Latest news with #CelticSea
BBC News
4 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Portsmouth uni and GB Row Challenge research finds UK seas are warming
Data, collected by rowers who circumnavigated Great Britain and analysed by university researchers, has found that sea temperatures have risen.A report by the University of Portsmouth and GB Row Challenge found UK seas were, on average, 0.39C (32.7F) warmer in 2023 compared to data was collected by a crew who took part in the 2023 GB Row Challenge which saw participants travel more than 2000 miles (3219 km) around of environmental pollution at the University of Portsmouth, Fay Couceiro, said: "We expect fluctuations but we don't want to see this increasing number of marine heatwaves." Some regions, including the Celtic and Irish Seas and the northern North Sea, experienced temperature increases exceeding 2C (35.6F), during a marine said the data gives an important indication of the health of our oceans."Understanding it allows us to better protect the species that are there," she added that sessile organisms like mussels and oysters, which are unable to move themselves to cooler waters. were most affected by the rising temperatures. Environmental DNA, underwater sound and microplastic data was also collected by the the surprising findings was a fragment of Bakelite plastic found in Clacton-on-Sea north of the Thames was the first commercially produced synthetic plastic, which was widely used in the early 1900s and largely discontinued in the 1940s."Despite being phased out of production decades ago, this possible century-old relic has persisted, highlighting how plastics can linger in ecosystems for generations," Ms Couceiro said."This longevity contributes to the accumulation of microplastics, which infiltrate our soils, waterways, and even the food chain, posing risks to both environmental and human health. The finding serves as a reminder of the urgent need for sustainable materials and robust waste management practices to address the escalating global plastic crisis." 'Citizen science' Team Ithaca, an all-female rowing crew, were responsible for gathering the group also went on to become the fastest female team to row around Great Row Challenge founder, William de Laszlo said: "Team Ithaca's expedition highlights the potential of citizen science in contributing to environmental research."Their dedication and resilience have not only set a new benchmark in ocean rowing but have also provided critical insights into the challenges facing Britain's coastal waters." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Marguerite Weyer, air mechanic with the WRNS who worked on the Seafire and Bristol Beaufighter
Marguerite Weyer, who has died aged 96, was a Wren air mechanic who helped keep the Fleet Air Arm flying from remote coastal stations in the postwar years. Many young women who volunteered for the Women's Royal Naval Service towards the end of the Second World War and afterwards were assigned as air mechanics, specialising in engines, airframes, electrical or ordnance. Marguerite Warden (as she was before marriage) was an art student in Hull in 1946 when she spent an 18th-birthday present of £5 from her father on a train ticket to Newcastle, where she signed on at a naval recruiting office – and told her parents afterwards. Trained to service the Merlin (and later Griffon) engine of the Supermarine Seafire – an adaptation of the Spitfire fighter for use on aircraft carriers – she was posted first to RNAS Dale, also known as HMS Goldcrest, facing the Celtic Sea on the Pembrokeshire coast. Self-made entertainment on the base included amateur dramatics, with productions of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit and Hay Fever; as their leading man, the Wrens co-opted 'a pink-faced schoolie [education officer] fresh from Cambridge' with theatrical connections – the young David Attenborough on National Service. After her eyesight faded in old age, Marguerite invariably greeted television's most unmistakable voice with: 'Ah, my old friend David…' In her four years as an air mechanic she also worked on the heavier Bristol Beaufighter, occasionally taxied aircraft between apron and hangar, and was promoted to Leading Wren. At HMS Nuthatch, a 'receipt and dispatch unit' which prepared new aircraft for operational use at Anthorn on the Solway Firth, and at Evanton (HMS Fieldfare) on the Cromarty Firth, winter was harsh and quarters were spartan; a bout of pneumonia and pleurisy in early 1949 gave Marguerite welcome respite in a warm sickbay. She left to marry the following year but the camaraderie of service remained a vivid memory, and her gang of Wren friends, of whom she was the last survivor, were in touch for the rest of their lives. Marguerite Warden was born on June 19 1928 at Hornsea on Yorkshire's east coast and was brought up in Bridlington. She was the fourth child of Laurence Warden, an insurance manager in Hull and a noted watercolour painter, and his wife Daisy, née Jobson, whose antecedents were Danish. When German bombs began falling on Bridlington, Marguerite spent an idyllic summer of 1940 evacuated to Kirkbymoorside in the North Riding with her mother and sister, their father joining at weekends for painting expeditions on the North York Moors. She returned to complete her school certificate at Bridlington High School for Girls, and towards the end of the war she was allowed to join Saturday dances at the Spa Ballroom, with servicemen billeted around the town. She recalled the heel-clicking gallantry of a Polish cadet called Zbicek and the frisson of teenage romance with William Franklyn, a Parachute Regiment soldier later famous as the velvet-voiced actor of the 1970s Schweppes tonic water adverts ('Schhh… you know who'). A promising artist, she enrolled in 1945 at Hull College of Arts and Crafts but found its old-fashioned focus on still-life drawing too staid; she would have preferred the more avant-garde Leeds school, but her mother would not let her go into lodgings. Instead Marguerite opted for the adventure of the Wrens until her marriage in 1950 to Deryk Vander Weyer – a Bridlington neighbour, wartime Green Howards officer, and at that time a junior bank official. When he asked for her hand in the traditional way, her father was sufficiently impressed to remark that 'this young man could be a branch manager one day.' In fact Deryk rose to be deputy chairman of Barclays and British Telecom and a director of the Bank of England. Their 40-year marriage involved 10 house moves and, in later years, a full diary of receptions, City banquets and global travel. Marguerite rose with style to every occasion, but was always happiest amid friends, flowers and dogs, and absorbed in her love of art history. Deryk Vander Weyer died in 1990. In a widowhood of almost 35 years, Marguerite made a new life as an elegant grand dame of the town of Helmsley in North Yorkshire, where she made a lovely memorial garden (within the public Helmsley Walled Garden) for their daughter Linda, an artist and teacher who died in 2006. She is survived by their son, the Spectator columnist Martin Vander Weyer. Marguerite Weyer, born June 19 1928, died May 12 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
