On the hunt for Aliens

Having been under the weather for just over a week I'm now feeling better and was keen to get back in the water. So with the forecast looking good a trip out with Penny and Marc was arranged for this morning and we decided to go down to Churchill Barrier No 3.

This barrier lies across Weddel Sound linking Glimps Holm to Burray. At the South end of the barrier on the East side lies the wreck of the 'Reginald' an iron schooner built in 1878 and sunk as a blockship during WW1.

Moored to the wreck is a pontoon and it was here on a previous trip that Penny had spotted something that looked like a Sea Squirt called Botrylloides violaceus. This is a non-native species from Japan which was recorded in UK waters for the first time in 2004. Since then there have been a couple of Scottish records, both in the Clyde. One record at the Troon yacht haven in 2009 and the other in Wemyss Bay in 2010. There hasn't been any sightings further North than this, so it could be an important finding.

Botrylloides violaceus is a colonial sea squirt forming lobed sheets usually 2-3 mm in thickness. Individual colonies are always one colour, although the colours can vary, such as dark brown, brick red, orange, purple or yellow. The one Penny saw was Orange. The zooids are arranged in a variety of ways, roughly oval groups or meandering, occasionally branching, double rows or chains.

Although there is a possibility that what Penny saw was Botrylloides leachi, which is found in our waters, the indications were that it was Botrylloides violaceus.

So the plan for the trip was to swim out to the pontoon, see if we could find the potential alien visitor and record as much detail as we could and to get some photos to send to the experts for further analysis.

We parked in the layby on Glimps Holm and started kitting up. As we were getting ready a couple who had been walking on the beach came back to their car and stopped to ask us if we knew what the name of the beach was. We all looked at each other shrugged our shoulders and said that we just knew it as the beach at Barrier 3. The couple said they would look on the map. For the record I have checked the OS map and it doesn't give the beach a name, although as it is on Weddel Sound I suppose Weddel Beach would be as good a name as any!!

Once we were ready we descended the steps down onto the beach and before we set off Penny mentioned about the seabed taking a sudden plunge about 10m out. We set off and she was right, the seabed was very shallow initially and then suddenly it just disappeared like a drop over a cliff.

We kept close to the blocks of the barrier exploring all the nooks and crannies. It was teeming with marine life. There were lots of Sea Squirts including red ones called Ascidia Mentula and whitish opaque ones called Clavelina lepadiformis, better known as a Light Bulb Sea Squirt.

Ascidia Mentula & Clavelina lepadiformis - Photo by Penny

Clavelina lepadiformis - Photo by Penny

 There were various coloured Urticina felina (Dahlia Anenomes).

Urticina felina - Photo by Penny

Urticina felina - Photo by Penny

Urticina felina - Photo by Penny

Urticina felina - Photo by Penny

Various marine life including horse mussels, squirts, anemones, barnacles and worms
 - Photo by Penny

Various marine life including kelp, squirts, and anemones - Photo by Penny

There was a large Shore Crab moving between the blocks of the barrier, various sizes of Hermit Crabs and Marc and Penny spotted a Spider Crab.

Spider Crab - Photo by Marc

There were also a whole variety of plants and a large number of what looked like red and green marbles which I believe are some sort of egg cases.

Eventually we made it over to Reginald and despite a good look along the length of the pontoon there was no sign of our alien visitor. A relief in some ways but a bit disappointing in others.

Having swum all the way around Reginald I spotted a Fulmar bobbing up and down on the surface of the water so I started making my way towards it. Fulmars actually nest on the side of Reginald as part of the wreck forms a nice cliff ledge for them. As I got closer to the Fulmar on the water another kept swooping in low over my head and it eventually landed next to the other one. I got to within 3 metres of them before they flew off. I didn't see any rings on their legs though!!

It was time to start heading back to the beach. On the way back we started seeing lots of little Jellyfish and I also spotted lots of little creatures that were dark brown in colour, approximately 1cm in length with a flat looking body and what looked like a couple of little antenna. At first I thought they were just bits of plant debris but the more I saw of them the more I thought they were definitely some sort of creature. No idea what though.

As we approacherd the shallows Marc spotted some small flat fish and both he and Penny spotted at least one small Cuttlefish, but they had to be quick. I saw a tiny little fish that blended in very well with the sandy seabed but its pale blue eyes allowed me to keep track of it.

Cuttlefish making a hasty retreat - Photo by Marc

Although we didn't find our alien invaders we had a good swim and saw lots of fascinating stuff.

A big thanks to Penny and Marc for the use of their photos. I have a housing for my camera on order so hopefully I'll be able to start posting my own photos very soon.

Snorkelling in the snow

Am I cracking up? Snorkelling in the snow!!

Having just got back from a business trip South Marc was keen to get me back in the water as soon as possible so that I didn't suffer too badly from withdrawal symptoms.

We agreed that tonight would be good for a snorkelling session and that we would go down to Churchill Barrier No 2 where he had been the other day and seen some interesting stuff.

We put the word out that we would be going and invited anyone else from the Orkney Snorkelling group that might be interested in joining us. Helen said that she was up for a session as it had been a while since she had been snorkelling.

Yesterday the Met Office had issued a Yellow weather warning for snow over Orkney today and tomorrow but  a weather forecast this morning had revised that to say that most of Scotland except Orkney and Shetland would get snow. The weather was certainly looking good this morning however as the afternoon went on the weather started a downhill slide and by 5 o'clock it was definitely snowing.

By the time Marc had arrived the snow had eased and we decided that we would still go for it. So we loaded my kit into his car and set off for Barrier 2. When we got there Helen was already waiting for us.

We got kitted up and headed for the water on the East side of the barrier. As we swam along the side of the barrier there were a wide variety of seaweeds with a range of colours. These plants included the Thong Weed and a species of Wrack.

Thong Weed/Sea Thong - Himanthalia elongata

Wrack species - to be confirmed

The seabed was quite varied too going from sandy bits to rocky areas to areas of weed and the level of the seabed also varied from a couple of feet to probably 8-10 feet maybe more (I've not got the hang of judging distance under water yet).

Marc pointed out my first Sea Hare (a type of sea slug). I then swam over to where Helen was taking pictures and she pointed out a whole load of Sea Hares on the weed.

Sea Hares - Aplysia punctata

I also saw a few Hermit Crabs, a couple of which were quite big, and a Common Shore Crab.

Common Shore Crab - Carcinus maenas

There were the usual limpits and barnacles but I didn't see any signs of the Cuttlefish or any of the other fish that were seen last weekend.

The other thing that surprised me was the size of the blocks used for the lower parts of the barrier. Unless it was my eyes being tricked by looking through the water the blocks looked a lot bigger than the ones you see above the water. From an engineering point of view it makes sense to have larger blocks at the bottom and smaller ones on the top, but as you only ever see the smaller blocks when driving over the barriers you just assume that the same sized blocks are used for the whole structure.

After about an hour in the water our hands were starting to feel the effects of the cold so we returned to the beach and left the water for the snow!! Definitely an incentive for getting out of the snorkelling kit and into a warm car as quickly as possible. As we left the parking spot the car thermometer was showing just 1C!!

Another good session and a new site for me. It will be interesting to compare what was seen with what is on the West side of the barrier.

A big thanks to Helen Hadley for allowing me to use her photos.

If you fancy doing some diving in Scapa Flow check out Helen's website: MV-Valkyrie