Latest arrival

[sandworm]

Hello everyone. I'm Mandy and I'm working at the Natural History Museum. I'll be stumbling around this site until I get the hang of where and how to post, so please be patient with me. My main interests are fish and marine life, but I encounter all sorts of stuff in my public enquiries role, and I'm naturally curious. I think this forum is an excellent resource and I'm looking forward to learning a lot.

Cheers !

[GME]

Hi Mandy (sandworm)!!

Welcome to the site. I love fish too. I keep marines, malawis and have a pond filled with carp, etc. But I love all sorts of other wildlife too

That must be great to get to work at such a fantastic place. How interesting!

Explore WAB and enjoy

[Deer Stalker]

Hi Mandy.

[goosey]

Hi Mandy, what a fab job yo have! It won't take long to get to grips with everything that is going on here though it can be a bit addictive - I am on holiday at the moment walking in the Lake District and I still have to find time to see what is happening here Welcome

[buzfuz8149]

Hi Mandy,

A warm welcome to WAB, you are right this site is an excellent place for information, looking forward to your posts and photos.

Carol.

[glsammy]

Hi Mandy, welcome to WAB. I hope you enjoy your time here.

[dragonfly]

hya from East Yorkshire
hya sandworm glad to see you will find this useful for all sorts of things to do with nature

[Jez]

Hi Mandy WAB! The Natural History Website is topnotch! to those that don't know it you can type in your postcode and it comes up with all recorded native plant specie to your area .How cools that. Hope to chat some time have lots of fun

[cresshead101]

hey sandworm/mandy!great to hear from you!(is the name from the book Dune, or just sandworms?random question,i know)any way ,just to say a quick hello and welcome to the forum!hope you have a great time here! as well as being a great resource,dont forget the people on here are great,too! see ya around

[sandworm]

Thanks for the big welcome everyone. I've worked at the Natural History Museum for aons, first on fossil reptiles and birds, then transferred to Zoology to work on Indo-Pacific marine fish, and most recently in public access to the collections and advisory services. I love it when we get stuff sent in for identification which is so weird, the boffins are baffled.

The only reason I chose the name sandworm was because the site won't let me use any of my usual names, and I happened to have some photographs I took in Namibia on my desk. For those who haven't read Frank Herbert's epic story, largely set on the planet Arrakis, known as Dune; watching the desert for "worm-sign" is something the native inhabitants do a lot. The first time I went to the Namib desert, I stood atop a big dune and imagined giant sandworms as in the story. Not that I'm some enormous, scaly thing mind you

Thanks for the tip about postcode botany. I think I've used this once before and got a shock at the length of the floral list. I live in South Bedfordshire, next to sand quarries, which make an interesting environment when the diggers move on. Botany-wise, I'm most interested in the plants used in medicine during the 17th Century. Yep, I'm one of those living history saddoes and you might encounter me on a visit to some English Heritage site one day. Be afraid !

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by sandworm

Hello everyone. I'm Mandy and I'm working at the Natural History Museum. I'll be stumbling around this site until I get the hang of where and how to post, so please be patient with me. My main interests are fish and marine life, but I encounter all sorts of stuff in my public enquiries role, and I'm naturally curious. I think this forum is an excellent resource and I'm looking forward to learning a lot.

Cheers !

Wow what a fantastic job!!! lucky you!

Glad to have you on board

warning though, this site is very addictive!

[sandworm]

I couldn't resist sharing this one with you. It's from today's cache of enquiries and I think it has to be shoal of some kind, but what if it isn't ???

"Report visit of very large deep sea creature to 38 foot yacht 'Respite' having left Peniche and on route from Gibralta to Plymouth about 40 miles of coast of Portugual, time early July 1994 in the early hours no moonlight. Thought to be north west of Peniche at time of sighting. Large bioluminesent creature over 100 feet by 30 feet.
main body outlined by luminous net shape of changing shades, tapered cylinder with round end and truncated at other. Approached, round end first at great speed vertically from depth near starboard stern of yacht appeared aas white ring, slowed and turned horizontal. Round end under yacht stern other end to bow. Moved vertically up towards yacht bottom. Could see to starboard and port and beyond stern and well beyond bow where strong glow in water and pink wriggling near surface. Meshed red colour now much stronger as nearer surface.Stayed under yacht for a few seconds then dived rapidly, round end (round end under stern dropped down and forward so vertical) first off the port bow seen as white streak and disapeared. This all happened in say 20 seconds. Thought it might have been a whale but did not surface and did not look the correct shape."

[cresshead101]

wow, is it some person having a llaugh,or could it be something else?deedoodoo do you get stuff like that a lot?

[demicav]

Hi Mandy and welcome to WAB. That's a great job you have there. I'm sure you find that people can have a real vivid imagination . Looking forward to your posts and pictures.

[rlchew]

Hello Mandy

Welcome to WB from me too.

Richard

[sandworm]

There are lots of natural phenomena reported by boats, and giant, bioluminescent sunwheels are only one of many reports due to the activities of plankton clouds, squid or fish shoals. The deeper water fauna, including bioluminescent forms, makes vertical migrations in the water column at night. They feed near the surface on nights with no moon, when their silhouette is not so apparent to the predators swimming up from below. On nights of bright moonlight some emit light from the photophores on their undersides, to match the ambient light from above and mask their silhoutette from the big, toothy things that lurk in the depths.
It's not altogether clear what stimulates the plankton to glow in a way which makes waves or networks in the swarm. Some people think it may be geomagnetic anomalies. It might even be a kind of communication. Wierd science ? I've also got a nice piece of film taken at Loch Ness to look at this morning.

Mandy

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi Mandy,

welcome to WAB.Sounds like you'll have some interesting stories to tell

Enjoy the site.

neil