The gales of last weekend have now really stirred up the fine mud and clay and the underwater visibility is now very poor. Last monday the limit of visibility was about 10cm, today it has improved a little and is about 30-40cms. Attempted to clean the deep camera on monday, but only found it by touch and cleaning it was not easy. Tried again today and was at least able to see what I was cleaning! Water temperature has dropped as well, 8.1C today. The water temperature has dropped a lot earlier than it did last winter.

The intertidal camera has been removed now for annual servicing and to protect it from the worst of the winter storms. It will be replaced next spring. The location is very vulnerable to easterly gales and  I have had to dig it out of over a foot of pebbles in the past.

The fish seem to have left the Fleet. Nothing seen on the camera all this week. It is not clear whether it is the poor visibility or the cold water that makes them leave, but for the last three years that we have run the camera they have left before Christmas and return again in March. It is believed that they move out into the deeper waters of Weymouth Bay where the water is not as cold as in the Fleet in the winter.

The sea squirts on the camera pontoon are still around in some numbers, and the Japanese seaweed is just starting to grow again after dying-off in the summer.