Queen Scallop, Aequipecten opercularis, in natural sandy seabed, Bovisand, Plymouth, England. Filmed in time-lapse they have been placed in front of the camera but soon decide to leave – pumping themselves up as if ready to suddenly jet off. Various periwinkle snails can be seen burying themselves in the sand. Queen scallops are edible and part of a big fishery off the Isle of Man.
On 15 December 2020, warden Joeri Lamers reported that many queen scallops had beached on Terschelling island. So many that he suspects they now live not far from Terschelling, where they were unknown as a resident species before.
This 8 November 2019 video is by captain Joep Henselmans from the Netherlands. When his ship was 20 kilometer away from Terschelling island during the night, this flock of starlings flew around his ship, and rested there, flying away next morning.
Goneplax rhomboides, filmed at Sprey Point, Teignmouth January 2018. These odd-looking crabs can sometimes be found alive washed up on the sandy beaches of Torbay, particularly after rough seas.
They usually live in burrows on muddy/sandy bottoms from the shallow sublittoral to 100m depth.
In recent months I have seen more and more reports of discoveries of angular crabs on the beaches. Usually they are dead animals, but also some live ones. The Wadden Sea Society even had one in their aquarium this summer. The angular crab is a newcomer to our coast, it used to be found in somewhat more southern waters that stay warmer on average, and therefore it benefits from the warmer water.
Beach finds
This weekend I found a dead specimen on the beach at beach pole 8. Earlier, I had already found loose carapaces, especially after the hard January storm in 2017. Actually since that time you see the discoveries increase, including through waarneming.nl. This summer, I think it suddenly became a lot, and also spread over a large part of the Terschelling beach. Most finds are between beach pole 3 and pole 7, but they are also found at pole 16. I like to hear new notifications, put them in the comments under this blog post.
Warmer seawater
This crab lives on average in reasonably warm waters, especially south of the English Channel and in the Mediterranean Sea. The North Sea was always too cold for them because this is a shallow sea that cools quickly in the winters. Deeper water maintains a more constant temperature. The water in the North Sea gets warmer on average, with opportunities for these and other species.
This 31 July 2018 video is from the Noordsvaarder, a sandy plain in the west of Terschelling island in the Netherlands. It shows a ringed plover couple with their youngsters.
Warden Jacob Jan de Vries made this video. He counted four ringed plover couples with seven youngsters in this area.
Good news! Most tourists respect the birds’ nesting area and walk around, not through, it, thus making the nesting success possible.
These young birds are this year’s second brood. The first brood was in April. The first brood chicks are still around, and already look almost like adults.
This 8 February 2018 video shows a flock of horned larks wintering on the nascent dunes of the Noordvaarder sandbank on Terschelling island in the Netherlands. These birds are looking for glasswort seeds to eat.
