A wealth of wildlife
Our specialist groups and projects have been looking at wildlife in an amazing variety of places: on beaches, in the house and garden, on a roundabout, under bridges and under rusty old bits of corrugated tin, to give just a few examples. See the contacts on page 2 for other Trust groups in whose activities you can join.
Seaquest South-West Nature reserves are not the only good places for wildlife. The beaches and seas around our coast also provide wonderful habitats. Although Seaquest predominantly asks for records of large marine creatures such as dolphins, whales and basking sharks, we also have people who are interested in the habitats provided by the strand line. Next time you're on the beach, why not look for sea beans that are cast up on our shores from places such as the Florida Keys?	It can sometimes be disappointing to walk a stretch of beach regularly, looking out to sea, and never see a dolphin. But please keep watching: the thrill of seeing them is worth the wait - and your reports are invaluable. Unfortunately at this time of year we have more reports of stranded dolphins than we have sightings of live ones. If you find a dead dolphin please contact us immediately. Whenever possible they are sent for post-mortem and the information gleaned from this will help us to protect them in the future.	One casualty of by-catch this year was a leatherback turtle caught in a pot rope off St Agnes. The turtle was over seven feet in length, weighed 600 pounds and was estimated to be about 100 years old. Leatherback turtles are often associated with warm nesting beaches in places like the Caribbean but they are also part of our wildlife and are regularly seen off the Cornish coast. If you have anything to report please give me a call at the Trust on (01872) 240777 ext 200. Tricia Hoskings
		An undignified end but an opportunity to highlight one of Cornwall's most magnificent species, the leatherback turtle. Photo: Tricia Hoskings

RIGS Group Everyone is welcome to the field trip and lecture which we combine with our very brief AGM. The latter usually lasts less than 25 minutes - which most consider a small price to pay! This year our regular "second Wednesday in November" is the 14th, the venue is Camborne School of Mines (at present still in Redruth) and the speaker after the 2.00pm AGM is Dr Alan Bromley on the mineralisation of Cornwall. Alan was for many years a lecturer at CSM and now runs his own consultancy, Petrolab. He is known to a vast number of people in Cornwall for his walks and talks, and for his very practical help to teachers and schools. The morning field trip is looking at the mineralisation on the shore around St Michael's Mount, led by Alan and Simon Camm (10.00am at the car park by the slip onto the beach in Marazion). Simon is also well known (he is the author of the book on gold in Devon and Cornwall, and a former exploration manager for Billiton UK) and works at CSM's museum, as well as being on the RIGS Committee. As usual, after the talk there will be tea and biscuits in the museum - and I am sure we can have a repeat of the tour of the research facilities of CSM. Did you know of the connection between CSM research and filling soup tins? No? Come and find out! John Macadam