The Society spent the year without a Marine Recorder; doubtless for this reason, relatively few records were sent in. It is a pleasure – and a relief – to report that Simon Taylor has recently taken over as Acting Marine Recorder and is standing for election at the April 2013 AGM; please keep the records coming in.
There were two marine field meetings in 2012: one, at Titchfield Haven in Hampshire, the other a 4-day meeting in South Pembrokeshire. Members also took part in a very successful Porcupine meeting in Guernsey.
Titchfield Haven produced a list (MW 30:p.21) of about 30 species, which included the introduced American quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria, close to the site of its original introduction in the 1950’s. Other noteworthy species included live Osilinus lineatus close to its eastern limit along the Channel shore; weed washings were relatively unproductive, but live Brachystomia lukisi was found by Rosemary Hill in tubeworm scrubbings.
A variety of shores were visited in South Pembrokeshire; a good variety of species, large and small, was found, and the final combined list is eagerly awaited. A personal highlight was the finding of good numbers of Tellimya ferruginosa living with sea potatoes in fine sand near LWS at Monkstone Point, Saundersfoot.
Noteworthy reports from other members include
- a full-grown Ensis directus found by Paul Dansey in a bag of E. siliqua collected in 2010 from Barkby Beach, Prestatyn, N Wales, suggesting that Ensis directus has been in Liverpool Bay since around 2005;
- Doris ocelligera found by David Fenwick in April 2012 at Larrigan Rocks, Wherrytown, Penzance, Cornwall: there have now been several records in south Cornwall.
The rapid improvement in digital cameras capable of producing good macro images in low light and of surviving conditions on the shore and while diving has in recent years resulted in an explosion of good images of British nudibranchs, range extensions, and records of new British species. It is good to have seen a large number of very fine new images of nudibranchs and of shelled molluscs appearing on the Society’s website during 2012 thanks to Ian Smith and other members.
Bas Payne
Acting Marine Recorder