Escape to Binnel Bay

For some years now it has not been possible to drive from the west to the east Wight via the southern tip of the Isle of Wight through The Undercliff - it used to be a very pretty drive but one landslip too many has finally destroyed this route.The road west from the Ventnor botanic gardens west now warns the driver every few hundred metres that there is 'no through road'. However, you can still access the increasingly secret hamlet of St Lawrence and, with a little improvisation, you can get to Binnel Bay, a secluded rocky cove.

Binnel Bay - the top of St Catherine's lighthouse is just visible above the distant headland.

The Undercliff on the southern edge of the Isle of Wight has always been a rather magical place, not the least reason being that the soft lower cliff famously moves around regularly wiping out the roads and the footpaths there making a wilderness that is often impenetrable. St Lawrence remains an area of hidden streets and some surprisingly grand mansions that somehow persevere perched on the rocky and more stable land forms and peer out at the sea across fields and small woodlands.

Among the Victorian and more recent mansions is the remains of RAF St Lawrence, marking a time when - with good reason - we feared invasion by the Nazi, and the old wartime bunker is now being transformed into a private house.

Here are a few photos.

bunker being converted

cliff top

lesser celandine

small tortoiseshell butterflies

The cliff above the undercliff

peacock butterfly

Wall lizard Podarcis muralis at the Ventnor Botanic garden

ECS 2016 Conservation award - remembering Mandy McMath and Krzysztof Skóra

The ECS Conservation Award was established by a small group of people that included the late Mandy McMath. Soon after its establishment, the redoubtable Mandy fell seriously ill and was eventually very sadly taken from us well before her time.

The ECS agreed that the award would bear her name as a tribute and hence each time we now move to announce the latest winner, we pause to remember her 

This year just a few weeks ago another conservation hero and the person who won the very first award Professor Krysztof Skora also passed away. Hence we remembered both this year. 

Mandy McMath

Here is what I said. 

We have not really resolved if we call this the 'McMath award' or the 'Mandy' but either way it is named after Mandy McMath the great champion of marine mammal conservation in Wales and beyond and also a big supporter of women in science. She was a great lady and is sadly missed. She was also blessed with an irreverent sense of humour that we also remember in this ceremony. But before we do this we also need to salute another conservation hero:

This year we also remember the very first recipient of the award, Professor Krzysztof Skóra who has recently died. Krysztof was a lovely man, a very positive individual and a famous conservation innovator.

In a move that was typical of him - after he received the award - he donated to the ECS this picture and its wooden carrying box such that it can be passed down the line of conservation award winners. Before we pass it to the next winner we have made a brass plaque that will be attached to the box.

The plaque says the following [see below].

"In memory of Krzysztof Skóra (1950-2016), the founder and Director of the Marine Station in Hel, Poland, and the first recipient of the ECS Mandy McMath Conservation Award.

Krzysztof presented this picture to the ECS to be passed to each award winner in turn.

Inspired by his work to conserve the endangered Baltic harbour porpoise, and in his memory, the Award logo features this species."

In addition we would like to send a floral tribute from here in Madeira on your behalf to his family. So if there are any Polish colleagues in the audience please could you see me afterwards to help arrange this.

I knew Krzysztof well and miss him greatly.

[Meanwhile the picture box was passed over to ECS President Mario and Conference organizer, Luis,who armed with screws and a screwdriver carefully fixed the plaque in the spotlight on stage whilst the award ceremony continued. There is a further tribute to Krysztof  HERE on the ASCOBANS website]. 

After a short pause, we started to tribute to this year's winner. You can find the text of this HERE.

Opening slide including the porpoise-themed conservation award logo.

More scenes from ECS 2016 Madeira - The Marine Mammal Rescue Workshop

A few photos from the ECS Marine Mammal Rescue Workshop held in Madeira March 13th.

Madeira School of Arts - venue for the workshop

Leni T'Hart's keynote presentation

Lisa Sette talking about seal entanglement

Introducing 'Lose the Loop'

Elizabeth Hogan of WAP

Wha

Whale distentanglement

Alan Knight of BDMLR

Rob DeaVille talking about sperm whale strandings

Brian Sharp's update on strandings response in Cape Cod

Brian Sharp

Stephen Marsh on coping with a media onslaught

Opening slide for the report from ACCOBAMS

Add caption

Paul Kiernan and Mark Simmonds
(One of many embraces Mr Simmonds forced to endure at the ECS conference).

Rod Penrose speaking about turtle issues.

The whole gang

Return to Madeira Part One -ECS Reception and student awards

So its back to the lovely island of Madeira for the 30th conference of the European Cetacean Society (ECS)!

Here are a (very) few images of the island and some of the conference, including the student awards.

Princess Sissi outside the
Pestana Casinao Hotel which hosted ECS 2016

Pestana

Huge Norwegian cruise liner in the main port of Funshal

The small cabins selling whale and dolphin tours and fishing trips.
The famous Santa Maria de Colomba is on the other side of the dock - see the red and white sials.

Shrine to a famous footballer - Christian Ronado who is from Madeira

ECS 30 Reception at Madeira whale museum - complete with life-sized whale models, a yellow submarine and ear-splittingly loud music.

Fin whale at reception.

Elizabeth Hogan of WAP gets close to a colorful pilot whale in the museum

Opening Session of the 30th ECS

View from the back of the great congress hall

The redoubtable Luis Freitas - organizer of ECS 30

Robin Baird a keynote speaker at ECS 30 talking about his work in Haiwaii

Mark on climate change.

Hal Whitehead masters the remote

Simon Berrow

An invitation for the next ECS to come to Denmark

Sarah Dolman of WDC convinces the AGM to pass a resolution on bycatch

The student awards - Anja Reckendorf wins a prize.

And the award winners were:

Best oral Presentation; Ruth Esteban; “Conservation of killer whales in the Strait of Gibraltar requires Ecosystem-based Bluefin tuna fishery management”

Best Short-talk; Matteo Baini; “Cytochrome P450 1A1 and 2B protein expression as biomarker for the first assessment of the ecotoxicological status of Cuvier’s beaked (Ziphius cavirostris) in the NW Mediterranean Sea"

Best Poster (post-graduate); Anja Reckendorf (above); “First record of the nasal mite Halarachne halichoteri in a grey seal from the German Wadden Sea"

Best Poster (undergraduate); Mafalda de Freitas; Echolocation parameters of Australian humpback dolphins (Sousa sahulensis) and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the wild: investigating biosonar parameter shaping pressures. 

They win free admittance to net year's conference which will be in Denmark.