Dateline Tangier 1

I am presently in north Africa, in Tangier, Morocco, attending the Meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS – the agreement for cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) in the Mediterranean, Black Seas and adjacent Atlantic areas.

Key issues here are agreeing ways forward on the key (and tricky) issues of bycatch, marine noise pollution and climate change. There is also a key organisational issue which is the composition and functioning of the ACCOBAMS scientific committee.

You can see more about ACCOBAMS and this meeting of its members here.

Several resolutions will be discussed and hopefully successfully concluded over the next few days.

Meanwhile here are a couple of images of the early morning view from the ancient Kasbah (were some of us are staying)

Dawn

A starling sings from a TV ariel

And some images from the meeting:

The Chair of  the MoP and the Executive Secretary (right) of ACCOBAMS

His Serene Highness, Prince Albere of Monaco opens the meeting.

Heidrun Frisch of ASCOBANS/CMS.

Mrs Wood of WDC surprised by a salad.

His excellency the Ambassador of Monaco to Spain , Patrick van Klaveren, addresses the meeting..

New action on plastic bags at European Level

Readers will know that one of the themes of this blog is marine debris. 

And I here note that Europe has just taken some new action on plastic bags. Specifically: yesterday (November 4th) the European Commission adopted a proposal that requires Member States to reduce their use of lightweight plastic carrier bags. 

The proposal amends the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and Member States can choose the measures they find most appropriate, including charges, national reduction targets or a ban under certain conditions. 

Lightweight plastic bags are often used only once, but can persist in the environment for hundreds of years, often as harmful microscopic particles that are known to be dangerous to marine life in particular.

More information HERE

Escape from Bardsey Isand

At 7pm the shout went up: Get ready to meet the boat at 7.30 tomorrow morning or be prepared to stay on the island for sometime!

'But', I said, 'surely it is still dark at that time'. I was correct but the boat still came and we saw the dawn come up behind the Tudwal Islands as we crossed Bardsey Sound the treacherous stretch of water that lies between Bardsey and the mainland.

This was a few days earlier than scheduled but given that the last people that missed the last October boat from the island were there until December 15th (and there is a major storm on its way this weekend), it was probably wise.

Here are a few more pictures from my three weeks on the island:

A recently moulted pupo

A kittewake

The little bull pup hauled out on the grass (shown below in part 3) has acquired a friend - another pup which has started to moult.

A new born - just a few hours old.

A magnificent bull seal.

Mother and Pup swimming class - they have playfully wrapped some strands of seaweed around themselves!

Above: some Risso's dolphins pass by.

To learn more about the wildlife of Bardsey Island take a look at the Bardsey Island Bird and Field Observatory blog here.

Barsey Island Seals Part 3

I am back on the island where we have little internet connection - so here is just a quick picture of a pup in the process of moulting to be getting on with. Faced with the strong winds and waves you will see that he has hauled out on the grass at the top of the shore that he was born on. Much of his white fur has now come off - and some lies on the grass next to him. 

The Seals of Bardsey 2

Trying something new here.

Here is a little bit of film showing a mother grey seal and her tubby pup in the water.

Click here to view XXXX

The Seal Pups of Bardsey Island 1

Bardsey Island

There is an island off the north coast of Wales and at this time of year (Autumn) grey seals haul out there to give birth to and suckle their pups, which are born with coats of purest white. Here are just a few images.

A pup that has recently moulted - shedding its white fur

Here a younger pup suckling

And another that is starting to moult. 

Or are they dolphins?

It is a warm September evening. The sun is setting behind the Houses of Parliament in London and along the riverside walk that runs from Vauxhall, the old street lamps are all adorned with some odd 'fish'; unless they are actually dolphins. 

They have scales and tails and fins and spiral up the lamp-posts. They also have nostrils and beaks and I think they are a Victorian representation of heraldic dolphins. The sculptures are dated, so I am confident in them being Victorian and, by this date (1870) books contained reasonably good representations of dolphins, so if the lamp makers had wanted to represent real dolphins they could have.

So, why are they here - what is their link to the British capital city and the river? Anyone know? I am confident there were once bottlenose dolphins in the Thames estuary but I suspect there is something more than that to these distinctive street adornments. 

Warsaw - Patriotism and Brides

Late on Friday afternoon a small lorry enters Palace Square. Its sides fold down to form a stage and an audience appears from somewhere. About a thousand people gather. Youngsters sell flags and badges and soon a thousand voices join the band in celebrating Poland. To one song with an especially catchy refrain the crowd also raises hands in the air in a two-fingered salute.

And elsewhere - Brides, complete with Groom and photographer seeks the best light and artful angles to celebrate their nuptials:

Balloon over Warsaw

Some pictures of the Old Town part of Warsaw, Poland's capital. I am attending the Advisory Committee of ASCOBANS (the dolphin and small whale agreement that covers the Baltic and North East Atlantic) and staying here in the Old Town.

Given that Warsaw has been destroyed many times in its history (most recently and thoroughly by the Nazis during World War Two, when it was literally decimated) an amazing rebuilding program has successfully reconstructed this district.Old photographs and the paintings of Canaletto were used and now tourists and locals happily mill here and judging from my brief transits between hostel and meeting place, many wedding parties celebrate their ceremonies here too.


The balloon is tethered near the football stadium and forms one of the viewing platforms above the mainly low lying city. The Old Town sits on a hill and also has its own view point (below).

The symbol of the city - Mermaid plus sword

The Cathedral

Could this be a whale? Its a adornment on the corner of a block but there is definitely a blow and a tail.

Wildlife in the City

Northern Crow

There are few animals in the Old Town - some European sparrows, a few feral pigeons and the occasional northern form of the crow (with neat grey waist-coat). The one in the pictures was chatting away to itself in a fine specimen-tree in a quiet square of Old Town.

The Royal Castle i(Zamek Krolewski) n Pl. Zamkowy

The Royal Palace is the 'pride of Warsaw' and was reconstructed from a pile of rubble between 1971 and 1984 with money from mainly exiled Poles. The castle has been the seat of kings and then parliaments since the 14th century. Like so much of Warsaw (an estimated 85%)  it was levelled by the Nazis in World War II. Further to their resistance, Hitler said that he would turn Warsaw into a 'lake'. Inside in the fine  Palace courtyard is a display of photographs from those desperate days, showing the haunting faces of the dispossessed. 

Across the square from the Palace are other fine and reconstructed buildings, many now hosting cafes on their ground floors.


The buildings are decorated with reconstructions of their original ornamentation, including statues and ironwork monsters.

The 'whale' is perched on the corner of the gable to the right. 

A great bell that was shattered and now stands reconstructed but  silent in a small square.
(The bell is on the right.) 

Old Town Reflections.

A tourist trap

Those haunting faces

22m about the Palace square stands King Sigismund.
He made Warsaw the capital of Poland. The original column was destroyed by bombardment and it lies in huge fractured sections by the Palace wall. The figure of Sigismund survived and in 1949 he and his column were replaced.

And one happy lady - below, Heidi Frisch the Secretary of ASCOBANS after the meeting has ended celebrating with an exquisite Lody.

Heidrun Frisch and her celebratory ice cream