[photo by Paul Parsons; undulate ray off Shoreham 2002] Paul is a very keen diver and under-water stills photographer who has an extensive library of images of British marine life.

Sussex possess miles of curving coastline with a rich variety of habitats. Natural substrates including sand, mud, shingle, chalk rock, greensand and clay provide opportunities for a rich variety of seashore and marine life. Piers, seawalls, timber, wrecks, boulders and other artificial substrates provide further homes for marine life. With apparent changing environmental conditions species normally found further west in the Channel have and are extending their ranges into Sussex including jewel anemones. A visit to the sea shore or a dive can be very rewarding.

Further images of this evolving site here.

Compared to our knowledge of what is present on land our understanding of what is beneath the waves is tiny. Recording the presence and distribution of organims on land is very popular. The same rewards can be had from recording on the shore and beneath the waves. Information on habitats, as well as species, can provide important data that can be used to extend our understanding of our marine heritage, help in understanding the threats to the marine environment and aid in the planing process.

Such information can be sent in for collation to [email protected]

The minimum data needed to make a record useful are:

Date of record
Place
Grid or Lat. Long.Name of recorder
Species/habitat recorded.

In addition data on weather, tide, substrate, visibility, ... can also be useful. Better to have too much data than not enough.

Life along a Limb
Visit the marine world of the west Newhaven arm. There's a carpark (free in the evenings/night and some times of the year). This 'adopted stite' is quite popular with divers despite the staggering walk across the dunes of shingle from the car park to the seashore! A good cardio-vascular work-out before you're in the water. Its a good idea to catch your breath before getting under.

Follow the wall and blocks that extend in a SE direction. Alternatively, if you want to look at the gullies and soft sea bed try swimming out in an arc towards the breakwater starting about 80-100 m to the west of the structure. Close inshore, near the wall, is an area that can accumulate detached weed and other debris, not very attractive (if you find a small yellow torch – it's mine and came off my Nikonos close-up kit. This results from the circulation effects of longshore drift W to E.

During the year the life on the wall, the huge concrete blocks of concrete and the adjacent seabed varies enormously. Fish are numerous and being a harbour arm the site is accessible to 'dry fishermen' so be careful of lines and hooks, and respect other users interests. Be aware of line, whether in use of discarded, and the potential of being caught. Be aware also of other divers hunting for fish. Despite this unfortunate activity the fish present don't seem to be 'diver-shy'. Some divers have abused the attached life by taking oysters, which are not particularly common anyway. Sadly, lobsters are also taken. They have a hard enough time with commercial fishering let alone sneeky divers going after them as well.

The site extends for about 740 metres starting at Lat N50°:46':492 (50.780203) ; Long (WGS84) E0°:03':092 (0.052401) ; Grid Reference TV447998 to Lat N50°:46'34" (50.776156); Long (WGS84) E0°:03':27" (0.057543) ; LR TV451994.

Depths obviously vary with tide going down to a maximum of 14 or so metres. The position of the breakwater means that the only current that has be taken into account is the one associated with an ebbing tide which close to the wall can be quite fierce. The breakwater also shelters the sea when there is a strong easterly, making it calmer and also clearer. So, if you can't dive Seaford Bay because vis. is down to less than a meter then come here. Visiblity goes to hell once a moderate westerly/south-westerly kicks in – a typical feature of Sussex beach diving.