While liquidators are busy chasing the companies behind Boscombe's failed surf reef, the reef itself has been quietly becoming home to a host of marine life.

While plans for a dive school at Boscombe Overstrand are yet to materialise, the reef has becoming a snorkeling hotspot, and this footage shows why.

Edited from two bait cams deployed by Bournemouth University researchers in the summers of 2013 and 2014, it shows a variety of species living on and around the reef.

The camera sometimes rests on the reef surface and at other times on sand next to the edge of the reef. Fish and invertebrates are attracted to bait fixed to a pole extended in front of the camera - a technique known as Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV).  

The footage is part of long term monitoring project comparing the biological colonisation of the reef with several other natural sites in the Poole Bay area. It was carried out by staff and students from Bournemouth University and is supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Species list:

  • 0.46 Juvenile Black bream and spider crabs
  • 0.56 Cuttlefish - top right
  • 1.30 Shoal of Grey Mullet 
  • 1.55 Shoal of Garfish 
  • 2.16 Corkwing Wrasse with nest material in mouth
  • 2.24 Adult Black bream and spider crab frenzy
  • 3.42 Bass 
  • 4.17 Cuttlefish  – in the background
  • 4.49 Barrel jellyfish 
  • 4.58 Garfish 
  • 5.06 Pollack 

A similar bait cam at Durley Rocks, near Bournemouth Pier, revealed a totally different set of species. You can watch that footage here.