Cumbria Wildlife Trust has shared a round up of some of the county’s 2024 marine life highlights.
Alongside sightings of basking sharks and loggerhead turtle rescues – the trust is highlighting some of the projects and people that have worked alongside its marine team to protect wildlife in Cumbria’s seas.
Celebrating a decade of grey seal pups at South Walney Nature Reserve
2024 marked the 10th year running that grey seal pups have been recorded at South Walney Nature Reserve.
The colony has grown from fewer than 10 seals recorded in the 1980s and 1990s to a peak of 518 in 2021.
This year, the trust recorded 10 pups in a year both in 2021 and 2023 – an increase that is the result of concerted and ongoing efforts to minimise disturbance of the seal colony.
The seals can also be watched live on social media, through the organisations sealcam.
Georgia de Jong Cleyndert, head of marine conservation at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: “Visitors to South Walney can watch the seals in the sea at high tide from a safe distance in Groyne Hide (you’ll need binoculars or a viewing scope to see them), but there’s no access to the beach where the seals haul out.
“We urge everyone, including kayakers, anglers, jet skiers and boats, to enjoy our amazing marine wildlife from a safe distance. You should maintain at least 100m distance from the seal colony at all times.
“You can get good views of them with binoculars from a safe distance. Generally, you’ll know if you’re too close because the seals will start to look at you and move nervously. If this happens, you should immediately start backing away quietly to avoid further disturbance.
“By following these safety guidelines, hopefully we can all enjoy the South Walney grey seal colony, and more successful pupping seasons, for many years to come!”
Basking shark spotted
The trust’s marine team along with dedicated volunteers and observant members of the public made several reports of interesting marine wildlife off the Cumbria coast over the course of the year.
Highlights included the sighting of a basking shark off Walney in June.
While it’s not the first time basking sharks have been spotted in the area, it is still considered rare, as they are more commonly spotted around the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Inner Hebrides.
Cumbria’s marine conservation youth award winner
One of the trust’s marine champions – a volunteer who is trained to help local people connect with and learn about coastal wildlife – won the Marsh Volunteer Youth Award for Marine Conservation.
Cat Bell, who became a marine champion at 14-years-old, now volunteers around her GCSEs and takes part in Shoresearch surveys, helps run events for World Ocean Day and other marine festivals, including bringing portable rockpools to people who cannot easily access the sea.
Georgia said: “We were so pleased when Cat was honoured with this volunteers’ award. She shares her infectious enthusiasm for marine life with everyone she comes across and has shown incredible dedication to her volunteering and the marine environment. She more than deserves the recognition given by the award!”
Cat Bell said: “Volunteering is one of my favourite things to do and has really helped me gain confidence and unlock my passion for marine conservation.
“It’s given me opportunities to work towards what I would like to do in future and winning the Marsh award was a huge honour which I am greatly thankful for. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last few years!”
Loggerhead turtle rescue
A 50kg loggerhead turtle was also rescued this year after it was found stranded on a Walney Island beach.
The turtle, named Nazaré, was cold-stunned and had to undergo months of rehabilitation in order to be returned to the wild.
Nazaré travelled to London Heathrow to Lisbon, then to Horta in the Azores, where she was temporarily housed at Porto Pim aquarium before her release.
You can read more about her rescue, rehabilitation and release here.
Analysing Walney Channel’s seagrass beds
Over the summer months, the trust’s seagrass restoration programme was supported by a group of Cumbrian canoeists.
The canoeists helped the trust collect environmental DNA samples from Walney Channel’s seagrass beds. The samples allowed the trust to learn what wildlife is using the seagrass meadows.
The analysis revealed that at least 135 species could be found in just one small part of the beds, including commercially-important fish species, three types of pipefish and the critically-endangered European eel.
Georgia said: “These were great discoveries, this research has helped us build a better picture of the benefits that seagrass beds give to both marine wildlife and people, and helps to show how important seagrass is as part of a healthy coastal ecosystem.”
In September, the trust were joined again by volunteers to collect seagrass seeds.
Seagrass is fragile – so the volunteers had to spread their weight on bodyboards to reduce damage as they collected the seeds to plant at other sites.
Seagrass is considered a very valuable habitat and plays a huge role in tackling climate change, but studies have shown a 70 per cent decline in seagrass over the last century.
The seeds will be planted out in the spring, and by next summer the trust said it will be able to evaluate the success of its first year of seagrass restoration.
Coastal beach cleans
Dozens of beach cleans have taken place across the coast in Cumbria over the past year.
The trust said last year beach cleans kicked off in January, when a group at Biggar Bank, on Walney Island, collected over 30 bags of litter, as well as lots of abandoned fishing gear.
In August Coast Dusters was set up, a monthly beach clean group who are fighting against ‘ghost gear’ and other marine litter on the coast around Barrow.
Georgia said: “Ghost gear is the name for any discarded, lost, or abandoned, fishing gear in the marine environment. It can pose a deadly threat to wildlife so any work that’s done to remove this, and other litter, from our beaches and coastline is invaluable.”
Hundreds attend SeaFest
The trust held its annual SeaFest celebration in July where it was joined by hundreds of visitors on St Bees Beach.
This year, it also celebrated Irish Sea Day and activites were organised up and down the coast of the Irish Sea including in Wales, Scotland and Ireland to unite all the six nations that share the sea.
A large sand mandala of a turtle was created on site by beach artist Simon Wheatley to mark the occasion.
Other activities at the SeaFest event included a sand sculpture competition, beach yoga, sustainable seafood demonstrations, marine-themed arts and crafts, guided walks, wildlife watching and more.
Protected and rare fish found in Carlisle
A rare member of the herring family was spotted in Carlisle’s River Eden earlier this year.
The sighting was of a shad, a protected and rare species, which prompted excitement that there may be a spawning ground for shad in the river in the city.
