in danger of squashing him or breaking his legs.  He tells us "For all the technology that has come along nothing has changed from the pilot’s point of view. He is still hanging on to a rope ladder on the side of the ship under any conditions and it’s the crew of the pilot boat that have to get him safely off and on..."

During the recent storm 'Frank' the pilot crew were out working in winds up to 30 knots, escorting the Celtic Warrior out from Yelland Quay. The ship's master was concerned that transferring the pilot down the long ladder would be too dangerous due to the pitching and rolling but as Roger Hoad said in typically understated fashion "in the event all went well and the crew did a good job in quite testing conditions."

Watching the film has had a lasting impact on Instow resident Jim McCormack "I can see the estuary from my garden and when I'm outside at night I look out across the bar and spare a thought for the Bideford pilot - remembering that dramatic scene in the film where he takes his life in his hands as he jumps from the small pilot boat onto a rope ladder dangling from the giant cargo ship."

You can watch the Bideford Pilot along with the other nine Boat Stories short films at www.boatstories.co.uk.

Severn Sands - last passage through the Marshes

After being tossed by stormy seas, the Severn Sands dredger has finally come to rest at Yelland. The massive hulk was originally docked at Fremington Quay in March 2007 and remained there until 2008 until it broke its moorings during storms, by January 2009 it had become a wreck beached beyond the Quay. This year it broke its moorings once again when exceptionally high tides flung it across the far side of the estuary where it settled on the riverbank at Heanton Court. The floundering wreck and it’s perilous cargo has put local shipping and the environment in jeopardy and the problems have been highlighted in the local news for some time. Last week, in an operation overseen by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the dredger was towed back across the estuary to the big old jetty at Yelland where it is planned to remove all hazardous materials and clean it up before it is safely dismantled. The hulk, pictured Sunday 10th October, is located, just off the Tarka Trail, in a peaceful, scenic spot beyond the RSPB nature reserve Isley Marsh. Isley Marsh is made up of saltmarsh and intertidal mudflats on the southern edge of the Taw Torridge estuary and lies largely within the estuary SSSI. It is an important haven in the busy estuary for undisturbed feeding and resting birds, especially the wintering flocks of ducks (such as teal) and waders (including significant numbers of curlew, greenshank and dunlin). In recent years, numbers of little egret have increased and, in winter, it is often possible to see spoonbills. NB. RSPB Isley Nature Reserve: Visitor access is restricted to public footpaths, largely outside the reserve itself, but allowing expansive views across the estuary and the surrounding farmland. There is no public parking within two miles, although the Tarka Trail runs along the south side of the reserve, allowing easy foot and cycle access along this former railway track. Click here to find RSPB Nature Reserves in Devon and Cornwall

Alongside "Severn Sands" photo copyright B. D. Adams



Click here to view more photos of the Severn Sands at Fremington Quay

In the Area and across the estuary Home Marsh Farm, Instow, Lower Yelland, Braunton Biosphere

View northdevonfocusyelland in a larger map