The warm weather we have seen in recent weeks, although it seems to be slowly slipping away, means that there has been an increase in the amount of jellyfish that have been surrounding the British coast line.
As a result of the very cold and long spring there were very few reports of jellyfish but now they are growing in rapid numbers as well as there being many different species too, according to the Marine Conservation Society. One of these species include Lions Mane and these have a particularly powerful sting so anyone wishing to escape the heat and are heading to the beach are warned not to touch them. Instead you could always escape to the cinema with the cool air conditioning!
Dr Peter Richardson is the biodiversity programme manager at the Marine Conservation Society and he has said, “What seemed to happen was that we had the very cold spring. Normally we’d be receiving record from January onwards, this year we didn’t have anything until May.
“We are getting anecdotal reports of people saying well ‘I’ve been to this beach in the south west for many years and I’ve never seen so many jellyfish’ – we do tend to get that each year.”
It also seems that the UK isn’t the only country to be getting an influx of jellyfish due to the hot weather. The Foreign Office also has had to update their travel advice for anyone who is travelling to Greece. There are huge jellyfish blooms there at the moment although scientists are warning that there are different species and different factors in the United Kingdom.
Just so you are sure, the Blue and Compass jellyfish are the most common species of jellyfish that are found in the south west and now the Moon species is being found all across the UK coast line. The amount of Lion Mane jellyfish is on the increase, particularly in North Wales and in the North West of England.
Dr Richardson continued, “They’re our biggest jellyfish, they grow to about two metres wide and have metres of trailing tentacles, and they have very powerful stings.
“The actually feed on the Moon jellyfish, so you tend to get big blooms of Moon and then Lion Mane after.”
Scientists are urging those who are visiting the coast to take photos of the jellyfish but not to touch them in case you get stung.
The warm weather we have seen in recent weeks, although it seems to be slowly slipping away, means that there has been an increase in the amount of jellyfish that have been surrounding the British coast line.
As a result of the very cold and long spring there were very few reports of jellyfish but now they are growing in rapid numbers as well as there being many different species too, according to the Marine Conservation Society. One of these species include Lions Mane and these have a particularly powerful sting so anyone wishing to escape the heat and are heading to the beach are warned not to touch them. Instead you could always escape to the cinema with the cool air conditioning!
Dr Peter Richardson is the biodiversity programme manager at the Marine Conservation Society and he has said, “What seemed to happen was that we had the very cold spring. Normally we’d be receiving record from January onwards, this year we didn’t have anything until May.
“We are getting anecdotal reports of people saying well ‘I’ve been to this beach in the south west for many years and I’ve never seen so many jellyfish’ – we do tend to get that each year.”
It also seems that the UK isn’t the only country to be getting an influx of jellyfish due to the hot weather. The Foreign Office also has had to update their travel advice for anyone who is travelling to Greece. There are huge jellyfish blooms there at the moment although scientists are warning that there are different species and different factors in the United Kingdom.
Just so you are sure, the Blue and Compass jellyfish are the most common species of jellyfish that are found in the south west and now the Moon species is being found all across the UK coast line. The amount of Lion Mane jellyfish is on the increase, particularly in North Wales and in the North West of England.
Dr Richardson continued, “They’re our biggest jellyfish, they grow to about two metres wide and have metres of trailing tentacles, and they have very powerful stings.
“The actually feed on the Moon jellyfish, so you tend to get big blooms of Moon and then Lion Mane after.”
Scientists are urging those who are visiting the coast to take photos of the jellyfish but not to touch them in case you get stung.