Midsummer Barbeque

Water status: going down. Still enough for sailing although mark #1 is now out of the race.

There's a bit of a problem with blue-green algae though. I'm including links because I didn't know what blue-green algae are and it seems that they are actually pretty interesting and, in fact, not algae. They are cyanobacteria: a type of single celled bacteria. That means that there must have been huge numbers to cause the visible blue markings around the reservoir. Cyanobacteria are some of the oldest types of living organisms; there are fossil cyanobacteria which are more than 3.5 billion years old. The reason that cyanobacteria are green is because they contain clorophyll and, like plants, manufacture their own food from light through the process of photosynthesis. Apparently, the chlorophyll in plants is due to cyanobacteria living inside the plants; a symbiotic relationship which developed millenia ago. However, although, as the picture below shows, the Doe Park cyanabacteria are clearly blue-green, some types of blue-green algae are actually more red or pink. The Red Sea is red because of occasional algal blooms of reddish cyanobacteria.

Some types of cyanobacteria can be important as food sources but others can be toxic to humans and animals. Unfortunately, we have the latter type at Doe Park which means that water users need to be especially careful around areas where there is blue-green scum on or near the water.

There were important food sources in evidence at Doe Park today, however, at the Midsummer Barbeque! Sausages, salads, burgers and beer were consumed with gusto; particular thanks to Ronwen for organising the food.





And here, simply because I think it's wonderful, is the view from the clubhouse.