Whiter than white

 Rain drops on a leaf

A few days away from the conservation volunteering took place over the weekend of the 21^st of November.  The time was spent down in Brixham Devon, SCUBA diving with UWE sub aqua club.

Diving might be a bit strong a term for my weekend.  Total number of dives for me was one and that was mainly a weight check.  The water was very milky and so we headed to the pub.  Saturday morning there was a lie in to remove the hangover and then start the day.  Neptune had not come to our rescue over night and the sea was still calm even with the storms, but still very murky with all the suspended solids.

The English channel -mill pond calm

So i decided to help out on shore and get soaked to the skin in non diving wear making sure those that were going in were sorted.  In the late afternoon when the divers were back on shore, there was the opportunity to sit in on someone going over the skills needed to cox the dive RIB.  Never missing the chance to get out on the sea i was in my dry suit in a flash and out on the sea and pulling doughnuts in no time.

Another night out in town followed, with a visit to the pub with a parrot.  On the way back we ran into some hostility from a couple of young locals that decided to make some trouble.

Sunday was a nice sunny day but the underwater visibility was still at arm’s reach so instead of diving I decided to swim in the sea

99 red balloons go by

Get with the program

A wet start to the day, mad the motorway fun once again.  The downpour stopped by mid morning after the feeders had been topped up.  The ship had to be checked and counted and after an initial missing sheep they were all accounted for.

A large part of the day was then spent finding out what was involved in the winter program of jobs to ensure the continuing function of the reserve.

The final part of the day involved assisting in the construction of recycled plastic picnic benches designed to be accessible to people in wheel chairs.

This was the end of the week for me on the reserve as I had lined up a trip scuba diving in Brixham some time ago.