Random Jottings
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!
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
Seals, love them or hate them they are part and parcel of diving on the Farne Islands and that will not change in the near future, or will it?
- 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


A bit of a clincher regarding the dating of a wreck.
I think it was 1858 when sailing ships were compelled to carry a red port lamp and 1837 for steam ships.
If you find any glass from lights then you can date the sinking from after these dates.
You get two colours of Plumose Anemone (Metridium senile) white and orange, both look like cold willies when closed up but very pretty when open and feeding!
A Devonshire cup-coral (Caryophyllia smithii), there are loads of these multi-coloured critters on the wreckage
Looking along the floating pier, head left as there is a big expanse of sand/mud flat that is exposed at low tide.
A Hermit Crab (Pagurus bernhardus) had set up shop in an old whelk shell, te problem was that it was far to small and spent most of the time looking out of a hole half way down the shell!
Another 'arty farty' this time shallow water and seaweed being bent ever so slightly by the incoming tide.
A common Hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus), this one seemed to have a load of eggs around the outer edge of the shell
Lumpsucker eggs, not normally as common as the washed up fish and once used as fake caviar
One of the attarcations is a boat, a good place to write general abuse and look for things to remove and keep (why?)
To take a few close ups, he got a bit bored and then decided that it would be a 'good thing'.....
In this shallower water the bed-rock is coated with dulse and you will see all manner of critters, in this case a Bloody Henry (Henricia oculata)
As is my wont a scenic shot of the bows.
Large lengths of plastic service pipe are ideal for training in an overhead environment
Scenic stuff with light coming through the hull where the plates have gone and we are left with ribs and bits only
I took this one whilst lying flat on my back in 6m of water, clear and nice