Wednesday 9th April 19:30: by Mark Woombs and Barry Kaye PLUS group AGM by Kathy MacAdam.

Last year I showed a probable relationship between plankton blooms in the Wyre Estuary and the number of hours of sunlight, and I speculated that better weather in Spring this year might see a repeat of the Odontella bloom that characterised the early parts of 2022 and 2023, but was completely absent in 2024. We have certainly had good weather this Spring, so we will see how this has impacted our local phytoplankton in this talk!

Part of my research has been looking at local Met Office records, to quantify what weather we should expect at different times of the year, and how much this varies. This turned up some interesting results – if you thought that the best of the weather was now in the Spring, and our Summers are not as good as they were in your childhood, then, (depending on how old you are!) there might be some truth in this:

Above: Average hours of sunlight per month between 1908 and 2025, compared with 2000-2025 from data published by the Met Office for Bradford. The data show that there is more sun in Spring, but less in our traditional Summer. The graphs overlay a micrograph of a cell of the phytoplankton Odontella regia, which may be impacted by the changes.

Above: Photomicrograph of Porcellidium sp. by Mark Woombs

The meeting will start with a brief AGM hosted by Kathy. This will be followed by two short talks rounding up plankton studies in the Wyre Estuary over the last 12 months. Mark will look at how to get their ‘best side’ when photographing zooplankton, while I will attempt to shed more light on the question of whether phytoplankton respond to the weather (and how to measure these changes).

At Lancaster Maritime Museum, Custom House, St George’s Quay, Lancaster, LA1 1RB
£4 donation requested to Lancashire MCS
Everybody Welcome!