South West Ramblings

Mark Webster · Issue 86, Sep/Oct 2015 · pp. 62–67

Products mentioned: Nikon D7100, Subal ND7100, Nikon 10-17mm fisheye zoom, 105mm micro lens, Nauticam SMC wet lens, Inon Z240 flash guns

After a cool and windy start, it seems like summer has at last decided to arrive in the south west, although the water temperatures are still chilly at 11°c to 12°c but that has had the benefit of holding back some of the heavy plankton blooms we would normally expect in May and June. We have come to expect to see certain species or events at a particular time of year or in a particular location, but nature’s fickle species life cycle in the underwater world occasionally surprises us by mixing up the schedule or not making an appearance at all. One of the first strange events this year has been the arrival of hundreds of Rhyzostoma (barrel) jelly fish in April. These impressive beasts would normally appear in early summer at the end of the first plankton bloom so it was rather odd to see them drifting around in the colder clearer waters of springtime. They are still with us in huge squad…