Lucky Strikes Again

Lucky the cat is a feline celebrity around Sovereign Harbour. Often wandering from North to South, in and out of the Waterfront. But he gets tired and looks for a comfy place to catnap. Unfortunately for JoJo the dog it was her bed and she didn’t like it. Like Lucky cared!!

Rough Weather Tests Eastbourne Marina Sea Defence

It’s just as well I like to live beside the seaside because with the stormy weather the past few days I thought I’d be in it.

With high tides and strong gales Eastbourne marina’s outer seawall breakwaters have been tested.

As the photo I took yesterday below shows, the waves were having a great time hitting the breakwaters…

waves crashing over the sovereign harbour breakwaters

Why Herons are like London Buses..

It’s been a busy few days here in Eastbourne’s premier marina – especially if you, like me, are a fan of wildlife.

If the harbour seal wasn’t enough excitement, the heron’s long awaited return added to the anticipation. Then, he reappeared this morning, twice in three days – what a treat!

heron in eastbourne marina

Return of the Marina’s Heron

In an earlier blog post I wrote about seeing a heron in one of the locks at Eastbourne’s Sovereign Marina around midnight.

I’ve kept my eyes open since then and it’s taken a while but early yesterday another heron was standing statuesque in the outer harbour at low tide.

heron in outer sovereign harbour eastbourne

Seal Visits Eastbourne Marina

Residents and visitors to Eastbourne’s outer marina were in for a treat this weekend – if they were patient that is! For if they looked closely, they may have noticed a small head and two dark eyes staring back at them from the sea.

harbour seal

Click for more photos!
Read more »

Does Anyone Know the Collective Noun for Cormorants?

Well, there’s a pride of lions, a pod of whales, even a university of owls, but Eastbourne’s Sovereign Harbour has been blessed with a of cormorants.

The most I’ve counted at one time is 12, and the photo below has 10…

a few of eastbourne marinas cormorants

If you know the answer, or have some polite ;-) suggestions please reply to this post and share with the world!

The Midnight Heron

Imagine my surprise last night!

It’s just after midnight and it was my turn to take JoJo the dog on her last constitutional of the day.

We were walking across the Locks towards Key West, where the lock closest to the Bermuda Place flats was empty for maintenance.

Something caught my eye, down there in the mud at the bottom of the lock. My heart raced though JoJo was too busy sniffing a patch of grass.

Then it took off; it’s wingspan seemingly too wide to enable it to safely get out. But with a graceful circle in the lock it came around and flew off.

It was a heron, obviously looking for a late-night fishy snack.

Marina Dive: Focus on SeaSquirt

This is the third post relating to a dive I did in North Marina a few weeks ago and this time I’m going to show you one of the harbour’s most common marine species, although it’s also the one with the funniest name…

Here’s a photo of a couple of them:

Sea Squirt in North Harbour

Sea Squirt in North Harbour
photo: (c) Jon Martin 2007

Read more »

Marina Dive: Focus on Starfish

Following on from a previous post here’s your chance to go underwater and see what’s it’s like in North Harbour.

The photo below shows one of around 30 starfish that I swam over during my dive:

One of Many Starfish in North Harbour

One of Many Starfish in North Harbour
photo: (c) Jon Martin 2007

Read more »

Dolphin Rescue in the Outer Harbour

Here’s something you don’t see very often – in fact its only the second time in the 7+ years I’ve lived here in Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne.

It’s may end up being quite a sad tale…

Last time it was a porpoise and this time it’s a dolphin, that has somehow got separated from it’s pod, and has ended up swimming aimlessly in the outer harbour boat channel of Sovereign Harbour.

As you can see from the photo, a lot of wellwishers turned out to watch with their fingers crossed that everything would turn out ok…

Crowds gather to watch the stranded Doplhin

The crowds gather on the beach to watch the stranded Doplhin
photo: (c) Jon Martin 2007

The story continues…
Read more »