You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
PHOTO OF THE MONTH<br />
SHOAL MATES<br />
Every year a shoal of around 1,000 thin-lipped<br />
mullet swim from their winter home in the<br />
Channel up the Ouse to feed in the river between<br />
Hamsey and Southease. Steve Homewood has<br />
been tracking them for years, first to fish and<br />
eat them, later, as he grew to understand the<br />
precarious nature of their existence, to protect<br />
them. Every year, in March, the whole shoal stops<br />
off in a spring-water pool, where the Winterbourne<br />
meets the Ouse in the Railway Land, to<br />
heal any wounds or other physical damage they<br />
have incurred over the winter or en route. Steve<br />
calls this their ‘health spa’, and this year he took<br />
the GoPro camera he bought for his partner for<br />
Xmas, put it on a window-cleaning pole, and<br />
photographed the fish from within the pool.<br />
The results are stupendous, and Steve was proud<br />
to put them on his Twitter feed. “The BBC got<br />
interested,” he said, “and asked to come down<br />
and interview me about the mullet.” The result<br />
will be an appearance on Springwatch, which will<br />
be screened either just before this mag hits the<br />
streets (last weekend of May) or just after (the<br />
first weekend of <strong>June</strong>). Furthermore Steve, who<br />
has given up his job in dentistry to take up his<br />
passion as a naturalist full time, is giving a series<br />
of illustrated talks about his adventures with the<br />
mullet (at 30 Friars Walk, check window display<br />
and posters in the town for date and time). We’ll<br />
give this subject more attention in a future magazine;<br />
in the meantime congratulations to Steve<br />
for winning this month’s prize.<br />
Please send your pictures, taken in and around<br />
<strong>Lewes</strong>, to photos@vivalewes.com, or tweet them to<br />
@<strong>Viva</strong><strong>Lewes</strong>. We’ll choose our favourite for this<br />
page, which wins £20. Unless previously arranged<br />
we reserve the right to use all pictures in future<br />
issues of <strong>Viva</strong> magazines and online.<br />
15