Thoughts
A series of random thoughts and ramblings of a deranged mind which is puddled due to excessive diving a a rather serious neurological bend......read on at your peril!
Seahorses, an oddly engaging subject matter!
Seahorses, you only see them in 'foreign' diving, right? Wrong!
Bottle Banks!
Many moons ago, before chaps turned up to your house to empty your refuse or recycling bins there was generally less rubbish produced and it was disposed of in a ‘midden’, sometimes that midden was a simple, small land-fill, whereas if you lived close to water, fresh or salt, then the rubbish was emptied into the water and out of sight, out of mind.
A new 'High Seas Treaty', what's not to like?
I have reached an age where at last the number of birthday parties has reached my level of cynicism, and todays topic is the much heralded High Seas Treaty
Good news or bad?
It’s been a little interesting to see the government machinations in designating some areas of our seabed as protected areas.
Time for a wee change
ts coming to that time of the year again, that’s to say that I posted the historical data on sea conditions we encountered in 2022 and start the same sheet for 2023, however this year there will be some changes!
THE PEGASUS – HER LOSS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
i can claim no credit for this detailed article taken from a website with details about general Northumbrian newsworthy events.
A scratch thats itched...........
When is a wreck not just A wreck but several wrecks? Like Whirls rocks, Knifestone and other Island sites Beadnell Point has always been a bit of a hazard to shipping!
- Seals and the Law, well amendments anyway
- Apex predators and why to avoid them in their home environment
- Winter Project 2020......part two
- Another winter project......
- Winter Project 2020........part one
- A video of Hans Schmidt
- A video of the wreckage of Mistley
- A video of the wreckage of MV Yewglen
- Shore diving at Beadnell - a trial video
- I suppose that some may be offended.....
- Tosheroons........they are not just under-water you know!
- Antalya, the new graveyard of ancient ships?
- A lost Dutch Trader refound!
- It's just a hole but what a difference!
- Another incomer to cope with?
- More side scan around Oban and Sound of Mull
- Noise and its impact on wildlife
- You try and sometimes you try and then fail.....
- Well it was forecast!
- Winter Project 2019.....part two
- Apex predator.....part two!
- Apex predator or second in the food chain?
- Winter Project 2019.....part one
- More 'bits' found of the Antikythera mechanism
- Better nick than the wreck on 'Gun-rock'
- It's about bloody time!
- The diving press and qualifications......
- It's your chance to make a difference!
- You rarely think of the 'mess'.......
- WW1 Channel wreck Database
- That's some job for a newly qualified midwife
- We don't get 'em like this in my neck of the woods!
- Terrible outcome but where does 'blame' lie?
- Only the needy or the greedy........
- Cylinders, lead weight belts and stability...........
- The Ancient Diver comes good
- Old news...new news or just a quiet news day?
- Does the Ancient Diver need to change his title?
- Disgraceful Double Standards!
- Forget 'Timeteam' type surveys on land, for a real time capsule look to the sea
- It's silly season.....again!
- PADI up for sale again?
- It's a small swim from the Med' to Cornwall
- The sun is out and it's silly season....again!
- Send for Captain Ahab!
- More 'wash-ups'......
- I was only joking........honest!
- Another enlightening day at DDRC (Plymouth)
- It's not my cup of tea but what an achievement!
- I post regular updates on 'lobbie laws' you have been warned!
- The never ending squabbling over commercial scallop dredging
- Once you have one of the blue fiends there is a new dilemma....
- Low oxygen levels, now that is a real issue
- Sloppy journalism, one of my pet hates!
- Rule changes for the North East
- More side-scan 'discoveries' and images
- Old sites, new location methods
- Zen again.......or more lobster whispering!
- Fully certified in four days?
- Changes to the shellfish quotas in Northumbrian Area
- Worth risking your life for?
- Tangle nets, as bad as drift nets but not as publicised
- Do I change my business card?
- Masking diver panic or should that be diver panic and masks?
- More bits in the jigsaw.....
- Diving and litigation.......
- Vandalism, what's your definition?
- Fundamental dive 'laws', real or compromise?
- As if you don't have enough to think about with gas loading
- Global warming or one of those things?
- RIP Rob Stewart
- Not all Submarines were lost in deep water!
- It must have been some salvage job!
- More news from Orkney
- Bubble shunting without a PFO
- Rock, Reef and Pinnacles around Beadnell
- Weight and Lead
- You rebreather divers best be careful!
- Out and around at Beadnell
- Even I'm not that daft!
- The water is cold so your biggest risk is from regulator free-flow!
- Shore based winter project for 2015/2016
- Time for some winter research
- Another basking shark!
- The courses go on......and on.......and on.......
- Apex Predators....
- The last 'big' job on my RIB?
- Even more legends and myths about SS Somali
- Never mind London Bridge, Seahouses Pier is falling down!
- More legends and myths about SS Somali
- It's strange what you find on the beach...
- Waiting for the weather.....
- When do 'recommendations' become 'rules'?
- 'Strange things' on your dry-suit!
- Oban and Easedale, only dry though!
- Northumberland in the Sun
- It's getting close.......
- When will it calm down?
- More research means more questions!
- More interesting research on wrecks
- I was half right about the Farnes 'Apex Predator'
- PFO Closure surgery.....at last!
- Dorset seemed such a good idea, oh and MV Danio update!
- Current navigation standards must be declining....
- They still shoot seals you know BUT they have lost their right to anonymity!
- End of June and initial Somali thoughts
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 4
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 3
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 2
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 1
- Oxygen Partial Pressures
- Random thoughts about kit and the like
- A final diary post for 2011
Latest Photographs


Maybe not totally original but having bullied the crab I pushed my torch inside the barrel of this gun..............
Keel again.
Once you get down to ~25m the bottom is covered with mats of Common Brittlestars (Opthiothrix fragilis) and possibly other species, but unless starfish really float your boat would you bother spending time to identify them?
A large lobster (Homarus gammarus) in between two plates, these only come out at night!
What we called 'dolly muck' when I was a kid, basically coal dust that gathers in patches on the beach, scrape it up, wrap it in newspaper and burn it!
The site is very,very tidal and as such smothered with Dead Mans Fingers and other species, some of which are not common on any other farnes site!
Bits of MV Yewglen wedged and jammed into the Little Rock
On the West side of the site, towards the North end. It looks ideal for scallops but no sign of any or indeed empty predated shells.
Common edible and tasty lobster (homarus gammarus) the area is home to a multitude of them!
A white german fire brick, the engine area has been heavily salvaged so there are a few bricks dotted about
A Green shore crab (Carcinus maenas) this one was busy digging a hole, there must have been something down there.
Another Spiny Spider Crab (Maja squinado) common enough down south on on the West Coast of Scotland but not so many around the Farne Islands. It can be a bit disconcerting when they stand up suddenly out of the dirt......
The rudders, these stand about 6m proud of the bottom of the vessel and are intact despite the explosive forces used to remove the phosphor bronze propellors which were located very, very close.
Back in the day we refered to this as 'scrattings' where lobsters (Homarus gammarus) scraped sand from there hidey holes, you could tell that they were in residence due to the large amount of dirty sand excavated from their summer homes!
A grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) the reason loads of divers visit the islands
Just about to drop 'over the edge' and down to 50m+, gulp!!!
A Velvet Swimming Crab (Necora puber) hiding under a Dead Mans Finger (Alcyonium digitatum), there can be quite a few creepy crawlies hidden away you simply have to take the time and look!
I really struggled whilst looking for handles that 'spin or rotate' whilst you turn the reel, eventually I settled on machining a bit of brass with knurling for grip and mounting on a countersunk screw that wasn't tightened all of the way in
The barrel of one of the secondary guns