January 2000 AGM
1999 had been another year which suggested that the seas are indeed warming, for there were again the arrival of many unusual marine creatures which are normally found further south. There was a Greater Argentine caught in March; a Moray Eel and a Mako shark in April and the possible sighting of a Great White in August. There were several sightings of Leatherback Turtles and a Loggerhead carcass was found at Perranporth, and a Kemp's Ridley as Scillies, also there were several sightings of White Beaked dolphins. There was also the arrival around the coasts of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in early October of over 200 Portuguese Man-of-War. Basking Sharks started to turn up in May, and by August they were arriving in large numbers, also arriving in larger numbers than usual were the Orcas or Killer Whales and looking at the information stored in the database I am entering on my P.C. it looks as if the Orcas are following the Basking Sharks and probably preying on them. Extracting the average monthly sightings for each month over the past 10 years for each of the two species and then plotting a graph it is clear that there is a very close correlation. This graph shows a correlation of about 89% which is high enough to assume that the arrival and disappearance of the two species at about the same time is no accident and that there is some connection between the two species and that can only be as predator and prey, so why has there been only one sighting of an attack on a Basking Shark by a Killer Whale? A small pod of Fin whales had been seen off the coast of West Penwith each December for the previous three years and ft was believed to be the same pod returning each year. They were eagerly awaited by keen watchers last year and the Fin Whales were eventually spotted off Carn Gloose on Sunday 19th December. The Fin Whale is second only to the Blue Whale in size, and can reach a length of 88 ft in females which are slightly larger than the males. An unusual feature of the Fin Whale is that the lower jaw is white on the right side and dark on the left, this unique colour pattern applies also to the right baleen plates and the right hand side of the tongue which are white, and is thought to be to do with its feeding behaviour. Common and Bottlenose Dolphins have been seen throughout the year, but the pod sizes of the Bottlenose have been dropping. Grey Seals have suffered heavy losses during 1999, more than a dozen carcasses were found in the second half of the year, usually the best time for seals.. Two Herring Gull chicks were seen in November, one in Devon the other in Cornwall, they usually breed from May to August, but we don't need signs like this to prove that the Earth is warming, for climatologists records show that the UK had the highest average temperatures in 1999 since records began in 1659.
Conservation Officer: Raymond Dennis