Monday 7 November 2011

WhaleFest comes to Brighton

I helped out at the WhaleFest event yesterday on the Sea watch Foundation Stand and it was fantastic. WhaleFest is the largest of its kind in Europe.

You may remember I met Dylan Walker, one of the organisers of WhaleFest at the Spring Watch Event I took my display to. Dylan had the display next to ours.





There were many stands about whales, whale watching and education and conservation.

There were life sized inflatable’s like the bottlenose dolphin my buddy Steve uses – but these were much bigger.
I came eye to eye with a inflatable blue whale, the largest animal to have lived on the earth. Its heart is the size of a small car, its weighs the same as 40 elephants and the largest blood vessel is large enough for a child to swim through. Wow that enormous.

I got the chance to see large whales when I travelled around the USA in 2010. Including a whale watching trip, you can see more on the link below.
http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/search/label/Channel%20Islands%20National%20Marine%20Sanctuary

There were guest speakers and celebrities such as Mark Carwardine a zoologist author and whale expert. I listened to his fascinating talk.
Here he is signing some of his books

There were films to watch, experts to talk to and much more. Sea Watch Foundation had a live link to report dolphin and whale sightings around the UK when they happened.

These children helped in a rescue demonstration and found out how British Divers Marine Life Rescue work to rescue stranded whales, dolphins and seals.
I volunteered to keep an eye on the stand and talk to people so that the Sea watch People could have a look around.
 
Great news is, WhaleFest will be back next year. You can follow this link to find out more about WhaleFest and keep an eye out for news of next years event.
 
http://www.planetwhale.com/WhaleFest
 
Bye for now
 
Ed the Bear