Where tompot blennies
thrive and encrusted spider
crabs scuttle away.
by Scooj
Inspired by the utterly brilliant blog by Heather Buttivant called Cornish Rockpools: https://cornishrockpools.com/blog/ – go take a look.
Where tompot blennies
thrive and encrusted spider
crabs scuttle away.
by Scooj
Inspired by the utterly brilliant blog by Heather Buttivant called Cornish Rockpools: https://cornishrockpools.com/blog/ – go take a look.
Time to post a few more pieces from Upfest 2016. This wonderful fish, in the playground of Ashton Gate School, is by Angerami, an artist from Sao Paolo but who now travels the world for his art. He has a Wikipedia page, but sadly it is in Portuguese (I think), and I don’t know what it says.

The biography for Angerami in the Upfest Programme is as follows:
‘Angerami uses travel as an immersive process in the nature, revealed through art in many different medias. Travelling is a passion, which allows connection with his perception of time, space, spiritual awareness and human presence on earth.’
Go figure that out…translated I guess from another source. He paints fish on walls, and that is good enough for me.
This is a beautiful piece of art that I think had been painted for Upfest 2015, although I am not certain. I took the photographs a little while ago, and the wall has since been painted over.


All alone I sit
just me and the soapstone fish.
I finished it once.
by Scooj
Any readers who have not encountered this story on my blog before, I recommend you take a quick look at the first entry ‘an Ill Wind‘ to provide some kind of context. As you can see, this is the 28th excerpt from my 1988 journal, and it will appear meaningless without some context setting. The full catalog of chapters so far is in the ‘Falkland Journal, 1988’ category on the left of this page.
Monday 13 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
Spoke to Drin on the radio. JB is at this moment on the Right (one of the Falkland Islands fisheries patrol vessels), trawling. It looks very much like I’m on my own. I spent two hours talking to the Fishing Master. He and I now are in good form – he is a good man and cares for his crew. The contract should have included a certain amount of input from him. It was worked out by imbeciles who knew little about the fishing operation. I understand that now.
I have just been watching Crocodile Dundee, but at the critical moment have been cut off – a subtle lunch hint I think.
Spent the evening with Sato (gold tooth) and Naganuma and we watched a couple of porn videos. They became boring very quickly – the only interest I have is trying to understand why the hell people perform in such videos…are they desperate for money? or exhibitionists? very strange.
Tuesday 14 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
40 days to go!
I can’t believe that this is all I had to write on this day! wrote to Louise and Deb.
Prepared for fishing. Did some ace drawings I reckon.
Wednesday 15 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
Stand by at 0200 hours – what a nightmare. I hardly slept at all before and I had difficulty afterwards. False alarm, the sea was too heavy, so we moved to the southeast (Zone II).
Spoke with Drin and some idiot on the Falkland Right. People really piss me off sometimes.
Oops I think it was Dave ‘intense’, the one who I didn’t know.
I have arranged for Mr Ikido to deal with the problem of trawlers and traffic – delegation, that is the key to power.
Smoking still – I wish I would stop, but the day drags on so.No smoking before 1200 hours but maybe 4-8 after that. I am looking forward to going home, not least because I’ll be able to stop. (Something that took a further twelve years to conquer!)
No more pictures today. I think that stand by tomorrow is at 0300 hours. Bed early tonight.
I am watching a Japanese TV drama (It’ll last for hours) about blackmail – they really go in for these ‘video dramas’.
My spots under my stubble are still flourishing. I feel fairly ugly at the moment, but my spirits are high.
Thursday 16 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
What a bloody day. Quite exciting really, but very tiring and bloody annoying when the bastard Fishing Master holds you responsible for all the problems.
Caught this amazing monster fish, like a giant goby or blenny and called Cottoperca gobio – yellow, green and gold with a beautiful dorsal fin. See photos.
The whole long-lining process is a bit of a miracle. A production line for the set – really primitive, but thoroughly effective.
Saw a whole bunch of gentoo penguins, loads of albatross too – a real wildlife day. It would be great if I didn’t have to bloody do something! 30 more days of this – I may go bananas!

I’m so bloody tired I feel like a zombie – I may if I’m lucky, grab 6 or 7 hours sleep tonight. I pray for bad weather!
BONKERS.
Friday 17 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
Another long hard day. Some very interesting things coming up, so I was happy. I got some corals, with any luck I could get them home to Deb, or add them to my collection.
I am still motivated by marine life – there were loads of echinoderms and possibly crinoids today, as well as some ace fish, but none of it what the Fishing Master wants. He and the crew are restless.

A penguin was gaffed up.
The sea was rough today and waves were pouring into the factory deck.

I am once again very tired and want to go to sleep, but I’m sure that, like last night, I won’t find it easy.
Roll on July!
It has been a little while since DNT or Akarat graced these pages, so here is a reasonably recent collaboration, or perhaps better, co-location of these two great local graffiti artists. The dragon is by DNT (Bruno Dante) and the fish on the utility box are by Akarat. I didn’t see the fish the first time, which is something of a gaffe for a marine and fisheries biologist who prides himself on observational skills.

This is a fairly quiet collaboration tucked on a side street just off the main drag of Stokes Croft. I love to see their work, and together with other local artists, they really do keep things fresh. Great dragon, great fish…different styles meeting.

Explosive shimmers
on the surface; predators
move in for the kill.
by Scooj
The happiest day
spending time together on
the rocks in the sun.
by Scooj
Shops come and shops go
I’m sad it’s the tackle shop
where will I get bait?
Well I said that Aspire had done a fish, and here it is in all its splendour. I like his work, all of it, and as a marine biologist I have to say I particularly like this one. I must confess I am not too sure what kind of fish it is, but I am not too bothered. It is a fish.

I would like to see more fish from Aspire, but perhaps not if it is at the expense of his birds which are truly spectacular – I still have a backlog of his birds to write about!

I noticed in the Upfest map that he will be at the festival this year. I will try to catch up with him if I can. Audubon in New York awaits.