Specimens from the Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales collections, collected from the northeast Atlantic and identified as either Terebellides stroemii or Terebellides sp., were re-examined to determine their correct identification according to recent taxonomic revisions. Five nominal species were identified morphologically, Terebellides bonifi, Terebellides europaea, Terebellides gentili, Terebellides scotica, and Terebellides shetlandica; three species, T. europaea, T. scotica, and T. shetlandica, were also confirmed through molecular methods. Two species, T. bonifi and T. gentili, were new to the British fauna, and the distributional knowledge for all species around the UK was extended.

Despite holding the accolade as the largest animal ever to live on planet earth and ubiquitously inhabiting the world's major oceans, an acute paucity of information surrounds the geographical distribution and migration phenology of the endangered blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) in the northeast Atlantic. Current migration and distribution information derived from robust scientific studies is required to ensure the formulation and implementation of successful conservation measures with a vision to support the ongoing recovery of the northeast Atlantic population. At 10:21 (UTC) on the 9th of November 2020, two blue whales were observed at position 55°13.99′N, 01°13.62′W, 18 km off the coast of the UK in the central North Sea just north of Newcastle at a water depth of 76 m. This is the first paper that has confirmed an account of live blue whales frequenting shallow waters of the central North Sea and represents a new area of occurrence within the accepted range of the northeast Atlantic population, an area in which sightings are extremely rare and may provide insight into the intricacies of migration routes and behaviour.

Planktic foraminiferal census data, faunal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and oxygen isotopic and lithic records from a site in the northeast Atlantic were analyzed to study the interglacial dynamics of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11, a period thought to closely resemble the Holocene on the basis of orbital forcing. Interglacial conditions during MIS 11 persisted for approximately 26 ka. After the main deglacial meltwater processes ceased, a 10- to 12-ka-long transitional period marked by significant water mass circulation changes occurred before surface waters finally reached their thermal maximum. This SST peak occurred between 400 and 397 ka, inferred from the abundance of the most thermophilic foraminiferal species and was coincident with lowest sea level according to benthic isotope values. The ensuing stepwise SST decrease characterizes the overall climate deterioration preceding the increase in global ice volume by ∼ 3 ka. This cooling trend was followed by a more pronounced cold event that began at 388 ka, and that terminated in the recurrence of icebergs at the site around 382 ka. Because the water mass configuration of early MIS 11 evolved quite differently from that of the early Holocene, there is little evidence that MIS 11 can serve as an appropriate analogue for a future Holocene climate, despite the similarity in some orbital parameters.

A 500,000-yr-long deep-sea sediment-color record from the Northeast Atlantic was investigated to reconstruct the evolution of late Pleistocene climate variability on millennial time scales. Variations of the red–green color intensity are probably caused by climatically induced changes in the ice-rafted input of red-colored iron-bearing terrigenous material to the core site. The resolution of the age model impedes the detection of distinct spectral features at sub-Milankovitch periodicities. Hence, millennial-scale climate variability is quantified as time-dependent variance of the high-pass filtered color time series. The course of the estimated variance shows distinct patterns, which can be linked to continental ice mass. During the past 500,000 yr, large-amplitude millennial-scale climate variability occurs only if continental ice mass exceeds a threshold level, equivalent to sea level at approximately 40% of the lowering during the last glacial maximum.