National Coastwatch Institution - great work and all done by volunteers.

Ever since the Government saw fit to introduce the closure of coastguard stations around the UK...

 volunteers from the NCI have manned dozens of disused lookouts around the English coastline...

like this one at Cape Cornwall...

and this one at Gwennap Head above Porthgwarra...

manned by a total of 30 volunteers like Michael...

and his trusty companion Oscar...

that used to be home to Lands End Radio station through which all shore calls via the 'big set' radio went - it closed in 2000...

this short video captures the sterling work and comforting, reassuring voice that was so familiar to fishermen and other seafarers off the Cornish coast - especially during the winter months.

Busy weekend in and around Newlyn.

There's always something to see off Lands End looking towards the Longships...

or around the rock known as the Brisons...

local boats, like the crabber Nimrod who work close to the shore...

during daylight hours are lucky enough to be kept watch over by those admirable volunteers who man the Cape Cornwall watch station...

the second only to be opened and run by the National Coastwatch Institution - if you want to volunteer as a watchkeeper then visit the website here...

and who knows, you could soon get to enjoy stunning views like tis on a regular basis...

just landed, the netter Britannia V...

just made it home before dark, Rowse Fishing's latest crabber to join the fleet - the Cesca, the second vessel to bear that name - she was fitted out in Cape Town, South Africa then made a three week sea voyage as cargo

aboard the 399m container ship, MSC Altamira...

before arriving in the Port of London where she was put in the water and steamed back starting yesterday...

bow-on view of the Cesca alongside the Intuition...

stern view.

Coastguard cuts cut.

Gwennap Head was an early casualty in the last round of big cuts to the Coastguard servics back in the 1980s - many of these stations, like Gwennap Head at Land's End, are now manned by volunteers for the National Coastwatch Institutiion.

Plans to close coastguard stations around Britain will be scaled back by ministers this week after warnings that the cuts could put lives at risk - so goes this article from the Sunday Telegraph - congratulations to all those who campaigned tirelesly to cut the cuts - a big victory for commen sense, local Cornish MP Sheryll Murray must be pleased.