Monday, Monday and sardines are on the menu again!

Both the Mayflower and the ...

Asthore put ashore good shots of sardines tonight, the first time the boats have landed any quantity for nearly a month...

as the entire length of the market was taken up with boats landing their fish...

including the Imogen III...

full to the brim, such was the heavy fishing on the sardines...

while a full fridge was testimony to good fishing with the St Ives handline boys who filled their boats yet again...

giving visiting food blogger Mike Warner something to write about on fishing...

it'll be a few hours yet before the boats head back into tier to tie up for the night...

one minute St Ives fisherman Alex was walking the quay with a bag of chips in his hand...

and the next he had been shanghaied by skipper Pete Bullock on the Resolute whose crew had jumped ship and were already filling up with sardines aboard the good ship Mayflower...

all in a good night's work...

sea water produces a foam when aerated as the fish tanks are pumped dry of sea water...

a full moon hangs over the gaps and the old Mission building...

 putting Tom the memorial statue in relief.

Monday morning in Newlyn

Maybe Lionel ran out of chalk this morning but in addition to the beam trawlers James RH Stevenson and the Algrie...

there was also fish from the biggest Stevenson beamer in the fleet, the Cornishman along with the Aaltje Adriaantje, Twilight III and the Sapphire II, and not forgetting the gill netters, Govenek of Ladram, Briatnnia V and the Padstow netter, Charisma...

with so much fish Gary from Cefas was generous to a fault in giving BBC3 researchers Poppy and Olivia a lesson on fisheries research and showing them how to collect an otolith sample from a Dover sole...

and on such a busy market they were able to fully appreciate the unique diversity of fish that Newlyn supplies to the market including fish like thornback ray with all its unpleasant superficial features...

as well as staple fish like cod from the inshore netter, Three Jays...

a team effort from two of the netters...

with plenty of hake from them...

and the Govenek of Ladram...

and a real treat, an hours old tub gurnard displaying its electric blue pectoral fins. A great start to the Newlyn week!

Painting on the Quay day

All set for the annual Painting on the Quay day in the Old Harbour, Newlyn...

despite the heavy mist that enveloped the harbour a handful of hardy local artists including Tim Hall and Henrietta Graham set up their easels...

and brushes...

and put down the first few strokes in charcoal to sketch in the outline picture on canvas...

Tim using a framing aid to structure the work...

and capture the scene from his point of view...

as the Cornwall Painting Holidays pair settled down to concentrate on making a start getting some paint on the canvas before the drizzle turned to rain...

while an unabashed event organiser and long-time lugger enthusiast John Lambourn, owner of the restored St Ives lugger, Ripple talks the history behind 'paint up' days and fishing boats...

by now the tide has just turned...

and, like Canute before them, the artists fail to halt its progress as the scene then changes before their eyes...

but the initial sketches...

have already caught the scene...

and the main subject areas blocked in...

from the working pallette...

another painting has been bugun from another point of view...

as the heavy mist lifts...

the business of the port continues as the Twilight III heads out through the gaps...

and painting party day 2017...

draws to a close as high water approaches.

Do fishermen feel pain?

While the business of catching fish carries on as per usual in Newlyn...

a small group from Cornwall Animal Save using their right to peaceful protest, made their way around the harbour - making it clear their feelings on the rights of animals, including fish, not to be slaughtered for human consumption...

unless, of course, it is to provide leather for your purple Dr Martens...

while some fishermen tolerated this unusual protest in the harbour with a sympathetic, but decidedly un-empathetic smile, others slightly less tolerant of their presence made it clear that they should procreate somewhere else or words to that effect (you might have to ask young Nigel for the exact terminology used)...

meanwhile, the port continued to see the more normal activities associated with the business of catching fish to feed the nation...

 as young mr Puckey in the Aaltje Adriaantje heads for the ice works...

 to take on boxes and ice...

as the Crystal Sea makes her way in to land off the end of the Mary Williams pier...

 our man on the forklift, with the kind of hands that have never pushed a pen around a desk had the final word on the matter, "two sugars Sir"?

So, back in the real world, some people (millions) have no option but to eat meat as crops capable of sustaining them cannot survive extended drought conditions what's the solution?

Painting Day on the Quay - Newlyn Old Harbour tomorrow from 10am ro 5pm.

Bring your paints!

This must be  a sign that it is about to be...

another inspiring Painting Day on the Quay...

down the Old Harbour in Newlyn...

this morning sees the first of the luggers to be berthed ready for the annual hull painting task..

the Mounts Bay Lugger Association's Happy Return which will be joined by other luggers later today...

these days the bigger boats in the modern fleet avail themselves of the slip for similar work.