Landlocked Mermaid

So according to my new super duper organised schedule, today's blog is supposed to be the new episode of Sharks @ 7 & 3/4. If you haven't already guessed... it's not. Between my terrible filming skills, feeling overwhelmed and a severe lack of time, I haven't got enough to produce a full episode which I am 100% happy with. Which is a shame, the kids came out with some golden stuff and drew some lovely pictures. To rectify this, I am going to refilm. (Mum, I need to borrow the kids again!) I am going to coerce someone into being a cameraman for me. (I cannot host and film at the same time, not with my little Flip.) And I am going to bring you the proper episode for Sharks @ 7 & 3/4: British Sharks, next month. Apologies if you were super excited for this, but trust me, I literally broke every filming rule I learned about at University. Every last one. Instead, I am going to whet your appetite with the little bits which I did like. It is mostly the kids...

In an attempt to get organised, I have decided to introduce a new feature blog - everybody's favourite, a Top 5! So on the last Friday of every month, I will be doing aquatic themed Top 5s, starting with Top 5 Sea Movies. This is marrying two of my loves, really. I did Film and Television Studies at university, and I like to pay hommage to that every now and then. So, no more waffle and onto the list! Top 5 Sea Movies! 5: Help! I'm a Fish (2000) Photo from IMDb.com As a guppy, I used to surf the music channels a lot. I stumbled across the bop Help! I'm a Fish by Little Trees and a little bit fell in love it with. I am a sucker for a catchy tune. Once I realised it was from a film, I then had to watch it. Eventually, it came round to Sky and I was able to record it. I. Loved. It. It's a nonsense film where some kids drink a potion and become fish. They lose the antidote potion and go on an adventure to find it. Someone else finds it, an evil fish voi...

This weekend saw my first sea dive, in the Porth Ysgaden bay. No, I don't know if I've been saying it right, so I can't tell you how it's said. I normally just resort to "somewhere very Welsh". Naturally, before hitting the water, I needed to get some gear. Over the last couple weeks, my partner and I have paid our local dive shop, ScubaTeks, a number of visits. You may have seen on my instagram me testing some of this in Lake Dearnford. BCD, regs, fins, gloves, mask and weight pouches. We now have 90% of the stuff we need to dive, with many thanks to ScubaTeks and their very helpful staff. We were well looked after and got the gear best suited for our skill and needs. Once we were all kitted up, we were ready! (Aside from a few things the club so kindly let us borrow.) Porth Ysgaden is deep into Wales. We stayed at campsite near Abersoch the night before. The gentlemen who owned the campsite has been diving for a long time. There were picture...

Imagine it. Tuesday afternoon, I have just finished my blog post about Angler Fish and my partner Chris comes upstairs to say he has a job. For those of you that don't know, he is a mobile bike mechanic for Shropshire and the surrounding areas. The job he got called in for on Tuesday was an interesting one, he told me. It was for a waterbike and the chap who was riding it was doing a canal litter pick for charity. I'm sure it'll be no surprise to hear that I had literal emoji heart eyes. Feeling like a proper journalist about to chase their scoop, this was a story I had to know more about! Thankfully, Chris let me tag along. The waterbike. Photo by RTR At Tylrey Locks we met Hughie, the young man with the waterbike. While Chris set about fixing it, Hughie told me a little about what he was doing and the charity he was volunteering for: an adventure collective called SayYesMore.com , founded by Dave Cornthwaite in 2012. SayYesMore encourage folk of all ages to d...

Angler Fish Photo from Creatures of the World Wikia Kingdom: Animalia Class: Actinopterygii Conservation Status: Vulnerable (VU) Found: Worldwide Diet: Carnivorous Weight: Up to 45kg (100lbs) Size: 20cm (8") to 1m (3') Habitat: Some species are pelagic, some are benthic. Everyone knows of the iconic angler fish. Big, gaping mouth full of spiky teeth and a dangling blob of light hovering just in front of its face, illuminating all that terror. There is more to this fish, seemingly made of nightmares. Did you know that there are two types of angler fish species? The image which comes to mind is that of the ones which live deep under the sea, near the sea bed. These are the benthic species, which are compressed dorsoventrally (face to tail) making them short and squat with an upturned mouth. But there are also palegic species, which live much closer to the surface. These are compressed laterally (at the sides) making them long and thin. Both type...

Meet Niamh. She is a local A Level student about to go into her final year of college. I’ve known her for quite a while, I used to work in the village where she lives. So when I found out about her EPQ and its subject, I had to get in contact and ask her a few questions! Tell me, what is an EPQ? “It stands for Extended Project Qualification, you get an A Level out of being creative. You can get a grade from doing a brain fart of a question and researching that. You can do an essay, you can do an art project. The whole is point is to document your whole journey from beginning to end.” There is a smaller version available at GCSE called PQ, culminating in a 5,000 word essay. The EPQ essay is 7,000, unless you are submitting an art project, like Niamh. She will still be documenting the journey, which is where most of the grade comes from. So it’s almost like a dissertation: research and independent study culminating in either a physical project or an essay. So wh...