Random Jottings
Apex Predators....
Not for the first time there have been reports of porbeagal sharks....
This report was reported on the ITV web-site!
Whitburn angler reels in 8ft shark off Sunderland coast

Two men fishing off the coast of Sunderland have caught an eight-foot shark.
The Porbeagle shark was reeled after a two-hour battle in by fishermen Mark Turnbull and John Fothergill when they were eighteen miles out to sea over the weekend.
The porbeagle, or mackerel shark, comes closer to shore during the summer months to feed. It was later freed by the anglers as it's classed as an 'at-risk' species.
The good news is that this impressive animal was released, however as a protected species you have to remember that this distant relative of the Great White is rare and any underwater sightings are likely to be rare......so sleep safe children.......and
Dive safe
RichW
Latest Photographs


The underside of SS Rondo is covered with Peacock Worms Sabella pavonina) get too close and they 'snap' closed so approach very....very....very slowly and start snapping when you are in range and still moving forward.
A pretty little light, one of the guys thought 'deck light' but with a solid back and close to another two broken lights I would think a bulkhead light of some description, date late victorian to pre WWI
Calypso.....ready for anything that the world can throw at her!
A Long Legged Spider Crab (Macropodia rostrata) there are loads on all or most sites but this particular specimen had decided to camouflage himself with a whitish sponge.....not the best of moves!
The softer compound rivets are also rotting away on this wreck
Another bit of a small windlass arrangement, or alternatively as it is in a certain location part of the lifting tackle that was mounted on the masts and superstructure of the vessel?
A Spiny Spider Crab (Maja squinado) common enough down south on on the West Coast of Scotland but not so many around the Farne Islands.
The engine block, the shot-line is tied to this
Arty-farty shot of a pinnacle
Debris all around and most unidentifiable, in this case it's a 'wheel type thingie'......
As is my wont a scenic shot of the bows.
To hold the cascabels I found some model bearing holders in cast brass that worked loverly!
A typical north east wreck dive, plates, boilers n bits. In this case probably Jan Van Ryswyck although a few vessels have foundered so the bits are somehwhat mixed!
A lebgth of conveyor belt, maybe used originally for lifting crushed stone from the quarry?
A lobster (Homarus gammarus), there are more and more blue fiends on this site, to the extent that they are being potted as shown in this shot!
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 Long Legged Spider Crab (Macropodia rostrata) there are loads on all or most sites, this one didn't have a huge amount of camouflage, I guess that he had recently shed his exoskeleton
Maybe not totally original but having bullied the crab I pushed my torch inside the barrel of this gun..............
Not as common as in Southern waters or even around Howick but here is a Lesser Spotted Catshark, or should that be dogfish? (Scyliorhinus canicula) Years ago you rarely saw any but they are becoming more common, in 2018 a party of divers got photos of a large Tope out at the Farne Islands.....apex predators you have been warned!
Part of the steering mechanism of SS Breda, easy to get at provided you commit yourself to a full circuit of the area.
A grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) the reason loads of divers visit the islands
The harbout outer wall, submitted for a competition, who knows?
A common or garden Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), get to the gritty sand and you will se a few of these tasty fish, if you are so inclined you could bag for your tea.
Start heading west and you get to hard ground, in this case a paving of doleritc limestone cracked into almost cobble shapes.....no it isn't a Roman Road!