Random Jottings
Old news...new news or just a quiet news day?
I do tend to look through various media outlets to see if there is anything interesting out there and I spotted this one a few days ago............
It seems that 'tropical' sunfish are a rare visitor to our waters....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-45388695
And whilst I agree that they may not be 'common' I am not sure that I subscribe to the statement that they are especially rare, I personally have seen sunfish on three occasions from boats and if you compare this to sightings of other purely aquatic species that is a rather high number.......for example I have never seen any species of 'real' sharks here in the UK, be that blue, porbeagle, etc.
The thing to bear in mind here is that they are really only going to be seen when they are on the surface and their fin is in the air where it could be spotted by a passing boat, that means that there is an awfully big water column wher they simply wont register.....see that blip on your sonar? It could be a sunfish, seal, shark or shoal of fish!
I have a couple of interesting books about the basking shark fisheries that operated around the Hebrides in the late 40's and early 50's and the tome authored by Gavin Maxwell, the guy responsible for the 'Ring of Bright Water' book about otters, has a very interesting post-script about 'sea-monsters', well more specifically odd-ball creatures and whilst the beluga or white whale gets only a couple of mentions the sunfish is addressed in a rather dismissive fashion, as if regular sea-goers were quick to recognise the difference between a sunfish and basking shark fin.
On writing this article I am minded that the book 'Harpoon at a Venture' listed some books which I was going to track down, with one being written by a guy who was trying to get to the bottom of the sea-serpent myth....is it a real creature or just a rather large squid on the surface!
Happy reading and research and don't forget to....................
Dive safe
RichW
Latest Photographs


Until we were lens to nose, so to speak!
A grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) the reason loads of divers visit the islands, against a back drop of The Hopper
Back quarter shot all done and pre-mounting.
A substantial coupling!
This Pink (or Northern) Prawn (Pandalus montagui) was being actively stalked by a Common Lobster (Homarus Gammarus), you can see the lobbies claws!
More shots of the debris field, later in the year so a 'better' water colour!
Another view close to the upright showing some of the hull flattened on the bottom.
An oyster clamped down on the pier. there were quite a few on the pier but I didn't spot any on rocks under the water.......
A Lions Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), when they are about deco stops are always interesting!
These weeds 'reached for the surface' and with the small fish swimming about they were like trees and the fish like birds, this time with the pier steps shown going into the water.
A close up of some 100 year old teak decking, in the shelter this decking has lasted remarkably well and is still 'tough' and not at all spongey and falling apart.
A colour shot of another breech assembly
As you get closer to the cliff then there is more sandstone bedrock and the doleritic limestone boulders get smaller.....there are also more edible sea-urchins, not that you would!
The propellor from SS Abessinia, you can get some idea of scale when you see the diver hovering around it.
Calypso.....ready for anything that the world can throw at her!
A Painted goby (Pomatoschistus pictus) these are really common and will follow you around looking for any morsels that may be disturbed, but try and get one to stay still long enough to get a photograph.......
A gun sticking out from the side of the wreck, along with a few 'blurry' coalfish
The softer compound rivets are also rotting away on this wreck