Porcupine Marine Natural History Society – Field Meeting April 2012

Porcupine Marine Natural History Society

Field Meeting April 2012

   Guernsey, Channel Islands

Thursday 5^th – Tuesday 10^th April 2012

 Guernsey (49°28’ N, 2° 35’ W), the second largest of the Channel Islands at around 25 square miles (65 km²), lies 27 miles northwest of Jersey and 30 miles off the French (Normandy) coast. The spectacular coastline is about 25 miles in length and has granitic cliffs to the south and southeast, but is flatter to the west and north, with a series of large sandy bays. The Channel Islands have long been of interest to marine natural historians; for example, Koehler (1886) published a three-part collection of “Contributions to the study of the littoral fauna of the Anglo-Norman Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Herm, and Sark)” in volume 18 of series 5 of the Annals & Magazine of Natural History.

The tidal range is large; 10 m at Spring tides. The tides at Easter 2012 are among the best of the year and ideal for intertidal sampling.

Tides: April (BST adjusted) – Easter

Water quality in the Channel Islands is excellent, however, tidal currents are strong. On Springs the maximum tidal flow (high/low water) can reach 5 knots! Although the fieldtrip is focused on the intertidal, diving may be a possibility if there is sufficient interest (see below).

Dredging may also be possible if we can secure a suitable and affordable vessel one day.

Laboratory: A laboratory will be set up in the ‘Reading Room’ at Les Cotils, St Peter Port, from the 5th-10th April 2012: http://www.lescotils.com/the_reading_room

Accommodation:
There is no requirement to stay at Les Cotils.  Some participants may wish to stay elsewhere.  Porcupine is not taking responsibility for arranging accommodation for attendees. Costs at Les Cotils (1st April ­– 31 October 2012) are:

Bed and breakfast: standard room £41.00 per person, Sea view £45.50 per person
Bed breakfast and evening meal: Standard room £53.00 per person, Sea view £57.50 per person.

These prices are slightly higher (£2.50-4.00) than those currently on the website for 2011:

http://www.lescotils.com/room_tariffs

If you are interested in staying at Les Cotils, you can book online (1 night deposit):
https://portals.uk.rezlynx.net/lescotilspportal/wfrmpakquery.aspx?siteid=lescotils

Les Cotils is up-hill at St Peter Port, but is in easy walking distance of restaurants etc.

Other accommodation: http://www.visitguernsey.com/

Getting there:

Information here: http://www.lescotils.com/travel_information
and here: http://www.visitguernsey.com/transport/
Rough estimates of travel costs are around £250-300 return for a car (2 adults) by ferry. There are fast 2.5 hr and slow ferries (variable 7-12+ hrs depending on sailing time) from Weymouth or Portsmouth; fast one a little more weather susceptible: http://www.condorferries.co.uk/Media/Timetables.html ). Flights are ‘around’ £100 (est. £80-120) from various airports (e.g., in the south – Bristol, Gatwick, Southampton: 45-80 minutes), but excess baggage is likely to be expensive! If you fly, you will need transport from the airport to St Peter Port.

Getting around:
We are hoping that some attendees and perhaps some Guernsey participants will have cars and be willing to help transport people to the shores.
There is (currently) a bus service too, though apparently the renewal of contracts is up in the air just now (contract ends 31st March!).

Cars can be hired on Guernsey too, but hopefully this will not be necessary.

Costs:
The cost (to cover lab costs etc) will be £50 for the period; deposit of £10 required on booking.

Should diving or dredging be possible, some additional costs will likely arise for the participants involved

Booking:

To book your place please fill out the booking form(see below) and send a cheque for £10 (deposit)

made payable to the Porcupine Marine Natural History Society

to:  Andy Mackie, Marine Biodiversity, National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP

(andy.mackie@museumwales.ac.uk)

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If you are interested in attending:

• Book early, send in the booking form now!

• It is imperative that you book your accommodation as soon as possible (for those interested in diving, see next point). Guernsey at Easter can be popular. Do not leave things until the last minute as you may be disappointed.

 • Diving: If you are interested in diving, it is vital that we hear from you a.s.a.p.  Diving will only be organised (by Sue Daly and Fiona Crouch) if enough participants are obtained to make it a viable operation.  Note also that diving operations are likely to be based on Sark, not Guernsey. Accommodation on Sark will be investigated once we know whether diving is an option.

Enticing images from the Channel Islands

Richard Lord: http://www.sealordphotography.net/Nature

Sue Daly: http://www.suedalyproductions.com/

Porcupine Field Meeting 2012

 Guernsey

Thursday 5^th – Tuesday 10^th April 2012

 All this information and the booking form can be downloaded here as a word document and here as a pdf file.