Natural 'Stonehenge' discovered underwater

MCS supporter and Seasearch diver, Rob Spray, has discovered what could be the world's longest chalk reef off the coast of Norfolk. Rob, who led the team of Seasearch divers who made the stunning discovery, said is was like finding an underwater Stonehenge.

The reef, thought to be 20 miles long, lies a short way off shore and is only about 25ft under the surface. Rob and his team were surveying the area and thought they had found a small reef, but as their survey continued and they discovered large arches and deep gullies, they realised they had dived onto something unique.

The reef is home to an amazing number and diversity of wildlife and has already been dubbed 'Britain's Great Barrier Reef'. By comparison, the Thanet Coast Chalk Reefs are only about 14 miles long.

Living on the reef are at least thee species never recorded before in the area including the leopard spotted goby, the blush-red strawberry anemone and the Atlantic ancula sea slug.

Now Rob and his team are keen to see this whole area designated as a Marine Protected Zone. The MCS 'Your Seas Your Voice' project has already recmmended that the Sheringham and Weybourne Chalk Gullies, which lie closer to the coast than the newsly discovered reef, becomes an MPZ.

Seasearch in the South East

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Information about this project including dates and venues for training courses and surveys for 2011 can be found on the following website www.seasearch.org.uk which is regularly updated. The training courses cover the Seasearch Observer and Seasearch Surveyor qualifications with the aim of getting individual divers and dive clubs involved. The website also lists previous years reports and data.

Seasearch dive sites can also be found on Google Earth.

Seasearch Observer and Surveyor courses will be arranged at a number of locations around the country next year as well as specialist courses covering seaweeds, nudibranchs and bryozoans (see the Seasearch website) and also the MCS SE Group specialist courses at Swanage throughout the summer.

There are 8 specialist courses planned for this year so far including sponges, seaweeds, nudibranchs and fish ID (see the Seasearch website) as well as well as the 5 MCS SE Group specialist courses at Swanage throughout the summer (see above).

Should you wish to organize a Seasearch course for your dive club then contact Chris Wood on chris@seasearch.org.uk who will put you in touch with a tutor in your area. You can also join in with a course as an individual. If you are on the Seasearch distribution list, information of cancellations and last minute spaces on surveys will be emailed to you.

Seasearch dives are organized at a variety of locations around the UK and details will be found on the Seasearch website. Below are some of those to be found in the south east area:

Hants and IOW Seasearch The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust run Seasearch courses. They also organizes ‘Shoresearch’, a project for non divers with an interest in gathering data of marine life found along the seashore as well as Seasearch dives at weekends and week days for those of you near the coast. These include dives around the Isle of Wight. For dates and further information contact Amy Dale on amyd@hwt.org.uk or phone on 01489 774444.Projects here are organized by Kathryn Dawson and Peter Tinsley from Dorset Wildlife Trust in the Kimmeridge Bay area. Contact Kathryn Dawson on kdawson@dorsetwildlife.co.uk or phone on 01305 217979. Dorset Autumn 2009 Newsletter

Sussex SeasearchFor Sussex Seasearch courses, survey locations and booking, please contact Chris Williams, Natural England on Christian.Williams@naturalengland.org.uk or phone on 0300 060 0324.

The Kent Wildlife Trust organizes a number of Seasearch courses in the Kent area. These include Observer, Surveyor plus some specialist courses. Survey dives follow on throughout the year but are dependant sea conditions and water clarity.
For more details of survey locations and dates please contact Bryony Chapman at bryony.chapman@kentwildlife.org.uk or phone on 01622 662012.

The East Anglian Seasearch group is run by Dawn Watson and Rob Spray and can be contacted on divemouse@btinternet.com or phone on 01728 600598. The group runs courses and dives throughout the year. Also visit their website at: East Anglia Seasearch Website

MCS Members Dives 2011 Last year’s dive program covered most of the UK coastline as well as some further a field. If you would like details of future dives, booking details and updates via email then simply enter your details on the following mailing list: chris@seasearch.org.uk or phone 07776 142096.

Occasionally spaces come up at the last minute and these will be emailed out to everyone.