Remember, a dog's not for Christmas!

Mario on the Dom Bosco is about to make another quick pre-Christmas crab landing......
the inshore pair team hit the haddocks.....
festive spirit in front of the harbour offices - someone forgot to turn off the lights on the tree last night......
pollack from the Ocean Spray of varying grades goes up for auction.......
waiting to be filled, transport alongside the Cornwall Ice company wait for orders.....
plenty of good small haddock on the grounds at this time of year.....
with his cod ends hung up to dry in traditional manner, the big Dutch flagged Belgian, Dor et Labora landed at the weekend......

Julian walks a brace of dogs up the market......
to join the other 3 tons landed that morning - the biggest hit of dogs for some time - and a disaster for the boat with medium dogs scraping 50p per kilo instead of the £1 they would have made at any other time of the year!

South Shields has the "Original" X Factor!

X Factor winner, Joe McElderry is not the only star to come from South Shields in the North East of England. Known as the Original this is the first purpose built lifeboat and the forerunner of today's RNLI. The Original was built to provide a safety service on the river Tyne, which she did for forty years, in the process saving hundreds of live. What made her unique was the inclusion of cork - designed to make her the first recorded self-righting lifeboat.

Steam's up aboard the Santa Special in Swanage

Over the weekend Swanage enjoyed some early morning sunshine.....
with the remaining wet fish shop, Swanage Bay Fish, offering a 'Today's Special' on locally caught sprats.....
around the town there are some unusual artworks.....

but surely top of the list for visitors is the renowned Swanage Railway where all aspects of steam engine life can be viewed from many angles........
including taking coal and water .....
before the engines make their way to the station......
and depart for the end of the line at Norden Park a mile south of the famous Corfe Castle ruins....
manned by a dedicated team of volunteers of all ages, some of whom are seen here cleaning up after an ash box has been emptied into the pit.....
and polishing the Westcountry Class Eddystone an engine that would have pulled trains to Penzance on many occasions.......at this time of year thousands visit Swanage station and make their way aboard the Santa Special where the kids get to travel with Santa and a present while the adults are treated to mince pies......
leaving Swanage station with all the sights, sounds and smells that are associated with these classic examples of British engineering that helped create the modern industrialised world as we know it today......
at the end of the day, St Mary's Church played host to the Belvedere Singers seen here with the audience participating in singing the Twelve Days of Christmas as they raise funds in support of their local Swanage Hospital.

New white weather window from Windfinder.

Thanks to the ever-helpful Jonas at Windfinder, the weather forecast for Newlyn and the surrounding area displayed on the right side of the blog is now up and running and, more importantly, visible to all.

For more detailed coastal info, if you click on the 7 day forecast and then 'Google map' at the top of the page there is a handy little facility where you can click on each arrow and get more detailed info for each location.

If you have any suggestions on how this weather info could be improved - either content or display - they will be gratefully accepted and passed on to the developer at Windfinder.

First fresh fish Friday for weeks

Morlaix registered Steren Mor (ex-Emmanuel) sits alongside the quay......
black gold - signs of a busier market this morning......
though there is a stiff breeze filling the Bay.....
these wrasse would look stunning on any mongers display, not too sure about the eating though, recollect something akin to soggy cotton wool.......
the buyers have been kept busy most of the week once the boast started returning from a few days at sea.....
Roger Nowell on the Imogen keen as ever to keep it that way with a good dollop of haddocks on the ground......
and even a couple of 'blues', steer clear of that hard ground Roger......
James' fish at speed in the market bustle......
these little red beauties will be flying out of a restaurant for sure this evening.......
some of the very first official Cornish Sardines to come across the market floor as reported by the Guardian yesterday........
first of the big netters, the Gary M gets her shot of big pollack up for sale.....
complete with tree, the scene is all set for this evening when Penlee Lifeboat cox'n 'Patch' Harvey will do the honours and throw the switch that turns on the lights, preceded of course by a suitably extravagant firework display - a big thank you in advance to all those volunteers who freely give of their time in all weathers to see that the harbours brings in thousands of visitors over the Christmas period.

Helicopter lifts lone angler from Falmouth inshore lifeboat at full speed.

This short video, shot by a member of the Falmouth inshore lifeboat crew, exemplifies the skill with which RNAS Culdrose SAR crews operate.



A lone angler is picked up by the ILB, as it speeds back across the estuary the diver from the rescue helicopter drops aboard and within seconds lifts off the casualty.

Cornish Sardines in at number 40!

After several years of painstaking research and development by catchers and producers alike, Cornwall's sardine fishermen can now land and sell their unique product with the same PDO protection as Arbroath Smokies and a host of other well known brands like Wenslydale Cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, Parma Ham, Burgundy, and Port. Cornish Sardines are the 40th such product to have been granted PDO status in the UK

Cornish Sardines are mainly caught by a small fleet of boats in Newlyn and Mevagissey using ring nets. See the full story here from the BBC or visit the Sardine Management Association's site. The Pilchard Works web site give a useful background to the story of sardine fishing including recordings of fishermen from St Ives and the ports along the south east Cornish coast like Mevagissey.

Hopefully, a spell of more settled weather will see the elusive fish return to the inshore waters of Cornwall. In recent weeks the severe winter storms have pushed the sardine shoals further offshore than the fleet of small inshore vessels are safely able to fish.