Peter Glanvill - Photography, Caving, Diving


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Lyme Bay - Back

Central Lyme Bay has a silty seabed, the predominant rock being blue lias limestone with beds of clay that produce a cloudy silt. Parts of the seabed are composed of thick mud, other areas consist of fine gravel swept in broad ripples by wave action. In other areas the seabed is flat bed rock scattered with boulders or raised into reefs. Depths lie between 20 and 30 metres. In recent years interest has focussed on the ecology of the pink sea fan Eunicella Verrucosa, a gorgonian (soft coral) that grows in profusion on some of the reefs. The fans align themselve broadside on to the current and can be seen in strong tides to be shaking gently. They have a natural predator, a tiny sea slug or nudibranch. known as Tritonia that is perfectly camouflaged whilst feeding on the fan's polyps.

Another interesting species found relatively recently is the Sunset cup coral which exists in profusion on some underwater cliffs at depths of 25 to 30 metres. The coral is brightly coloured enough to stand out even at depths where most colours have been filtered out.

Some species in the bay are at the limits of their distribution or exist abundantly in a relatively small number of areas such as the Trumpet Anemone (Aiptasia) or the Blackfaced Blenny. Both these species are found in the Mediterranean.

Cushion Star

Dahlia Anemone

Diver examining Trumpet anemones

Snakelock Anemone

Diver swimming over Common Starfish

Diver and sea fan(Eunicella Verrucosa)

Rootmouth or dustbinlid jellyfish (Rhizostoma pulmo)

Plaice

Stinging jellyfish (Cyanea lamarckii)

Dahlia anemone (one of several colour variations)

The rare Paraerythropodium (relation of the Deadman's Finger, a soft coral)

Sunset coral (leptosammia pruvotii)

Seafan on a boulder

Diver with Ross (a form of bryozoan or sea mat)

Sea fan close up

A solitary hydroid (Corymorpha)

Axinellid sponge

Blackfaced blenny

Common prawn

Compass jellyfish (Chrysaora hyoscella))

Corkwing wrasse

Common Goby

Leopard spotted Goby

Rock Cook

Hermit Crab

Jewel anemones (Corynactis)

Serpulid worm

Cuttlefish Eggs

Sagartia anemones

Sea Fans on Blue Lias bedrock

Spider crab camouflaged with sponges

Sunset cup corals

Tompot Blenny

Strawberry anemone

Gymnangium montagui (hydroid)

Sunset cup coral

Candy striped flatworm (feeds on tunicates)

Conger eel

Horseshoe worm

Poor cod

Close up of pink sea fan

Snakelock anemone and symbiotic crab Inachus

Moulting and breeding spider crabs off Seatown beach

Trumpet anemones (Aiptasia mutabilis)

Diver and white plumose anemones on the wreck of the Gibel Hamman

Closeup of Leopard spotted goby

Male cuckoo wrasse

Cuttlefish

Wrecks

Angie Glanvill on the Royal Adelaide, off Chesil Beach at Portland

Philippa Glanvill on the Royal Adelaide

The Anchor on the Royal Adelaide

Jewel anemones on the winch of the Royal Adelaide

SallyGlanvill admires jewel anemones on the Adelaide

Trigger fish on the Adelaide

Wreckage of a WW II landing craft off Chesil Beach not far from the Royal Adelaide

Under the plates - The Landing Craft

The landing gear on the Landing Craft

On the submarine wreck M2 off Portand

On the M2

Remains of the crane used for lifting the plane stored in a hangar on the M2

On the M2

The prow of the M2

The M2

On the wreck of the St. Dunstan, an upturned dredger off Abbotsbury in Dorset

Warwick Saunders on the St. Dunstan

Inside the bows of the St. Dunstan

St. Dunstan

Dredge mechanism cogs

The propellor of the St. Dunstant

Dredge mechanism cogs

Peering through the dredge mechanism

The Heroine during excavation

Firebricks on the Heroine

A view of the engine on the Baygitano in clear conditons

The Baygitano engine

The Baygitano boilers

On the Moidart

The Moidart

Pollock on the Moidart (one that got away)

The Moidart

The bow of the Moidart

Dead man's fingers on the Moidart

South Devon

Wrecks

There are countless wrecks off the British coast. South Devon wrecks are extremely popular with divers. The James Egan Lane was a Liberty ship sunk during the Second World War. It lies a few miles west of Plymouth off Whitsand Bay in about 20 metres of water. On a fine summer's weekend numberous dive boats can be seen around it and the nearby Scylla a naval vessel deliberately sunk as an artificial reef in 2004.