I See Seahorses on the Seashore!

As you will know by now we always like something a bit different at Arne and over the Christmas period a visitor found something a bit unusual washed up on the beach. It was a Seahorse! Seahorses actually breed in the sea grass meadows off of Studland Bay and are being specially protected and monitored. This sea horse must have come from Studland Bay and somehow ended up on Arne beach. It was handed to Graham one of our volunteers and he took it to the Seahorse Trust at Ottery St Mary.

There are two species of seahorses in British waters, the short snouted and spiny seahorse. This one was a short snouted seahorse and was a male because it had an egg pouch. Seahorses are in fact fish and are unique in that the males undergo a true pregnancy. The females pass unfertilised eggs to the male’s egg pouch where they are fertilised and develop until the male gives birth by contractions.

Short snouted seahorses can grow up to 15cm so this one was quite small and wasn’t pregnant at the time. If you ever find a seahorse washed up on the beach let us know because each sighting can give important information about the population in  Studland Bay and we will pass it on to the Seahorse Trust.

Pictures by Graham Tarrant - Short snouted seahorse (hippocampus hippocampus)

Back to the reserve, the short eared owl is still about and I actually saw it for the first time this afternoon after several visits up to Coombe heath. This time it was hunting around the heath below the first seat on the right hand path for about 15 minutes. It was mobbed by a couple of crows before catching a vole and taking it in to a tree at the edge of Salterns copse. It then flew off and disappeared around the back of the trees!