Quekett Microscopists Weekend - Dale Fort 2006

Around 14 microscopists gathered over the late May bank holiday weekend at the Field Studies Council field centre at Dale Fort to gather and study plankton and other small sea creatures under the guidance of Senior Tutor Phil Wensley. This site is a light-hearted look at the weekend, built as a means of sharing photos with others taking part, and to provide a glimpse of the subject for a wider audience. Many thanks to Carel Sartory for organising the weekend, and for providing most of the identification information against the photos.

Please click on the thumbnail to reveal further photographs relating to each subject.

All photographs Copyright Jeremy Poole 2006 (except where otherwise stated)

A brief tour of the Fort itself.

Dale Fort is situated at the end of the Dale Peninsula and is a well-preserved example of a Palmerston Fort. It was completed in 1856 to help protect Pembroke Dock against the French.

Specimens from the Shoreline

We descended on Dale village to wade out into the sea at low water and collect specimens for further study back at the lab. Phil had an amazing eye for locating interesting specimens, some of which had been but rarely seen before in this location.

Gathering Specimens at Sea

We also went out into the bay in the Centre's RIB to drag for plankton with a fine (56 micron) plankton net.

Specimens

Pictures of some of what we found, taken mainly through microscopes.

Sea Gooseberries (Pleurobranchia pileus)

These are a bit like weeds to plankton lovers, but they held a fascination for me, who had never seen them before. I spent hours attempting to photograph specimens on my digital and conventional cameras.

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