Storm Dennis update, Wednesday 19th February 2020
The effect of two storms in less than a week are now being seen along the coast. Monday saw what appears to be a Short-beaked Common Dolphin, recently dead, washed up on the beach, [any marine mammal experts out there let me know if my ID is wrong] and nearby a Guillemot, this weekend one of our rangers, Oliver, will be carrying out the annual winter Beached-Bird Survey, if there is more to report I'll post in a blog. Short Beaked Common Dolphin? The occasional storm casualty is to be expected even amongst those animals designed for a life in the ocean as such death is part of the natural cycle of things. Today however was a sight that I have not witnessed before, probably 100's of thousands of the Common Otter Shell, Lutraria lutraria, either dead or dying washed up along Cefn Sidan. The empty shells of this large, up to 15cm long, marine bivalve (bivalve= a mollusc having a hinged double shell) are a common feature of the beach so where have all these fresh intact i