Dolphin watching from the cliff-top look-out at Kimmeridge Bay is just one of the featured events in a fortnight of marine-themed activities organised by Dorset Wildlife Trust.
The idea of the events is to get families and individuals involved in exploring the seashore and the wider marine environment. Marine Weeks runs from Sunday July 24 2022 to Monday August 8 2022.
Kimmeridge Bay
“Highlight of the year”
At Kimmeridge Bay, as well as the opportunity to join a dolphin watching session, there will be a chance to explore underwater marine life on a snorkel trail, or take part in eco-friendly crabbing and rock pooling activities led by expert wardens.
Sarah Hodgson, coastal centres officer, said:
“It’s great to be taking part in national marine weeks and to celebrate the wonderful, rich and colourful marine life that’s found around our shore.
“We’ve got an exciting programme of activities running which will help people to discover some of the incredible animals that inhabit the sea around Dorset.
“In terms of events that we put on this is really the highlight of the year and usually we get a lot of visitors wanting to take part.”
A shy and retiring seahorse
Explore without getting wet
Wildlife Trusts across the UK will be focussing on the extraordinary sea creatures and plants all around the shores of Britain.
In Dorset, the local Wildlife Trust says the county has the most astonishing marine wildlife, from seahorses to dolphins, from colour-changing cuttlefish to rock-clinging limpets.
And there’s no need to get wet. At the Wild Seas Centre at Kimmeridge, a state-of-the-art underwater camera will broadcast live footage to a screen inside the centre to show Kimmeridge Bay beneath the waves.
The common cuttlefish
Miniature organisms
The centre staff will also be getting the microscopes out on Plankton Day, on Wednesday 3rd August 2022, when visitors can discover the diversity of plankton found in water samples collected from Kimmeridge Bay and also learn about the vital role these miniature organisms play in the life of the oceans.
Meanwhile, over at Chesil Beach, there’s the chance to join the Strandline Detectives walk to hunt for wildlife treasure washed in from the sea and to find out what lives in the deeper water.
![Marine Weeks Exploring_marine_life_Credit_Emma_Godden_(1)[1]](https://www.swanage.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Exploring_marine_life_Credit_Emma_Godden_11.jpg)
Encouraging children to appreciate the vast range of marine wildlife in Dorset
Glass-bottomed boat
There are also regular trips in the glass-bottomed Fleet explorer boat, which takes passengers round Fleet lagoon, to explore its underwater wildlife.
To find out dates, details and costs of all the events happening in Dorset for Marine Weeks, you can go to the Dorset Wildlife website.
The Wild Seas Centre at Kimmeridge Bay
