A prawn in the hand...

One of the prawns from our first catch

Crabs, eels, prawns, herons and seagulls have been keeping us entertained at Maryport Marina in Cumbria.

We have often wondered what sea creatures were living in the mud beneath Ravensdale and decided it would be fun to find out so we bought a prawn pot to see what it would catch.

Phil baited the pot with a piece of frozen mackerel and dropped it over the side to see whether anything would take the bait.

Lifting our new prawn pot to examine the catch

The following morning he lifted the pot to find it had trapped around a dozen small crabs and a handful of little prawns.

Some of the crabs we netted during our first attempt

One of the prawns we caught laying on Ravensdale's aft deck before being returned to the water

We had no use for any of them so we returned them to the water, re-baited the pot and put it back to see if we could catch any other types of sea creature.

The next time it was lifted, it again contained little crabs and prawns. A larger crab was clinging to the outside of the pot, but it let go and fell off as it was lifted out of the water.

These were also released and the pot returned to the murky depths under our boat.

The following morning we discovered it had trapped two eels, each about 18ins long.

Slippery customers - the eels that were caught in our net

We will continue to put the pot down to see what we can catch, more for interest than anything else, but Phil is considering using some of our catches as bait for fishing trips in the future.

Meanwhile, one of the herons that are frequently seen around the marina came in for some unwanted attention from one of the local seagulls.

A seagull dive-bombing a heron on a pontoon

The heron was sitting on a pontoon watching the water for fish when the gull started to attack it.

The heron squawks at the seagull in an attempt to frighten it away

The sea bird flew high above the heron and dive-bombed it at speed many times in an attempt to get it to move on.

I watched and took photographs from our boat for a while, then decided to try to get a bit closer for a clearer shot.

I was able to walk a little way along the pontoon and get a few more shots before the seagull flew away.

The heron posing for photos after the seagull had flown away

However, the heron stayed and watched me taking photos of it. I’m sure it was giving me the evil eye so I decided to walk away and leave it in peace.

The images of it looking straight at me look like a completely different bird. Without its long pointed beak, it looked rather like an emu :-)

The heron watching me take its photograph