Publicity Film

Thursday 26th September 2024

11.00 to 12.00 hrs

Meet at FoPB Beach Hut

    Making Space for Sand (www.makingspaceforsand.co.uk/) are looking for Friends of Par Beach volunteers to be part of a publicity film they are producing to showcase their project. It will involve their own team and Cornwall Council and take place within Par Dunes. Making Space for Sand have, and continue to be, very supportive of FoPB and this is an opprtunity to show our thanks.

Shoresearch Survey

Thursday 19th September 2024

11.30am - 2.30am

Meet at FoPB Beach Hut

Booking is via Eventbrite - www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/events/2024-09-19-shoresearch-par-beach?

If you'd like to learn more about surveying rockpools, this could be for you! Join us and Cornwall Wildlife Trust as we get Par on the survey map and calendar.

Join us for SHORESEARCH WEEK 2024 and sharpen your rocky shore identification skills! Every year, our dedicated volunteers conduct surveys across Cornwall's incredible intertidal zone. Team up with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust marine department and intertidal specialists as we explore five of Cornwall's Voluntary Marine Conservation Areas (VMCAs) during the lowest equinoctial tides of the year. Don't miss this chance to contribute to vital marine conservation data while expanding your knowledge of Cornwall's diverse marine life!

Participants will be divided into teams to conduct quadrat surveys along transects, starting from the high shore and extending down to the water's edge at low tide. After completing the survey, you'll have time to explore the low shore as the tide turns. Once the survey is done, we'll ensure all species observed are recorded, along with the main habitat types they were found in, estimates of their abundance, and related photographs.

Who can attend Shoresearch Week 2024?

If you're eager to learn and willing to dedicate a few hours of your time, you're more than welcome to join us! Prior knowledge of marine life isn't required, but any existing expertise is super valuable. Please note that the rocky shore can be slippery and challenging to navigate, so participants should be fit and mobile. We ask that anyone under 18 be accompanied by an adult, and due to the nature of the surveys and the challenging conditions, these events are not suitable for children under 12.

WORK PARTY

Sunday 22nd September

10.30 - 12.30

Management of the Wildflower Meadow

Meet at the Sculpture at the Western end of the Access Road. We shall be digging up the invasive brambles and water dropwort that has established itself in the wildflower meadow.

We have spades, mattocks etc, but do feel free to bring your own tools.

Thick gloves are essential.

Tea/coffee and biscuits break mid-morning

More information at parbeach.com

Overview of activities of Friends of Par Beach from 2023 - 2024

for information at the 14^th AGM

Thursday 19^th September 2024 at 19.00

       The Gott Hall, Par Green, PL24 2AG

Another year on and I'm delighted to say that Friends of Par Beach continues to grow and develop, bringing you (I hope) a variety of opportunities to get involved and learn more about nature around our wonderful site. Thanks to a highly active and committed committee, we have had another excellent year of events and activities and have benefitted from generous donations, both of time, equipment and expertise.

Our collaboration with Making Space for Sand (MS4S) and Dynamic Dunescapes has involved running joint training sessions to help volunteers identify invasive plant species amongst Par Dunes (led by Budding Nature), being given some much needed additional equipment to assist in removing these invasive plants during work parties and training to use specialist equipment. You'll be hearing about further exciting plans during the MS4S presentation after the AGM.

In February, we held our usual `Love Your Beach' event in conjunction with Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Like 2023, in addition to a big Beach Clean, we added Sand Art with a Seahorse theme resulting in some wonderful creations and highlighting the risk that the proposed South West Water desalination plant would pose to such vulnerable creatures, known to live in our bay.

March 2024 saw the return of Tim McGrath to lead us on another bird walk/talk around the site, which is always a treat and well attended. In April we began to put in the 5 rubbing posts that we purchased with the Magic Little Grant we were awarded in 2023. We've had such good feedback about them that we will be purchasing a further 5, so that we can extend the Nature Trail around the site that we launched in August!

In June, we were delighted to welcome back Dan Ryan of the Three Bays Wildlife Group to lead us in a wildflower walk around the dunes and wildflower meadow. It was fun to hear from one of the participants why we had Mediterranean daffodils in the dunes - because he brought them back from Portugal! We were also invited to have a stand at Tywardreath School's Swimming Pool Jubilee celebrations, which was a wonderful day and resulted in a great marine art scene!

In July we held our first Silent Disco Beach Clean, thanks to Cornwall Wildlife Trust. With CWT support, several members are now trained up to assist with Snorkelling Seagrass Surveys. The data generated complements and enhances existing information, accessing areas of St Austell Bay that are too shallow for boat surveys. There will be further collaboration under the funding umbrella of the CWT's `Tor to Shore' project that commences in September.

In August we held our first Rockpool Ramble, along the manmade groynes by the Time and Tide Bell. It is amazing to see how old barrels and concrete have now become a haven for different seaweeds, crabs, anemones, mussels, limpets and whelks - to name but a few of our finds! Our annual Bat Walk in August was as popular as ever.

We have been pleased to collaborate, support and encourage the Friends of St Andrew's Wetland's Reserve as they grow their organisation. It was great to hold a joint event with them to host Ian McCarthy's Otter talk at Gott Hall in January. We also work closely with Friends of the Fowey Estuary and Three Bays Wildlife Group, sharing information between groups and flagging up events that may be of interest.

Finally, I am extremely grateful to all our committee members who are so generous with their time, energy and enthusiasm and to all our regular volunteers at work parties, without whom, we wouldn't have made the impact we have.  Here's to another active year from 2024-2025.

Kind regards, Jenny Tagney, FoPB Chair.