The Fleet Observer

To go with the relaunch of the Fleet Observer we thought it was about time we updated our site.

In the coming weeks and over the summer we will be adding more images and information about the Chesil Beach and Fleet Nature Reserve, what you can expect from a boat trip and the sights we see every day.

We could add an entire encyclopedia of information and pictures but it still wouldn’t compete with a real visit.

If you have the time come pay us a visit during the summer to see for yourselves.

11 children from Belarus, affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, with support from the Weymouth and Portland Friends of Chernobyl Children’s charity, have enjoyed a four week visit to Weymouth.

This year part of their visit has included a trip on the glass bottom boat, the Fleet Observer and a visit to the Chesil Beach Centre for ice cream donated by the Chesil Tea Cabin. The children enjoyed the trip with a brief introduction to the marine life led by guides Derek Keeling, Angela Thomas and an interpreter.

With spring arriving early the Fleet has been the place to be this last few days, and I am pleased to say a lot of people agreed and came along on the boat trip.

We were in the water early enough this year to witness the last of the Mergansers and the first morning trips and the late afternoons have been the time to see the Fleet at its best as they have coincided with falling tides and emerging mud flats.

The bass have started running, early this year, and we are enjoying the Terns feeding activity on the fry and shrimp, pushed to the surface by the marauding fish.

The visibility in the water has not been great but we can confirm our ususal inhabitants are still there, the Snake lock anenomes and the Sea squirts. We were lucky enough to catch some orange sea squirts but they are still elusive.

Well it’s time to break out the sunscreen and get back to the boat to welcome you during this glorious spell of weather”.

Thursday 19th April saw the return of the little terns to the Fleet, since the 19th we have had regular visits from little, common and sandwich terns. We have already had spectacular close up views of the terns from the boat and in the forthcoming weeks the Fleet will be alive with terns showing courtship behaviour, before settling down and making scrapes on the bank.

The little tern is a schedule 1 breeding bird. The smallest species of tern, this small sea bird travels from the south west coast of africa to the UK to nest. Chesil’s colony is the only colony on the whole of the south west coast and over recent years numbers have decreased due to poor breeding success.

Other regular visitors include little egret, meadow and rock pipit, skylark, increasing numbers of waders such as oyster catcher, dunlin, turnstone, ringed plover, curlew and many other spring migrants including, swallows, martins, wheatear and linnet.

Through out the season the glass bottom boat, as well as taking out guided trips, runs as a work boat, ferrying passengers and supplies to parts of Chesil (it’s a long walk from the Chesil Beach Centre).

Just recently we took out a group of volunteers from the Access to work through Conservation Project, organised by the Dorset branch of the Butterfly Conservation Trust, who were helping us with some preparation for the upcoming tern season and some renovations to our multi media project, although slightly misty both volunteers and staff enjoyed the day and we would like to thank the volunteers for their hard work.

The boat has just completed its fifth season since being acquired by the reserve, and its third under the management of Roger Quigley. The season was the longest ever achieved with the boat being in the water from Easter and not taken out until the completion of the October half term. If it weren’t for the miserable August weather the record for the highest number of passengers for the season would have been well and truly broken. Nevertheless the season was good and the skippers did very well in running as many trips as they did. The boat proved a great success in Portland Marine Week.

This winter the boat is due for an extensive refit and a professional survey has already been undertaken to detail the work that has to be done. Operating on a ‘not-for-profit basis’ the boat generates sufficient income to cover its operating expenses but not enough to provide for long-term maintenance costs. In the New Year it is intended to launch a fund raising campaign to cover the refit costs and provide further improvements. The campaign needs to be successful to ensure that this unique little boat can carry out its 14th year of hard work in 2008, and continue. Should anyone wish to help with the promotion of the fund raising or in any other aspect of the boat’s operation, please contact us.