Three Bays Wildlife Group

GHOSTBUSTERS 👻 Last night we had a message from an observant kayaker who had spotted a ghost net caught on rocks at Hemmick earlier that afternoon. All we knew was that some yellow floats could be seen, as well as some perished wildlife. We had a small window of opportunity with low tide at noon, so Jeremy, Sharon, Chris and Toni met up this morning to assess the situation and hopefully tackle it. All keen water users who regularly dive, surf, SUP and snorkle, they used this opportunity to put their skills to a different use. The large net was snagged on submerged rocks, but with two big seals watching on, they hauled and released the net, then swam it across the bay and in to shore. Several spider, shore and velvet crabs were carefully released alive, but sadly a lot of dog fish and a cormorant had not survived. We are just very grateful that it can no longer cause any more harm out there... especially with the seals scavenging the net. The net is going off to the Ghost Net Busters for recycling. A huge thank you to Michael who reported this to us. If you find anything in the ocean or beach that doesn’t belong there please let us know and our reactive beach task force will deal with it. There were a couple of minor injuries... some playful goodbye nips from the crabs, and Toni’s pride was dented after putting her wetsuit on the wrong way round!! 🤣 Well done team! 💙 #GhostBusters #GhostGear #ThreeBaysWildlife #ThreeBays #CommunityWildlife #MarineConservation #NetZero #OceanOptimism #BluePlanet

It’s World Oceans Day! 🌊🐬 Our oceans face significant threats but at Three Bays Wildlife Group we’re working to ensure our local seas are thriving. And you can help. Tomorrow we have our regular monthly Sea Watch at Dodman Point from 11-1 and we’d love you to join us as we survey marine animals and feed data into @seaquest_southwest along with other local Cornish wildlife groups.🐬 We’ve also set up an emergency beach clean whats app group to respond to urgent pollution problems on Three Bays beaches. Let us know if you’d like to join the group! 💙 Wherever you are keep shouting about the ocean and playing your part in ocean recovery. 👊 #NatureRecovery #OceanOptimism #WorldOceansDay #ThreeBaysWildlifeGroup #ThreeBaysWildlife #Cornwall

Stoat in a Coat ❄️ This inquisitive Stoat (Mustela erminea) was photographed by Chris Bilkey at Heligan. Fascinatingly the Stoat is in partial ermine, the winter coat which lends itself to another of the Stoat’s names - Ermine. In colder, snowier climes Stoats would go almost completely white. According to Dave Groves of Cornwall Mammal Group this is an unusual occurrence for Cornwall but it has been recorded a few times before. These photos were originally shared to our Facebook group ‘I Spy Wildlife in the Three Bays’. Have you ever seen a Stoat in ermine? 📸 Chris Bilkey #Mammal #Wildlife #ThreeBays #CornwallMammalGroup #ThreeBaysWildlife #Cornwall #Heligan #Nature #Stoat

NEW YEAR PLANT HUNT 🌼 No better way to start the new year than a plant hunt, organised by @bsbibotany . We skipped around our usual route in Mevagissey with 9 hardy souls and found a whopping 83 species of wild and naturalised plants in flower. Despite this long cold snap. Unusually, though, some regular plants that we would expect to find weren’t showing, including Three Cornered Leek, Lesser Celandine, Daffodil and Hazel. Perhaps the cold is slowing down those spring flowering species? We can’t wait for another year of wildlife in 2026, hoping you can join us! #NewYearPlantHunt #ThreeBaysWild

Join us on a New Year Plant Hunt! 📍Willow Car Park, Mevagissey 🗓️ Thurs Jan 1st 🕣 10am - 1pm (meet from 930) 🔍 Looking for flowering wild and naturalised plants 🥾 Dress warmly with sturdy shoes 🍎 Bring snacks! We’re heading out on Jan 1st for our 5th annual @bsbibotany New Year Plant Hunt in Meva! This brilliant citizen science project aims to discover how Britain’s wild plants are responding to a changing world. All ages and abilities welcome (dogs too!). Let us know if you’re coming. Any questions get in touch 📝 ⛈️ Keep an eye on our insta and Facebook pages for bad weather cancellations.

Are you free next Wednesday 9:30 for a workshop hearing from the author of Cornwall’s Climate Risk Assessment (also includes good news 🍎)and a 1:30 workshop seeing a future real world scenario in Cornwall? Check out /climate-skills-through-creativity/ to book up those and the rest of the Skills Experience which includes Beavers 🦫Trees 🌳Rivers 🏞️bio 🐝 #storm #flood #orchard #skills #jobs #résilience #grants #freepasty

GARDENERS I’ve been anxiously watering as I get down to the last 1/4 in the final water butt - UNTIL LAST FRIDAY! After attending our optional follow up Climate Skills Course with @threebayswild - Gardening & green space design in a changing climate - I did different things yesterday, that took minutes, saved me some labour and I’m pretty sure I heard my 🍅 plants 🌱 say “Thanks, we’re not so stressed now!” This course is available to people in Cornwall, for free this year only /climate-skills-through-creativity/ Get in quick if you’d like an opportunity to do this course too. Thank you Jeremy Roberts, Sam Corfield aka @the_hairy_horticulturist Horticulturist and Janet Pollard @janet_izzy42 🙏 Every day there’s another thing they shared that comes to mind to put into practice - truly enjoyable too - brilliant! #drought #gardening #butterfly #bees #resilience #climate

Busy day for the 3BW Reactive Beach Clean Volunteer team cleaning up this net and lobster pot lines, plus a 2 minute beach clean!! #beachclean #volunteer #outdoors #nature #environmental #fishingnets #lovewhereyoulive #marineconservation #keepingitclean #recycle @2minutehq

LOVE YOUR BEACH 💙 Happy Valentine’s to the #ThreeBays! Huge thanks and love to our volunteers who braved the rain today and joined us for a #LoveYourBeach clean at Portholland. If you want to join our reactive beach clean what’s app group send us a message 💌 #ThreeBaysWildlife #Cornwall #ThreeBaysWildlifeGroup #LoveYourBeach #BeachRangers #BeachClean

Scarlet or Ruby Elfcups (Sarcoscypha sp) are a magical fungi of late winter. Look for them brightening up dank and dark places in wet woods. ❤️ #WinterWildlife #ThreeBaysWild #ThreeBaysWildlife #FabulousFungi

Really good seaquest survey on Sunday, lots of new faces and regular ones 😊 Sadly no fins Our next seaquest survey will be on Sunday 2nd February 11:00-13:00 at Dodman point. #seaquest #volunteer #marinesurveys #staustellbay #nature #outdoors #marineconservation #ocean

NEW YEAR PLANT HUNT 🌼 We had an excellent time in Mevagissey today on our 5th annual @bsbibotany #NewYearPlantHunt. Thanks to the people who joined us and helped us find an amazing 79 species in flower. Swipe for some highlights! The New Year Plant Hunt is on for the next few days so if you have some spare time do your own hunt and submit the results to the BSBI website - it’s mega easy.