Ed and Abby visit SANCCOB.

Hi everyone

Today, Abby took me to visit a place called SANCCOB which means The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. SANCCOB is a seabird rehabilitation centre where they look after injured and sick seabirds.

This is me and Abby arriving at SANCCOB where we were meet by a lady called Margaret who showed us around.

If the seabirds are well enough they are returned back to the ocean. Sometimes the bird is too ill or injured and would not be able to sure without help. When this happen the bird remains at SANCCOB so it can be cared for. More about that in a minute.

There are all sorts of sea birds here including cormorant, gulls and even penguins – yes penguins here in South Africa! I thought penguins only lived in places where there is ice and snow but Abby explained that wasn’t so. Some penguins also live and nest on the beach near here.

Margaret took us both on a special tour including places where visitors don't usually go. This is one of the volunteers  feeding some sick penguins.

We also met a gull that was brought in by a family who had hand-raised him and now he was too much for them to handle. Baby birds imprint on their parents, its how they know who they are and learn from their parents until they are old enough to look after themselves.

Unfortunately when  people hand rear birds the baby bird might imprints on them instead. This means if this bird were to be released into the wild it would be very confused about how to behave and how to get on with other gulls. It may also pester people knowing they are a source of food, which can be dangerous. This gull will have to stay at SANCCOB because he can't be released. Althought people are trying to help, when people find young birds they should take them to a special centre like SANCCOB where they can be looked after and not get imprinted on people. With luck, they will be released back into the wild one day.

Another volunteer, Jenny, allowed us to get up close during the feeding of "Home Pen". This is where they look after the birds that can't be released back into the wild. While people cannot go near the birds that the centre plans to release, these birds can be seen and help educate the public. People pay to go on the tours and this helps to pay for the running of the centre.

Here, Jenny is feeding Baby, a cormorant, who is also a resident in home pen.

Later Nola, the vet at SANCCOB, invited us to look at some blood samples from the penguins under the microscope.  

They check the penguins' blood every week to check on their progress to make sure they're getting better. This is one way of making sure when they can release them back into the wild as soon as possible.

Margaret said that there was a terrible oil spill in 2000 when an iron ore tanker MV Treasure sank between Robben Island and Dassen Island. It released 1,300 tons of fuel oil and thousands of sea birds were polluted by the oil. SANCCOB played a big part in the rescue, cleaning and releasing of many marine birds. Great job! It must have been a terrible sight.

A big thank you to eevryone who showed me around and letting us get close up to many of the birds.
Abby said she would take me to Boulder beach were a large colony of penguins live and nest.

These African Penguins make their nests on the beach or in old burrows.

Both parents take it in turns sitting on their two eggs and it takes about 40 days until they hatch.                    

I loved seeing the penguins

You can find out more about the great work they do at SANCCOB by visiting their website at http://www.sanccob.co.za/?m=1

We have had such a busy and exciting day.

See you all soon

Bye for now
Ed the Bear and Abby

Grotto Bay

Hi everyone

Today Abby took me to have a look at the rock pools in Grotto Bay.  All of a sudden it got very foggy as a sea mist came in so we didn't get to see much of a view.

There were many fascinating plants growing on the rocks at the top of the beach. As you may remember, my beach back home has rare shingle plants growing on it (it’s a rare habitat called vegetated shingle) so I was very interested to see what plants we could find at Grotto Bay.

This is a succulent and looks a bit like the English stone crop that grows on my beach back home.

We were going to explore the rock pool but Abby said it would not be safe to go too far out onto the rocks.

I explored some pools close to the beach. There were a few small sea snails

I did get to do a bit of rock climbing.

We saw the shapes of a group of cormorants on a rock surrounded by mist.

We were both disappointed that it was so misty and so we decided to go back.

Come back soon to find out where Abby takes me next.

Bye for now, Ed the Bear and Abby 

Ed arrives safely in South Africa

Hi everyone.

Yes you guessed it, I’m here in South Africa with Abby, well in the area known as Western Cape to be exact. I've never been to Africa before so I am very excited. As you can see on the map below, Africa is South of the UK.

Abby has been travelling the world too. Abby works in an aquarium here in Cape Town but she is also travelling the world to find out more about different jobs/careers in the marine field and is learning along the way about different animals, facilities and cultures.

She has her own weblog where she plans to tell everyone about the fantastic work these people do to educate people and help protect the oceans.

Abby has made a quick detour from her trip to Alaska to come back and show me around before she continues onto the US. You can follow Abby's adventures at http://abbysaquariumadventures.blogspot.com/

Abby showed me where we were on a map and then she showed me some of the places she hoped to take me to while I was here.
 
I can't wait to have a look around
 
Bye for now Ed the Bear and Abby

Scooter returns to the wild

Hi everyone

I have just had some fantastic news from the USA. Scooter the rescued sea turtle I meet when I visited the sea turtle hospital has been released back into the ocean. This is me below with Sanctuary Sam, Richie Moretti who founded the turtle hospital and of course Scooter the turtle.

You can find out more about my trip back in May 2010
http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2010/05/marathon-turtle-hospital.html

This is Scooter on the day of his release, with Richie.

Scooter was released with the help of Tom Wilmers, Wildlife Biologist for Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges.  Scooter became everyone’s favorite sea turtle over the three years he was at The Turtle Hospital. 

Scooter came into the hospital a tiny lost hatchling and grew to a 32-pound young adult, a size that allowed him to be released into local waters.

That really was great news and made me so happy I could skip and dance. Good luck Scooter, enjoy the ocean. But keep an eye out for fishing nets and plastic litter.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Another Year Another Adventure

In 2010 I travelled across the USA in the safe hands of NOAA staff who have helped me to understand some of the dangers that the oceans face and why. I also meet some amazing animals and made many new frineds too.

But I hear that the dangers to oceans are just as bad in other parts of the world as well. So after sharing my adventures with children and schools in theh UK last year, I am travelling again to find out more about these dangers.

First stop will be Cape Town in South Africa where I will be cared for by Abby the Aquarist and Heide. You can see a picture of Abby below.

Abby is an aquarist who works with the animals in an aquarium. She feeds them, trains them and makes sure that they get everything that they need. Abby is also going to take me to lots of other fascinating places too.

I can't wait.

I had better start packing.

Bye for now

Ed the Bear

Next stop South Africa

Hi everyone.

As you know I have spent most of this year visiting schools and events here in the UK to share my experiences travelling throughout the USA in 2009 and 2010. I had some great experiences, saw some amazing wildlife and met some very interesting people too. I made new friends and discovered how many people are helping to protect the oceans.

Sadly, I have also seen first hand the terrible damage to the oceans from marine debris, climate change and how it is affecting food chains, killing corals and much more. I also found out about the terrible threat of ocean acidification to animals with hard shells.

I found out something that is also very scary - this is happening all over the world! So I have planned to continue my travels to find out more about these threats to oceans and all life on earth. Just the thought of it makes me shiver.

So in January 2012 I will be traveling to South Africa.

Until them, I want to wish all my friends (and friends I have yet to meet) around the world a very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Bye for Now

Ed the Bear

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.

http://adventuresofedthebear.blogspot.com/2011/06/spring-watch-festival-brighton.html

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