Whales in Wales

WOW

2012-01-28T16:25:00.003Z

Details and dates for this year's Wildlife Observer Wales (WOW) courses are now available. The courses are developed and delivered jointly by Pembrokeshire College Coastal and Marine Environment Research Unit and Sea Trust and cover Cetaceans, Seals, Seabirds for Beginners and Seabird Monitoring. Click here for dates and for further information and details on the Pembrokeshire College website click here

So near and yet so far...might be worth a visit though!

2012-01-24T12:05:00.001Z

Brendan O'Connor 18:16 (17 hours ago)to me

Cliff,
Thanks for copying me in on much of the interesting projects etc that you and your organisation are doing. I wish you success in 2012.I have just returned from a great day of Whale and Dolphin watching. It was superb. In fact it was like watching a documentary.A friend and neighbour, Martin Colfer, took 10 of us out for the day in his 38 foot catamaran, Rebecca C. When we were about 3 miles south of the Hook Lighthouse, we saw whales blowing about a mile away. When we got closer, there were 3 Fin whales “messing about” on the surface. We were about 100 metres from them. They disappeared and then we got briefer sightings of them for about an hour and they disappeared. There was great bird activity about half a mile away and we investigated it. There were nearly 18 common seals there and then a Humpbacked whale appeared only about 50 metres from our boat. It was brilliant. We watched him for a while and he showed us his tail a couple of times. Then the Irish Whale and Dolphin people came along in a rib. They wanted to get a skin sample from the whale and had a crossbow. We then retreated to give them a better chance and we went back to the Fin Whales. Whilst we were watching one group, in the distance near the Saltee Islands, we could see whales blowing frequently.On our way home, the Dolphins put on a wonderful show for us and a few of them jumped clean out of the water. It was the first time I had seen that. What a day and what a treat. I can understand now how you are so enthusiastic. I had to tell someone about my day!Martin said that this was the first sighting this year of a Humpback whale in Irish waters. He does these trips as and when the weather permits. He said that it was a better than average day.Allthingsbetter

Porps and things...

2012-01-24T10:56:00.005Z

Hi Libman,
yep I am guilty of not recording everything as well as I should , but winter records are very scarce and so in ways more important. There used to be a generally held belief that everything migrated in the winter which is obviously not true although at least some of our bottles seem to go walkabout!

Stevo and Chris took advantage of the good weather yesterday afternon (3.30) and spotted a couple of porpoises at Strumble but as far as I know the Risso's have not been seen there recently.

Here (above) are some Mick Brown photographed from the Stena Europe on one of our Dolphin-othons a couple of years ago!

2012-01-23T17:26:00.002Z

Hi Cliff,

Yes, I'm sure you're right about the porps feeling safer when the dolphins are temporarily absent, given the Bottlenose propensity to attack porpoises. It wasn't far from Birds' Rock that someone filmed such an attack.

I take your point about recording the details, normally, during the summer Dolphin Watch that's what I would do, but this time of year I'm usually just walking the dog whilst having one eye on the sea.

Must come down to Strumble if the Risso's are still showing !

Just for the record!

2012-01-18T22:37:00.003Z

Hi Cliff

Happy new year - it seems a while since I've reported any sightings but was in luck today at Strumble after a couple of blank visits to the Sound last month and this.

Spent a hour at lunchtime at the Head just as the mist lifted and within a minute of picking up my binoculars I spotted a lone porp foraging 150 metres out. Then I spotted another much closer who was swimming vigorously, porpoising and leaping almost out of the water - great views of head and tail. Then 300 - 400 metres out in a long strip of calmer water there were up to 6 porps foraging in a loose group, again a couple were quite active leaping and porpoising. Elsewhere there were a couple of tight groups of 3 foraging together - presumably mum, juvenile and calf? Given the time lapse between seeing the groups and inviduals, its difficult to say how many there were in total , certainly 12 - 15, possibly more. The best show of porps I have seen for a while so very pleased despite not clocking a Rissos! That will have to wait for another day.
Pob hwyl.
Phil Lees

Hi Phil, Stevo and I had a look yesterday and clocked a few porpoises. Today I was there this afternoon and had an interesting little group of around half a dozen porp's most of which looked like well grown youngsters. This was at high tide when I would generally not expect too much activity there. I could also see a few in the distance towards Fishguard where I would expect them to be. Its difficult to explain but there is a less defined fin shape and possibly a relatively larger darker dorsal area to younger animals I think. Do porpoises divide into groups of subadults? lots of other animals do... These rather descrete animals although relatively common give little away as to their private lives. The leaping /splashing thing is also interesting because it seems to happen at this time of the year. my suspicion is that its about mothers trying to get rid of well grown young and perhaps some breeding behaviour, fascinating stuff!
Sadly the Risso's have not returned to Strumble... seemingly...

Re Libman (Dave) , It seems quite a lot of the Cardigan Bay Bottlenose Dolphins may move out during the winter months. If so, then Porpoises might well feel safer in areas where they might otherwise be in danger. Th3e frustrating thing is that the hours of daylight are short and often the seas are rough so getting a handle on this is pretty difficult. None the less anecdotal is only a term . If you record the time yopu spend looking and take reasdsonably accurate details of the weather and tide , then it becomes effort related and much more useful especially when we know you are a comptent recorder!

2012-01-17T18:08:00.003Z

Birds' Rock

Up to the Lookout on Monday afternoon. A beautiful, clear day and a flat, calm sea. Apart from a couple of seals, 30 minutes observation yielded just two porpoises slowly moving west. During the Summer months this is a fairly reliable spot for Bottlenose, but on other Winter observations I have had many more sightings of porpoises than of dolphins. I know this is only anecdotal, but I wonder if anyone else has noticed this apparent change of species in the same location? (Bird Rock, Newquay)

Strumble Risso's spectacular!

2012-01-16T19:32:00.003Z

The day started well when I bumped into local fishermen Rodger Clarke who told me of seeing a pod of about a dozen Risso's off Abercastle, about ten miles south of Strumble last Friday. Considering the fact that over a twenty five mile stretch of coast, Porpoises, Common Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin and now Risso's were present, I think its pretty fair to call it the Dolphin Coast!

I fed the octopuses in the Ocean Lab and then had a look on the outer breakwater. No cetaceans but there was a nice black guillimot present in the inner harbour almost completely moulted into summer plumage.

It was about 3.45 on the beautiful crisp winters afternoon, so I headed for Strumble with Freddie (who has just had a knee operation so was sat in the back of the car). We watched Mark Williams in the Briggs survey vessel "Water Gaurdian" pass by but could not see any porpoises. The inner tiderace was creating some particularly fine overfalls which Freddie pointed out . I took a glance at them and a dolphin appeared in the middle of one about half a mile from the shore, The view was fleetiingly brief and I was not clear as to what I had seen but I thought it was a Risso's . I went down to the lookout with our new fujifilm camera with its 18x optical zoom in the hope of getting some shots ... as you can see I did!

The images are far from perfect but they are undoubtedly of Risso's and I think the first ever from there! Sadly the batteries went flat and the light was fast fading so although five Risso's were at one point logging together on the surface I could not get any more shots. When I went back up to the car I asked Freddie if she had seen them?

"Oh yes there were at least seven she said, some were tailslapping one seemed too spy hop and a couple breached!" Aaargh, there had been two seperate groups, mine had been relatively restrained and the others had been closer in and doing a circus act! ah well...

So the light faded the Risso's retreated and we headed for home. The light on the answerphone was flashing and there was a message from Stevo Lucas, he thought he had seen some Risso's at Strumble this afternoon at about three o clock with his friend Chris Benbow . He was not sure but they had put on qiuite a show tailslapping and breaching about 15 of them! I think you can add them to your Strumble list now Stevo, its a just reward for all the time you have spent there!

So Rissos turn up at Strumble again in the middle of the winter. I asked Rodger the fisherman what if he thought there were any squid around? "Oh yes he replied, all our lobster pot ropes are covered in squid eggs"

Friday 13th lucky for some!!!

2012-01-14T10:02:00.006Z

Winter Common Dolphins : Rich Crossen
Hi Dan,
Really great to get Pauls report please thank the lifeboat boys! This is a really significant report for the following reasons...

Funnily enough if you see Rich Crossens report from the Stena Europe, it seems his dolphins seen from the bridge of the Stena Europe may well have been a part of this group although they were seen earlier in the day in Fishguard Bay heading west.

Its very interesting as you know I spent a lot of time with Graham Rees and lots of other very competent watchers, seawatching from Strumble Head in the 1990's into the 2000's. We saw all sorts of birds fish and cetaceans but it was only 1997 when we saw our first Commons from Strumble. We did not see any again until 2000 and since then they were seen most years , always in the summer months.

We have one record of four Common Dolphins photographed from Newquay Head a couple of years ago and another of a couple off Cybwr Bay a year or so earlier. Steve Hartley has been surveying these waters for over 20 years and only seen them once a long time ago all summer sightings. As a lifeboatman he would also have had plenty of opportunity to see them if they had been there in the winter.

We had very few winter CD sightings from the Stena Europe but they have been regular in the past three years.

One way or another it all seems to be adding up to something but not sure what! please keep the sightings coming in its all grist to the mill!

100 Common Dolphins and pairf of playful Bottles off Poppit

2012-01-13T19:07:00.002Z

We have been working on the river Severn for the EA.....returned this evening to find we had missed a shout on the Lifeboat......

Thought WinW bloggers would be interested to know that the crew were treated to a rare treat on the way back.....crewman Paul Newman reported on our Facebook Group.... "Cardigan Lifeboat call-out today approx 5-6 miles north of Poppit 2.30pm....Well, we are often lucky to see dolphins, but today was AWESOME ! Returning to station we found ourselves surrounded by a pod of common dolphins approx 100 strong - very inquisitive and playful. Also a pair of Bottlenose swimming under our bow-wave belly-up !" Crewman Clive williams added that it made his day.....and was just gutted he didn't have the helmetcam!

I have never seen Commons on our patch /off Poppit.......Any WinW bloggers aware of Common sightinsg in this area?

Dan

First Ferry Trip of the Year

2012-01-13T15:36:00.004Z

Due to the poor weather at the end of 2011 the last Fishguard/Rosslare Ferry survey was way back on 7 November. It was good, therefore, to be able to do a survey early into the new year.
I boarded the Stena Europe yesterday at Fishguard and had the usual usual warm welcome from the crew - for which many thanks. I was on my own for the outward leg and conditions were a little rough to start off with although by the time it had grown too dark to continue the sea had calmed down considerably. Just one lone Porpoise recorded off Strumble to show for my efforts but the day ended with a nice sunset and the weather was set fair for the next day..........
Sure enough the sea was calm with very little wind this morning and visibility was terrific with a little cloud here and there to keep the glare at bay. For this leg I was joined by Tony and Stevo Lucas and although we had some quiet periods it turned out to be a good trip. A little way out of Rosslare we saw 4 Porpoises close in to the ship and an hour or so out two separate Risso's Dolphins followed each other in quick succession. The middle section was pretty barren - no cetaceans and very few birds. However, approaching Strumble 2 Porpoises popped up, again close to the ship. The highlight was a pod of twenty or so Common Dolphins picked up by their splashes some way off near Dinas Island. They then headed west towards the ship and eventually passed fairly close and were in view for 10 mins or so altogether with much leaping and boisterous displays.
Roll on another year of surveys from the Stena Europe. 2011 was an amazing year for Minke Wales - what will 2012 bring?
No pics of Dolphins but a couple of shots to show the wonderful winter light - sunset from the ferry and dawn over Tusker Lighthouse (click on pics for larger images).

From Alison Ross

2012-01-11T23:06:00.001Z

Hi Cliff,
hope you're well. Only a very small number of porpoises in the Sound today, Wed. 11th.Jan. I only saw 3 moving down the Sound at the start of the ebb tide including an adult & juvenile surfacing in close proximity. Possibly one of the calves seen last year. Only a couple of sightings of a single porpoise in the ebb tide at the south end of the Sound in 3 hours of watching. Met Malcolm out there & he said he'd seen the adult & juvenile on another occasion in the last day or so.
All the best, Alison

Some exciting news from Mac (IWDG)

2012-01-11T11:24:00.004Z

Fin Whale lunge feeding (Rich Crossen)

hiya buddy,
sprat moving up the Irish Sea and apparently fin whales supposedly off Rosslare -have you a contact in Fishguard who might ask the bridge to keep an eye out over the next few days and alert you or the office in rosslare if they spot anything??I wil ask Sprog to do same from this side happy new year by the way !
Mac

With a ferry survey set to go tommorow, lets hope we connect with the big blubber!
Some late news from Stevo Lucas who was with Chris Benbow last Thursday at Strumble in the afternoon. Despite the choppy seas, they managed to spot two Porpoises in the flloding tide. Happy Birthday for today Steve, lets hope you see plenty on Friday!

Storm Porps loving it!

2012-01-03T23:31:00.000Z

As near hurricane winds whipped the Irish Sea into a maelstrom of huge foam streaked waves I sat in my car at Strumble wondering if it would blow over.
The Stena Europe was a bout four miles out heading for Rosslare and I felt sorry for the crew having to try and continue as normal as the ship reared up and crashed down with Spray and waves breaking over the Bridge.
Sea birds battled by , Fulmars Kittiwakes and Auks and every now and then, in amongst the peaks and troughs, porps would appear surfing and splashing, seemingly loving it!

Start The Year at Strumble!

2012-01-01T18:06:00.003Z

Stevo: super sales person!

Outside

inside

The weather this morning was appalling with torrential rain and strong SW winds. It looked like for once our Sea Trust New Years Porpoise Watch would be a washout I could not imagine anyone wanting to brave the elements to join us on an exposed headland in the hope of getting a glimpse of a Porpoise.
From 2.30 onwards people kept on coming!!! we estimated over seventy, young and old including people from Newcastle and London as well as locals.
Not only people, the porpoises also showed up throughout the watch . Not so easy to see in the rough gloomy conditions but well enough for several people to get their first ever view of one.
Stevo Lucas set up shop and sold several of our new 2012 calendars (Rich Crossens cetacean images) also postcards and wildlife guides.
Apart from Porpoises our intrepid supporters saw Gannets, streams of Razorbills and Guillemots as well as two Great Northern Divers and star bird, a Balearic Shearwater. Grey seals also put in appearances.
Our first event of the year was a great success and theres plenty more to come in 2012!
Thanks to all who came and took part and made it so enjoyable!

On a slightly different note Verena Bolender our young German volunteer who did so much to help us progress our work last year is recovering from a serious illness and we very much hope her recovery is speedy and complete! big hug from all your friends here in Wales, Verena!!!
allthingsgood, cliff (Walrus)

Alison Ross

2011-12-28T10:21:00.004Z

Hi Cliff. Hope you're OK. I went up to Ramsey Sound today, Tuesday 27th December & watched a small number of porpoises coming down at the start of the ebb tide. The only sightings after that were of a group of 5 foraging in the waters between the tide race & Ramsey Island at the south end of the Sound. I also spent a couple of hours up there on Christmas Eve before the prevailing weather got the better of me but had no porpoise sightings so it was good to see them today even though the numbers were low. All the best, Alison
Great stuff Alison, great to have you back on the internet! Not sure if the winds will ever die down but we will be hoping to see some Porpoises at Strumble Head at our annual New Years Day Porpoise Watch which starts at 2.30 (14.30) , on New Years Day. Hopefully a reasonable time to let hangovers clear. All are welcome, bring binoculars and something/someone to keep you warm! Obviously if the weather is really atrocious don't bother, but there is the shelter so unless its really bad we should be OK!

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-21T11:08:00.000Z

A very Happy Christmas to all readers of the Whales in Wales blog. A big thank you to everyone who has sent in their sightings and a special thanks to Cliff Benson who has found time to post the sightings and keep the blog topical and up to date.

A reminder that Richard Crossen's book of photos taken on Sea Trust boat trips over the past few years is available to order. Follow the Book link on the right or click on the book cover below for details.

Fishguard Harbour Porp's

2011-12-15T22:54:00.001Z

A late afternoon visit to the outer breakwater in fading light was rewarded with a mother and smallish calf close in to the seaward end of ther breakwater.They indulged in the behaviour I have noted on several occasions where the mother leaves the calf near a bouy and then goes off to feed in the area occasionally returning to the calf to reassure it/check up on it. It usually ends quite suddenly with mother and calf heading out to sea again. There was another individual about, keeping a distance but seemingly in attendance . Its really hard getting a good view of all this when they are popping up in different places and extremely haphazardly, but I think the odd one was a large subadult rather than an adult. The fins of adults seem slightly more pronounced or kinked on the trailing edge, as against juveniles whose fins are more uniformly triangular. As usual when animals are close up, my camera was out of battery ...Rats!

Not a happy ending but not really suicidal!

2011-12-08T16:30:00.005Z

Pic by Rachel Emmerton

Apparently a few of the dogwalkers on the central breakwater out braving the storm saw me in the briny and thought it was a suicide attempt! Believe me theres got to be better ways!

It all started with a call from Amanda from a local vets practice who told me there was some bloke in the sea at Goodwick with a dolphin or porpoise. I told her I would be there ASAP, rang Rod Penrose (Strandings) and asked him to ring Terry Ledbetter (Marine Mamal Rescue). I was in the cold sea nursing a baby porpoise a couple of years ago, and it aint funny so I thought whoever was doing it now would probably be looking forward to a bit of help. Then I realised my partner was out in my car, so when in trouble call the Lucas's.

Delyth Lucas arrived at speed and we were soon on the beach where we found "H" (Aeron Harries) up to his waist in the briny with a sick adult common dolphin. He looked pretty pleased to see me as I waded in to give him a break! I have a bit more blubber than "H" and did not really feel the cold but it was obviously going to be a while before Terry arrived from Milford. The tide was dropping and the bottom was stony so I had to move the exhausted dolphin further out to keep it afloat . I could feel its heart pounding and did my best to reassure it. If I let go it flipped over and could not breath so I had to hold it upright.
Some time later Terry arrived with some volunteers in dry suits who took over until the vet could get there. Unfortunately the poor creature was past saving and had to be euthanized.

Well done "H", we couldn't save it, but at least its last hours were spent afloat and supported with some caring folk rather than thrashing around on the beach. Next time we meet up I hope its in a nice warm pub! Hopefully Rod will get it post mortemed and we will maybe find out what was wrong with it.

Also thanks to Rachel Emerton for standing by in the wind and rain, keeping an eye on us as well as taking pic's!

Roger's Not Happy!

2011-12-01T10:53:00.000Z

Hi Cliff

Having seen your post on the Whales in Wales Web site I was sufficiently incensed to write to John Griffiths, the Environment Minister of WAG as follows:
“Sir,
I write to draw your attention to reports (for example at http://www.whaleswales.blogspot.com/ ) of “a dozen or more scallop dredgers trawling their heavy sets of dredges over the sea bed of Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation” just last Sunday.
I would like to mirror the comments made by Cliff Benson in the above mentioned forum where he says that “there can be no more effective way of destroying the marine animal communities for which the bay is world famous and for which it gained this designation”.
On Saturday, the fishery protection vessel HMS Tyne was moored off Aberporth. Why was it not protecting the CBSAC on Sunday?
I should welcome your explanation.
Thank you”
His eMail address is correspondence. john.griffiths@wales.gsi.gov.uk and I would urge as many people as possible to write to him with their views.
Regards
Roger Watkins

Hi Roger,
Sorry, I overlooked this, apologies for not adding it to the blog sooner.
Although the blog is preeminently about sightings its difficult not to occasionally get into some of the underlying issues. Its a fine line and I think in terms of airing views we will restrict it now to this and the previous posting as it does give an example of how and who to get in touch with. My local fisherman contact tells me that all fishing boats will be fitted with electronic trackers from next year. He says that this will mean far fewer smaller boats fishing for scallops because they don't want to have trackers fitted that would give away their movements during the dark hours. By inference this would seem to suggest they may be fishing where they should not be now. It would seem be extremely sensible to at least restrict the fishing to weekdays and the hours of daylight which would give fisheries protection a better chance of effective policing and cut down on expensive overtime payments. I know and respect some of our local fisheries officers, but they appear to be underresourced. It seems crazy that whilst millions of pounds worth of scallops are being taken from our waters by skippers from away, that the fisheries protection budget here is so small. Perhaps there should be some local landing tax to help pay for the Fisheries Protection levied on boats from away. Of course the best thing would be for the fishery to be suspended until an environmental impact study was carried out.

Interesting perspectives from the northern end of Cardigan Bay

2011-12-01T09:46:00.001Z

Hi Cliff,

It's interesting to read some of the blog comments on scallop dredging. At the NCI station at Porth Dinlaen we watch over a small protected area from where dredging is prohibited, we have good contact with the local fisheries officers who have promptly attended and launched a RIB to intercept rogue boats in the zone when we have reported them. Between us we have also compared details of suspect boats and their skippers / owners have been approached at their home ports.

I don't know if this communication exists elsewhere but it would certainly be effective if it did.

With regard to porpoise their spread in the north is interesting. I know if I spend a little time around Bull Bay on Anglesey or between Criccieth and Harlech there is a very good chance I'll see some but, I have never seen porpoise around the lower end of the Llyn, despite it being between these other two locations. I suppose it is possible the winter dredging in waters between Bardsey and South Stack could be having an impact.

It is also apparent in the north we have different groups of bottlenose. On many occasions over several years I have canoed out to the old lifeboat slipway near Abersoch at 1 - 2 hours after high tide and been joined by bottlenose dolphins feeding in the tidal overfall. This is despite the heavy summer leisure boat traffic, so I'm sure these particular animals are resident.

The sightings pattern at Porth Dinlaen is very different, the animals show up at sporadic intervals, will be around for several days then disappear. They also seem to appear at various states of tide so I suspect they are a much more nomadic group possibly ranging over a large part of the Irish Sea.

Unfortunately we don't have enough boat based observers in this area to take fin shots and carry out a proper study so we can only speculate. I don't however think it is unreasonable to suspect that any form of intensive fishing would be disruptive to the marine mammals in a confined area like the Irish Sea, especially those of a nomadic nature.

Regards.

Martin Moore.

NCI Porth Dinllaen.

Thanks for this Martin, food for thought which clearly illustrates the value of your work!

Dont' you just love it!

2011-11-30T22:50:00.001Z

This is what you get when people are willing to work together and share their efforts, nice one Malcolm!

Image M Barradell

Hi Cliff,

re Alisons porpoise on Monday,
I was out there too, hosting a group of our friends from Van Hall University in Holland,
we were watching the porpoise close to the copper mine and I managed to get off some shots, so attached is the marked individual.
I have definately seen this animal before and will take some time this weekend to go through my porpoise pics and hopefully forward a previously taken pic and a date.
Its been very stormy of late and numbers have been lower but still some good shows around the area of the copper mine, the place to be at the turn of the tide.
cheers
Malcolm

Blimeyo'Riley!

2011-11-30T16:12:00.001Z

The walrus and Rich Crossen and his cameras wandered around the Fishguard Harbour outer breakwater, for a profitless half hour with nothing more than a dissapearing snow bunting to show for it, A couple of hours later (minus Richard and his cameras) I went back and found a small porpoise close in, swimming about near some pot bouys. a few moments later it swam in a strraight line parallel to the shore aqnd joined another bigger porpoise, presumably its mother. After a bit of surfacing together they went out, off towards Pen Anglais. No Rich, no camera, no picture... blimeyoriley!

Ramsey Sound Today

2011-11-28T21:46:00.000Z

Sightings from Alison Ross who was watching the sound from above the coppermine today, between 11 and 12.30 ... several porpoises sen over the period wit three seen together at one point. May have been the same animals or severalpassing through . One animal had a very obvious notch in the top third of the trailing edge of its dorsal fin .

Strumble Porpoises

2011-11-26T11:12:00.001Z

From Stevo Lucas -
Thursday 17th November - Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 2pm and.

We saw a single Harbour porpoise on is own in the ebbing tide race the time of the sighting was roughly about 2:30pm ish.

It was quite a brisk and stiff southerly wind force 6

Thursday 24th November - Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 3pm and

We saw 4 Harbour Porpoises in the flooding tide race.

The time of the sighting was roughly 4:00pm half and hour till the daylight fades away.

It was a stiff southerly wind force 6 quite choppy and difficult to pick out amongst the white horses.

Cheers, Stevo

More Risso's at Strumble this morning!

2011-11-22T10:41:00.000Z

Image: Rich Crossen: Risso's North Pemb's 09.

Strumbler and regular contributer to Whales in Wales , Adrian Rodger just phoned in to tell me that he had a close encounter with four Risso's at first light this morning as they came around Mackerel Rock travelling west past the Strumble lookout towards Ramsey out of Fishguard Bay ! He described them as two larger adults and two smaller individuals. He did not spot any particularly unusual features, the light was not good, although one large adult appeared to have a lot of scarring around its head. A quick phone call to Tich a local pot fisherman confirmed they had been around and he had seen about nine or ten "very active" feeding around Strumble on a couple of days last week. Tich also told me the scallop fishermen had been catching big squid in their trawls "as long as your forearm". He also confirmed that there were lots of herring around in Fishguard bay at the moment, which would probably attract the squid in to feed. Whether the Risso's are feeding on squid or herring is difficult to ascertain,it seems they may be spoilt for choice!

Phew, Porps still at Strumble

2011-11-21T22:01:00.000Z

A visit to Strumble today with Alison Ross produced several porpoise sightings. the calm sea allowed them to be seen but their surfacings were extremely unobtrusive and in anything less calm and in the subdued winter light they would have been almost impossible to detect. A report from Adrian Rogers in the bird blog also mentions there were a few about yesterday. Maybe not sosurprising that they were not seen by Mark and Dan but I doubt if they would have missed any bottles.

Still something out there then! ...report from Ian Hotchin

2011-11-21T11:17:00.001Z

Hello Cliff,

Out sailing yesterday afternoon, in a position about half a mile off French Camp, (Fishguard Bay) I saw two adult porpoises, heading West against the tide.
Regards, Ian
Well done Ian!

European designated Marine Special Area of Conservation ? its a sick joke.

2011-11-21T10:29:00.007Z

I had been waiting with some eager anticipation for a report from Mark Williams, skipper of the Briggs/Environment Agency survey vessel "Water Guardian". He along with Dan Worth were on passage from Aberystwyth to Milford Haven yesterday starting at first light. The first leg of the voyage is a straight line from Aberystwyth to Strumble Head, straight through the SAC. I have just spoke to Mark and he tells me conditions were good with calm seas but they saw nothing.

Nothing that is except for a dozen or more scallop dredgers trawling their heavy sets of dredges over the sea bed of Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation.

There can be no more effective way of destroying the marine animal communities for which the bay is world famous and for which it gained this designation.

It beggars belief that the Welsh Government allows this to continue at the same time as spending hundreds of thousands of pounds organising talking shops to discuss new marine protected areas. What is the point of designating such areas if there is no real protection? I guess it keeps the suits in a job...

Things moving up North!

2011-11-21T10:00:00.001Z

Hello Cliff,

After several weeks with no cetacean sightings from our lookout at Porth Dinllaen, Gwynedd, things have picked up significantly over the last week.

Bottlenose dolphin (20) passing Trwyn Porth Dinllaen heading west at 15.20 on 10.10.11

Bottlenose dolphin (1 adult / 1 juvenile) 200m west of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen at 11.45 on 11.11.11

Bottlenose dolphin (4) 2 mile N/E of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen at 14.00 on 12.11.11

Bottlenose dolphin (1 adult / 1 juvenile) west of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen at 16.15 on 17.11.11

Bottlenose dolphin (20) north of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen at 10.50 on 19.11.11

Bottlenose dolphin (4) north east of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen at 12.30 on 19.11.11

Kind regards.

Martin Moore.

National Coastwatch Institution, Porth Dinllaen, Gwynedd.

Thanks for this Martin, great to be able to see something of the bigger picture! In recent years bottles have been turning up in numbers off the Irish coast . I begin to wonder if this might be as a result of the scallop dredgers hammering Cardigan Bay during the winter months, it might also explain my lack of porpoises?

Is the southern Irish Sea the best place in the world to see Risso's Dolphins?

2011-11-20T13:37:00.004Z

(Just in from Adrian Roger),
Jonathan Bennet reports having seen four Risso's just below the cliffs near St Justinians in or around the northern entrance of Ramsey Sound (not specific.) Jonathan is a keen local birder and knows his stuff, so great to get this message through the local birders grapevine!
Update... apparently they were very close in under the cliffs , so close Jonathan could not only see the blows but also the blowholes opening and shutting! Lucky man, it must have been a thrilling few minutes until they moved off to the north, presumably having come through the sound.
I spent a short watch at Strumble with no sightings and begin to wonder why, as I have seen nothing there for some time which is incredibly unusual.

Image: Ramsay Risso's, Rich Crossen sept 09

Although we can never gaurantee Risso's off the coast here they do turn up reasonably frequently. Given decent weather from June through to about now I would put a fair bet on seeing them from the Stena Europe on one of our surveys. There can't be many places where you are in with a good chance of Risso's if you put in a bit of time and effort!

A tale of two octopii

2011-11-12T00:33:00.002Z

images CB

We had four octopus in the tank last year. The first, survived several weeks untill a power cut one night killed most of the tanks inhabitants. Subsequently others survived no more than a couple of days

We have spent a lot of time and money on our aquarium in the Ocean Lab since then and thanks to the know-how of Miguel Sanchez (our erstwhile Faro volunteer now living and studying in Aberystwyth), it is set up pretty well . Sea water aquariums are pretty high maintenance and we have upgraded the filter and cooler system .Tony and Stevo Lucas have given a day most weeks helping me to refresh the water and keep it clean.

I was looking forwards to trying again as they (Octopuses) tend to be found in the fishermens pots as winter sets in. I would not have persevered if it were not for the fact the first one had been fine until the power cut. I got them from local fishermen who would otherwise have killed them as they eat lobsters, so although it was sad that they died they would have been dead anyhow. Better to have a chance with us and to be there for people to see and wonder at them. They are amazing creatures and it blows peoples minds to find out they are actually swimming about no more than half a mile away from the Ocean Lab, in our waters.

I let my fishermen friends know we wanted another octopus if they caught any and within two days we had two! They are now both in the tank, a small one (body size about same as a tangerine), has excavated a burrow in amongst the rocks at one end of the tank and I thought it must have dissapeared until sharp eyed Angela from the Tourist Information Centre spotted it. The second one (body size about the size of an average orange), is less shy and is pretty visible. It also seems pretty voracious having allready killed and eaten a small goby and a bootlace eel! I have now managed to get it to eat tesco peeled prawns and am hoping they will satisfy its appetite.

These octopii are Curled Octopuses Eledone cirrhosa named after their habit of resting with their tentacles curled into ringlets, (see above) . They both seemed to have settled in and although they are related to snails, and other molluscs are considered to be highly intelligent.
I tend to let things go after a while and as these animals natural lifespan is pretty short we will probably let these go after Christmas and hopefully replace them on a regular basis, unless of course they start succesfully predicting the results of football matches!

Posted by walrus at 12:24 AM

Shorter days but they are still out there!

2011-11-07T21:19:00.007Z

Images: Steve Rosser

It is annoying to think how our programme of Stena ferry surveys has been disrupted this autumn by unfavourable weather . Trying to understand what is happening out there is dependant on resonably frequent visits to keep abreast of who is where. As we enter into the winter phase of short days, darkness cuts into our outbound survey at the point where we penetrate what has become known to us as the "Risso's Triangle" a consistantly productive area as we approach the Tusker Light. Luckily we know from our Strumble watchers that Rissos were pretty active off our coast during this period but were they the same animals we had been seeing in the Risso's Triangle?

Again the weather forecast was wrong with higher winds than forcast and rougher seas but none the less we recorded ten sightings of three species in five hours of survey. New girls Jill and Barbara were delighted with several close views of Porpoise ,Common Dolphins as well as porpoise and Risso's the last two of which Steve Rosser managed to photograph. It was hard work and we really had to dig them out, pretty chilly as well!

Thanks again for the help we get from the Stena Team, both onboard and shoreside whose support really makes the difference!

Last chance for October

2011-10-28T20:25:00.002+01:00

Images: Steve Rosser

It seems difficult to believe but there has hardly been a day of calm weather suitable for a Stena Survey since the beginning of September. In past years these months have provided some of our best and most enjoyable surveys with loads of cetacean sightings and plenty of birding interest as well
We just scraped a survey yesterday and today, conditions far from perfect but do-able.
Yesterday after leaving Strumble the sea got up to Sea State 3-4 , and only calmed down as we approached the Tusker. A low sun made life difficult and some small cetaceans on our bow but in the glare remain unidentified. Some very distant huge splashes a few miles off the Irish coast could just be verified as a breaching Risso, but we couldnt find it again as we got closer to the place we last saw it, extremely frustrating!!!
Today dawned calm as we awoke in Rosslare Harbour. Frustration again as several mixed feeding flocks of birds failed to show any cetaceans but as we left the Tusker in our wake a small group of Common Dolphins were milling around ahead of us, only to be lost in the glare as we approached, aaaargh!
Thankfully I located a distant but active pod of about twenty further on, they gave nice if not close views. The conditions were quite calm and we spotted another very distant group which I got in the 'scope and confirmed them as another group of about ten commons.
Things went quiet as it often does in the middle stages but about seven miles off Strumble, we started to see odd porpoises every few minutes ending up with a total of fourteen sightings of three species over our two combined surveys. Worth doing and we had some nice bird sightings,but I hate to think what we missed especially as the crew spoke of large blows seen on both Tuesday and Wednesday about 15 miles off Strumble....

Poppit Bottles

2011-10-24T10:38:00.007+01:00

Image CB

Image: Ernst Schriver

From : John O'Sullivan 7:07 PM (15 hours ago Sunday)
Sat on the grass just above the rocks at the extreme left hand side of popit sands this morning. Within seconds a bottlenose surfaced just offshore. I then lost it for a while but then noticed an odd swirling effect on the basically flat sea just behind the surf line. Realising it was probably the Dolphin I focussed on the spot and was surprised to see a foot and a half ?sea bass jump clear out of the water followed closely by a dolphin. Seconds later a dolphins head appeared with a big fish (same?) across it's mouth. A few minutes later two dolphin appeared, they then seemed to swim straight out to sea. One dolphin had a normal coloured dorsal fin the other had a greyer area towards the top of the dorsal.

Thanks for this John, nice to get one from Poppit on the Teifi Estuary, quite a lot of dolphins have such markings (see above) to see them catching fish is also pretty exciting. I have illustrated it with an image by Ernst Schriver taken off the harbour wall at Newquay earlier this year.

October has been a blustery wet month but even then its possible to get sightings from the shore.

Its looking like we might get out on the Stena Europe on Thursday/Friday/Sat? the first time conditions have been looking favourable since September!

More Strumble Rissos

2011-10-18T17:02:00.002+01:00

From the Pembrokeshire Birds blog news of 18 Risso's off Strumble today - seems highly likely to be the same pod from last Thursday. Thanks Wdigbirder and Richard Davies for braving the cold to spot them!

News in From Red Liford

2011-10-17T21:11:00.001+01:00

Thursday 13th Oct, Strumble Head.

Risso’s dolphins: between 10 am and 11.30 am pod of 19 including 6 calves.
Red also phoned me with a report , apparently they were foraging and he described one of the calves as "snowy" October can be one of the most productive months for Risso's from the ferry but sadly conditions have not been suitable for most of September or this month so far. Hopefully we will get a lull before the end and manage to get out and see them.

Porp pops up... but Steve goes hungry!

2011-10-13T22:59:00.002+01:00

From Steve Rosser - A single porpoise was around my boat for about 5 minutes this afternoon 1 mile south west of Sker Point, Porthcawl. I hope it fed better than we did because all we had was dogfish and conger!

Risso's continue to be sighted from Stormy Strumble!

2011-10-10T13:49:00.000+01:00

A call this morning from Adrian Rogers to tell me he and Chris Grayell both had brief sightings of a big light grey Risso's in the wind lashed waters off Strumble whilst looking for migrating sea birds. There is obviously some inshore Risso's activity going on at the moment and its usually a great month for them off the Stena Europe, although the atrocious mix of wind rain and fog is severely disrupting our Stena Ferry surveys this month.

Wales in New Zealand

2011-10-08T08:21:00.000+01:00

22-10, sorry Ireland...

Rogers finds more Strumbler Risso's...

2011-10-08T00:30:00.003+01:00

A call from Adrian Rogers this evening to tell me he had more Rissos this afternoon at Strumble about 6-9 individuals...
Funny thing is Elfyn, they are on the periphery of the bay but not really in it. they are seen around the Tusker , Arklow Banks, Isle of Man, Bardsey and seem to be around here right into the winter but Steve Hartley has been working the bay, a lot of the time for twenty odd years but dont see them.
WDCS have had funding to study them on Bardsey over the years, but I cant find much info on this. I suggested to them some years ago that we should work together but got nowhere.
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group website has comprehensive info but as yet there is no coordination of effort.

Risso's Dolphins off Bardsey

2011-10-07T19:27:00.003+01:00

Cliff- Just to let you know that I was talking to some of our local Mach. folk the other day viz- Alan and Mair Hughes and they had spent a week on Bardsey Island in mid September and they had seen a group of Risso's dolphins from the island. Historically I'm aware that Risso's are often seen off Bardsey and it intrigues why that is. What is it that attracts these enigmatic animals to Cardigan Bay in general? Is the Bay a productive area for squid which is an important food item on the Risso's menu? Why is it that nobody is conducting a study into this theory? You and I know that the Bay is probably one of the best places in the 'World' to see this species and yet there doesn't seem to be any organised and detailed scientific study conducted to establish why the Bay is so vitally important to their survival. It's now well recognised that over the last few years 'Sea Trust' has amassed some vitally important data on the abundance and distribution of Risso's in Cardigan Bay particularly on the Fishguard-Rosslare ferry route and in my opinion, for what it's worth, a more thorough and detailed study should be conducted into the population dynamics of the Risso's dolphin in the Bay.

More Ramsey Risso's!

2011-10-07T17:39:00.001+01:00

Another 2 (or same two as yesterday?!) off the north end at 15:35. Not seen for long due to very rough seas

Risso's around and about...

2011-10-07T00:14:00.002+01:00

Risso's passed by Strumble around eight o clock I think, 6+ seen by Adrian Rogers and the the same group or maybe more, seen by Pete Murray, I will try and get more accurate timings Greg, but I suspect yours were seperate.
I arrived a bit later and it was obvious given the big seas that getting an accurate count would be difficult.although the Strumblers assure me they got some cracking views as the Risso's seemed to be on a mission.
The interesting thing is that over the years we have seen Risso's pass east into Cardigan Bay and return west out of Cardigan bay but there are virtually no sightings of Risso's much further north than Fishguard untill you get sightings from the Lleyn and off Anglesey.

Ramsey Risso's

2011-10-06T18:13:00.001+01:00

2 Risso's dolphins off north end of Ramsey on a morning seawatch at 08:10. Strumble had 6+ past around this time so might have been part of same group?

More from Stevo and Chris...

2011-10-05T08:59:00.000+01:00

Monday 3rd October
Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 2pm andWe saw 3-4 Harbour Porpoises in the ebbing tide.The time of the sighting was roughly about 2:10pm ishThe sea conditions was quite a brisk south westerly winddifficult to pick out amongst the white horses
Cheers Stevo

Aber Bottlenose

2011-10-03T14:55:00.002+01:00

Hello there.

I took this photographs from the beacon at the entrance to the Marina Aberystwyth on Thursday 29th Sept.

I'm sorry the quality is not very good as they were taken with a pocket camera.

Regards Christine Davies

Thanks Christina - good to have your report.

Porps around Fishyguard. north and south! Thursday 31stSept

2011-10-03T06:50:00.001+01:00

Intrepid sailor Ian Hotchin phoned in to let us know there were two adult porpoises feeding just NW of Dinas Head this afternoon as he was sailing by!
I was also out at Strumble the other side of Fishguard watching Porpoises sub surfing as a bright sun made the tops of the big combers coming in from the west transparent. As the waves subside the porps seemed to pop out onto the surface .

Bottlenose Bonanza

2011-10-02T17:44:00.002+01:00

....and the Bottlenose activity continues......on charter this morning we picked up Dolphins as we rounded Cardigan Island spread over a wide area......between the Island and Mwnt there were literally Dolphins active everywhere you looked. Sulaire was out from Newquay undertaking CCW photo ID work (approaching the Dolphins and called us up to explian why they were doing so.....)

We counted at least three mothers with calves and were treated to some great acrobatic displays whilst sat at rest.....We reckoned on having seem in excess of 25 animals!!

We then headed over to Ceibwr where we picked up another couple of animals......just fantastic!

Strumble Porpoises

2011-10-01T22:00:00.000+01:00

From Andrew & Ruth Crowder - A couple of hours at Strumble this afternoon in calm conditions. Only 3 porpoise seen, 2 adults and 1 older calf/juvenile - the two adults were feeding constantly with the calf surfacing often on its own, about twice as frequently as the adults. Also 6-7 grey seals.

Indian Summer Sunshine and wall to wall Bottlenose....

2011-09-29T15:52:00.003+01:00

A fun, warm and very sunny few hours at sea this morning on a wildflife watching charter......The birding was a bit 'light' but the Bottlenose were out en masse.....

We picked up a lone animal alongside the Mwnt......two further pairs as we headed alongside the coast towards Aberporth.....a couple more inside the bay to the South of the RAE headland. Whilst sat drifting watching these animals, two larger pods arrived one group of 6 the other 5 animals including two mothers with calves...... One of the calves was very pale in colour and briefly put on an acrobatic display. Cliff has questioned whether the pale calf could be leucistic.....I need to get some more /better images!! I have attached a couple of the better (still not good) shots.....

And in the middle!

2011-09-28T11:57:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 27th September
Chris and I went to Mwnt at 12pm and we saw 8 Bottlenose Dolphins with mothers and calves swimming together but could be more in the bay itself and then later on I saw an extra 2 more Bottlenose Dolphins when we got up on the headland and they were still there when we left them up for an hour.And then we saw lots of display with lots of splashing activity they were doing breaching and long dives right in front of us.The sea conditions was quite calm and not a ripple
from Stevo Lucas

Its all happening up North!

2011-09-28T11:53:00.001+01:00

F.A.O. Cliff Benson,
Cliff,
I have recently taken over as public relations officer for the National Coastwatch Institution station at Porth Dinllaen, Gwynedd. One of my new jobs is to report dolphin and porpoise sightings to the appropriate monitoring groups.
So, starting from weekend 10/11 September 2011:
Bottlenose Dolphin (20+) passing Trywn Porth Dinllaen about 1km offshore heading SW - 11.15am 15.09.11
Risso's Dolphin (2 adults) feeding 50m to north of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen, departed to SW - 10.30am 25.09.11
Bottlenose Dolphin (6+) 1km NW of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen, possibly hunting as a group with a lot of breaching - 1.00pm 25.09.11
Sunday was a good day at Porth Dinllaen! I observed the Risso's myself from close range and I am 100% sure of the species ID.
I'll send future sighting information at 2 / 3 week intervals.
Kind regards,
Martin Moore.NCI, Porth Dinllaen

Ramsey Sounds exciting:report from Malcom Barradell

2011-09-28T09:30:00.001+01:00

Image MB.

Hi Cliff,

some lively porpoise in the sound today several adults and calfs...

Some big tides at the moment may be pushing animals together or concentrating fish ?

Image MB

What a gas! from somewhere at sea .

2011-09-27T09:33:00.002+01:00

I saw a few Common Dolphins today it was 930 (23^rd Sept) , 10 miles SW of St Ann’s head, 11 animals altogether,ships name is Mekaines.

Just got this via Facebook, Rye is on one of the massive LNG ships the "Mekaines" which offloads at South Hook in the Milford Haven....

Strumble Grampus...Ramsay Porps...

2011-09-27T08:36:00.000+01:00

I met up at Strumble yesterday with Adrian Rogers who had seen a single Risso's before I got there at around 08.30 It was seen briefly to the SW through his telescope about a mile out.
Lots of gannets and plenty of porpoises but dofficult to count in the roughish tiderace.
Alison Ross rang me to say she had been on Ramsey with Greg and Lisa studying the Porpoises in the sound as part of an ongoing project. Apparently plenty of porpoises there including a mother with a small calf.

Right Whale is right whale for Wales!

2011-09-26T09:35:00.002+01:00

The sighting of a rare southern right whale off New Plymouth's coast yesterday is being touted as a good omen for the Wales rugby team.

Welsh tourists Dave Robinson and Aled Mainwaring were out with Dave Chadfield of Chaddy's Charters, near Barrett Reef, about 12.15pm yesterday when the whale and its calf appeared from the deep, right in front of the boat.
Mr Robinson, who is in Taranaki visiting his daughter Jane Moffitt ahead of the match, described it as a fantastic sight.
"They are quite rare. Here we were going out for a gentle ride and we come across one of the giants of the sea," he said. "We're seeing whales and we're from Wales."
Mr Mainwaring said it was a real bonus to see the whale, which was estimated to be about 18m long.
"It was brilliant, we were out looking for seals. It just goes to show what Taranaki has to offer," he said.
The men agreed spotting the whale was a sign of good things to come from the Welsh rugby team. "It's definitely a good omen for Monday night's game," Mr Mainwaring said.
And he was right Wales got off to a cracking start with a penalty in the first five minutes and three trys in the first twenty...they lost the plot horribly in the following twenty minutes but with Andy Powell on the field in the second half, Wales were back on track for a tryfest ...Wales 81 Namibia 7....

Amroth Porpoise

2011-09-23T10:20:00.000+01:00

From Colin Russell - 18/09/2011, Harbour Porpoise, 2 adult, 2 calf, SN160064, inshore between Amroth and Wiseman’s Bridge.

Ouch!

2011-09-21T23:43:00.001+01:00

Hi Cliff, I was about to mail you yesterday but checked the blog first,
I was so gutted about the Risso..........anyway I got over it. Just to say Porpoise were showing very well yesterday from my vantage point at Penmaenmelyn. Yes I was there and apparently missed a Risso that moved North to South against the tide down the Sound. Reported by the skipper of the Gower Ranger and apprently seen by 40 CCW bods aboard......or are they just winding me up?????
That is my fourth Risso miss, they get closer but????
cheers
Malcolm

Ramsey Sound

2011-09-20T18:56:00.000+01:00

A single Risso's dolphin in Ramsey Sound this afternoon

Strumble

2011-09-19T20:42:00.000+01:00

From Stevo - Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 1:55pm and

We saw 5 Harbour Porpoises but could be more in the ebbing tide.

The time of the sighting was roughly 3pm.

The sea conditions were choppy with a stiff south westerly wind force 5

Nice one sailor!

2011-09-19T20:15:00.000+01:00

Sunday 18th Sept'
Hi Cliff,

Don't know if you are interested! I just saw a pod of Dolphins playing near the ship! we are about 20-25 Nm off St Anns head(I asked Jason for more info and recieved this, I am guessing they were Common Dolphins)
Jason wrote: "Hi cliff. It was the Umm Slal. It was about mid afternoon yesterday. I think it was about 5-7 dolphins! They looked pretty happy, jumping and playing within about 10-20 metres from the ship. They hung around for about 30 minutes or so, we then altered course and they disappeared! Happy to help mate.

Wales in Wales just tops 50,000 visits!

2011-09-18T12:41:00.001+01:00

Fin Whale Blows off the Pembrokeshire Coast, August 2011. (Rich Crossen)

When Rich Crossen , (originator of the fantastically successful Pembrokeshire Birds Blogspot) first suggested we start a cetacean blog to raise awareness of our incredibly rich marine megafauna (big sea creatures!) I wondered just how many people would be interested. I dreamt up the slightly cheezy name "Whales in Wales" which at the time seemed a bit ambitious as hardly anyone believed or knew there were ever whales in Welsh waters .
Our first posting was in February 2009 and since then posts have kept coming in on a weekly, sometimes daily basis from many contributors, over 580 posts from all over the principality!
Not only that but the sightings are year round giving a marvellous insight into what is actually happening around the Welsh Coast in terms of marine animals sightings. These have included : Whales (Minke, Fin and recently Humpback), Dolphins (Common Risso's and Bottlenose) , Porpoises, Sharks (Basking, Blue and Porbeagle), Seals, Sunfish and even a couple of incredibly rare Leatherback Turtles.

So much of our coast and seas are underwatched that such records can never be considered comprehensive.We can also see by the way the amount of sightings increase during those rare but profitable periods of calm conditions that theres probably a lot more going on than we are ever likely to be able to record. None the less these sightings have significance, forming a valuable perspective on the seasonality, presence and to some degree abundance of these creatures in Welsh Waters.

People often ask me if there are more sightings than there used to be? but before Sea Trust started their monthly ferry surveys back in 2004 there were very few year round studies to compare them with certainly nothing as comprehensive as ours. (although some single observer sightings over sevceral years kindly donated by Ian Hotchin from his time working on Irish Ferries are a useful resource)

Since the blog began it appears that Common Dolphins have been recorded right through the winter months and Rosso's are much more common than we ever would have believed with Risso's having been recorded on at least every second crossing on average from June to November with several sightings being quite normal on many surveys. This year in the months of June and July we had twenty one Minke Whale sightings wheras we had only thirty three for the whole of the previous seven years. Bottlenose Dolphins have been commonly reported from Fishguard right up to The Lleyn and Anglesey but are hardly ever seen from the Stena Europe between Fishguard to Rosslare.

The reasons behind these anomalies and discoveries are not particularly obvious but with more and more sightings and observations we can hopefully begin to form the right kind of questions that might begin to lead to some sensible answers!

Leatherback Turtle and Risso's from Adrian Rogers!

2011-09-18T08:24:00.001+01:00

Friday night Saturday Morning...
I had just gone home...
Good Evening Cliff ,

Did end up getting a few birds at Strumble earlier ( an Ad Long Tailed , yippeeee! ) , but the 2 or posssibly 3 Risso's that went through beyond the tide race at exactly 16.00 started off my enjoyable hour & a half.
and then...Although we had a good morning with seabirds this morning , they were eclipsed at 12.30 by a HUGE LEATHERBACK TURTLE just beyond the first buoy so at a distance of no more than 200 yards. It was picked up by two visiting birders , on their first visit i think ( i bet they'll come back ! ) & myself Richard Stonier & John Faithfull from Sussex all got views before it sunk away .
Cheers
Adrian
Recent press statements by the Marine Conservation Society in which Welsh waters were described as "Turtle Heaven" and our seas full of jellyfish are an exaggeration, in fact most observers who spend a lot of time looking at our sea's including myself and Adrian think jellyfish numbers have decreased in recent years in Pembrokeshire waters. As such this is a pretty significant sighting.
Between us and the other regular Strumblers who have amassed tens of thousands of hours watching from this prolific headland (in terms of marine megafauna sightings) over the past thirty odd years, I can only recall five sightings of Leatherbacks. I have only ever seen one live one and the long dead remains of two others washed ashore.
With something like twenty thousand hours or so observing the southern Irish/Celtic Sea and Bristol Channel from land on off various boats /ships, it would be my considered opinion that they are extremely rare. Well done Strumblers!

Sea Trust Celtic Wildcat Survey, Thursday 15th Sept...

2011-09-16T10:43:00.004+01:00

What with the tail ends of a couple of hurricanes and one of the biggest seas I have experienced off Strumble last Monday, the chances of getting out yesterday seemed slim. Against the odds and much to my relief and that of boat trip organiser Rich Crossen, my hunch that it would be OK out there paid off and we had a fantastic day of Birds and Dolphins on a relatively calm sea beneath sunny skies.
Our 92 mile Oddysey around Grassholm and the Smalls produced great birds (includingSabines Gull, Bonxie, Stormies etc).
Grassholm still had plenty of Gannets with plenty of Gugas still wing flapping, A Trawler had loads of Fulmars and gulls but also a handfull of Stormies which flitted around the boat giving superb views.
A single whale blow had us all scanning for its owner who sadly failed to materialise and we had a long wait untill we connected with any Dolphins. We were almost at the point of thinking they were a lost cause when Simon West (who had travelled from North London to be with us) let out a yell and soon a pod was swinging in to bowride. From then on we had them most of the way back in to the Haven, probably 200+ . although we recorded a more conservative 150! A lost migrating reed warbler saught refuge and we manged to catch it and bag it up before releasing it as we came in to Neyland. It flew off into a bush, after a moments contemplation sitting on my fingers. It was certainly the Reed Warblers lucky day and great day thoroughly enjoyed by all of us, thanks Nick! For more pics click here

From Phil Lees...

2011-09-16T09:46:00.001+01:00

Enquiry Hi Cliff
At Pen Pedol Tuesday and Thursday - saw maximum of 3 porps - mum and calf together not sure about the other one.
Hwyl, Phil

From Rod Penrose...

2011-09-14T11:09:00.000+01:00

Apologies if you’ve already had these.

Photos sent by Jan in Cornwall. Bnd monitored in the harbour and around St Michaels Mount last week.

I think you would know if you’ve seen this one!
Regards

Rod.
Rod Penrose, Strandings Co-ordinator (Wales)

Really is a pretty recognisable fin, sadly looks like a prop hit it? Lots of Porpoises at Strumble still but difficult to count in the mad sea conditions. Dying down now lets hope its calmed down for tommorows wildcat trip!Odd sunfish also showing as well had quite abig one on Sunday evening.

From Mark Hambley...

2011-09-11T13:16:00.003+01:00

Hi Cliff,
Just wanted to write to say “thank you” for the Dolphinothon last week.
We all enjoyed it. Your patience in getting the girls familiar with the telescopes was appreciated and the sense of patient watching which started to be instilled during the trip certainly paid off at Mwnt on Friday where, after an afternoon on the beach, we spent some time at the top of the cliffs shortly after 5pm watching two or three bottlenose dolphins backwards and forwards across the mouth of the bay. Also a seal. They wanted to wait around to see if anything else showed up.
Seeing the pictures on the blog highlighted another reason why I really should get round to buying a digital SLR!
Hope that we can join you again in the future and will certainly keep an eye on blog from time to time over the coming months.

Best wishes and keep up the good work.

Mark Hambly
Always rewarding and fun to get youngsters started Mark, I think Jess got on well with the girls as well and was certainly on the ball, allthingsgood, cliff

Porpoises popping up all over!

2011-09-08T22:12:00.001+01:00

Hi Cliff,

The rough weather has quietened things down in the Sound,

however happy to find today that there are still plenty of porpoise about.

Lots of walkers today, many enjoying porpoise doing their thing between the copper mines and the bitches.

A little added bonus today was a Sunfish headed down the Sound, plenty of seals and pups around too,

and Gnnets and young Auks and and.. what a place, the light there today was amazing at times, and the backdrop of Ramsey Island now in its purple heather phase and a good sea running too,

love it..

cheers

Malcolm
Nice one Malcolm, apparently the Strumble porpoises are there in big numbers 100+ allthingsgood, walrus.

Malcolm also sentr these photo's. The top one looks like a female with a well grown calf to me going on general colouring head and fin shape....

W.O.W. (Wildlife Observer Wales) courses

2011-09-08T21:15:00.018+01:00

I would like to add a comment to the previous reviewers report on the benefits of attending the 'Wildlife Observer Wales' courses which were developed and are run jointly with Cliff Benson of 'Sea Trust' and the Coastal Zone & Marine Environment Studies Department of the Pembrokeshire college in Haverfordwest. The courses are accredited as OCN (Outside College Network) level 3 modules. For the past 3 days I have been on the W.O.W. 'Seals' course at the college which was the first of it's kind and I can say without reservation that it was excellent. Our lecturers from the college were Steve Morris and Powell Strong both of whom are recognised authorities on the Atlantic grey seal especially in Welsh waters so as you would expect our expert tuition was second to none. This year I have attended three of the W.O.W. courses commencing with the one on 'Seabirds' followed by the one on 'Cetaceans' and finally the 'Seals' course and I have enjoyed every one of them. Each course has not only given me an introduction to the I.D. of each particular group of animals and birds covered but also a basic insight into their biology too. Each course includes in-depth and detailed instruction on how to conduct scientific surveys on their populations from the perspective of both land based and boat surveys. The courses consist of a mixture of classroom work with subsequent written tests followed by a good deal of fieldwork. The fieldwork I mention is carried out in some of the prime wildlife watching locations in Pembrokeshire and so mix that with the great company of people from all walks of life but with a mutual interest and you have a recipe for a good course as each one I attended turned out to be. Anyone residing in Wales, or indeed anywhere in the UK come to that, with an interest in the marine environment and the animals which inhabit it should attend one if not all of the said courses and in doing so it will give you a better understanding of the natural World around us and perhaps persuade you to look at the environment in a more scientific (but not to scientific!) way without detracting from the aesthetic pleasure of watching wildlife. Please don't be scared off by the mention of 'science' as it's all actually quite easy to understand even for a simple layman like myself! So next year when the course dates are advertised (presumably on here and elsewhere) please sign yourself up for one or more of the courses I can assure you that you will gain great benefit from it. It's really like a mini-break in lovely Pembrokeshire!

I have actually checked with the college today (9/9/11) and there are still spaces left on the W.O.W. 'Seals' course which takes place at the college between 24th & 26th October.

If you are attending a course from Wales or outside and looking for good accommodation then I highly recommend the 'College Guest House' situated in St Thomas' Green in Haverfordwest only a 10 minute drive away and within easy walking distance from the Pembrokeshire college. I stayed there on each occasion as did a few other course participants. Take a peek at their website which is www.collegeguesthouse.com. The guest house is close to the leisure centre where there is free parking so you can have a swim or even a workout in the gym after a long hard day in the classroom and in the field!

Plentiful Porpoise single Bottle

2011-09-07T21:56:00.000+01:00

One might be forgiven for thinking that cetacean watching would be a forlorn hope today with huge seas and dull conditions but Strumbles finest were out in force spotting great sherwaters and Sabines gulls whilst also spotting wall to wall porpoises estimated at 100 + (Rickardo Davies) Its the kind of numbers that used to be reasonably normal for Strumble but not so often now. A single Bottlenose was spotted off the Northern side of Dinas Island (Cym yr Eglws) by Steve Berry this morning, not bad given the weather!

From Monday, Stevo's report...

2011-09-06T21:23:00.002+01:00

Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 3pmWe saw 3 Harbour Porpoises but could be more in the ebbing tide race.The sea conditions were moderate to large waves force 5 westerly windsCheers Stevo
Adrian Rogers was there and reported that there were at least 15 so yep Stevo as you thought there were more, Adrian had also seen a Sunfish.

Wow cetacean course August 23rd-25th

2011-09-06T13:43:00.001+01:00

Whilst volunteering at Seatrust I was lucky enough to go on a cetacean wildlife Observer Wales course which proved extremely useful in the recent Dolphinothon! It was very interactive, hands on and friendly and the main emphasis was on correct identification of cetaceans, but also the importance of the survey’s themselves and some background, very interesting biology aspects of cetaceans. Did you know there are 6 functions of blubber?!

As well as the classroom side of it, on each of the three days we did some practical surveying at Strumble head, Ramsey sound and then on a 2 hour boat trip from New Quay. Both porpoises and bottlenose dolphins were sighted (Identified using our newly acquired ID skills!) and recorded. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in the welfare of cetaceans, wanting to expand their knowledge and have more confidence in identifying cetaceans. The picture below is the team at New Quay having just got off the boat and finished the course!

Text and Picture: Jessica Creak

Dolphin-Othon completed Sept 3rd (still recovering!)

2011-09-05T22:51:00.008+01:00

The last day of the Dolphin-Othon started looking disasterous with winds andd rain forecasted. We gave the team (Crazy Gang) the option of cancelling but they were all up for it so we (Jess Barbara and the Walrus) decided to give it a go!

It started with a bang when just as the team (Shirley Matthews, Richard Campbell, Sean Mc Carthy, Angela Latimer Davies, Peter and Alison Lock ) got on the bridge, (late having been delayed by rain), seven Common Dolphins appeared just in front of the ferry in amongst a flurry of Gannets.

Then, just a little while later, Sean spied some Risso’s very close on the starboard side. So despite wind, rain and cold this bunch of full-on enthuisiasts got some of the best views of the week.

The rest of the crossing lacked in many more cetacean sightings, just a couple of Porpoises to end with off the Tusker. Very enthusiastic attention was paid to the vast numbers of birds in the Irish side. Skuas, Terns and Manxies were all ticked off the checklist.

After another delicious meal at the Harbour View Hotel (thanks guys) and a few Guiness’ later we embarked the ferry once again and had a very interesting journey whereby an excellent quantity of Guiness’ and glasses of wine were consumed to celebrate an excellent few days of high grade Cctacean watching!

Overall an extremely successful Dolphinothon with a total 296 cetacean sightings in just 18hours of effort – 63 porpoises, 158 Commons, 64 Risso’s, 3 bottlenoses and a few other unidentified cetacean sightings.

Thank you to all those that joined in the fun Dolphinators and Sea Trust Monitors and we look forward to

next year! Thanks especially to Stena Line Fishguard and Rosslare, Senior Master Callum Clare and all the officers, crew and shore staff who gave us their support and patience!Jess and the Walrus

Caemes Dolphins

2011-09-05T09:44:00.001+01:00

From John O'Sullivan - Saturday 3 September am: An hour seawatch and trip around Caemes Head was very quiet apart from a pod of around 8 Bottlenose Dolphins just off shore for around half an hour. 5 Kept very close together with at least a couple of others dotted around the main group. A small number of porpoise were also dotted further out. One of the dolphins had a distinctive bi-coloured dorsal fin with the top edge a paler grey and seemingly eroded away/damaged.

Friday 2nd September

2011-09-03T12:43:00.002+01:00

The weather forecast looked ominous as we left the house to head for Pembroke dock to embark on another wildcat experience, but as we set out on the water, the clouds parted and out came the sun. Today we (the Walrus and Jessica) were joined by Steve and Anthony Lucas, Steve Rosser, the Slocomb family, the Cripps ladies, Elfyn Pugh and our Peter Boyle. The winds were force 3 to 4 and so choppy water was going to make it difficult to catch any cetacean sightings – especially those fin whales again, but moral was high and everyone scoured the ocean for the odd fin or splash. Everyone was delighted when we ran into 3 separate pods of common dolphins – showing off jumping and riding the bow wave; we were surrounded at all angles. After a while we headed for Grassholm to see what was left of the gannet colony. We were greeted with many still very young birds – all fluffed up (see pictures), and seals sunbathing on the rocks below. A wonderful sight but not sure about the smell! We finished the trip and birthed just as the good weather window began to close. Overall a very successful trip and; after only seeing the cetaceans from miles away and high up on the ferry bridge, it was incredible being able to almost reach out and touch them! My first real up-close and personal trip with the dolphins.

Photographs: Jessica Creak

Lots going on!

2011-09-02T21:58:00.003+01:00

Crikey so much going on , really finding it difficult to keep up!
firstly and belelatedly and with apologies ...
Elizabeth Walters ...Aug 30 (3 days ago)
Hi - I'm sure your more than familiar with spotting dolphin and porpoises from st David's head but we were amazed! Two porpoises on the far side away from whitesands beach. Just thought we'd let you know.
Sent from my iPhone...
then...
Thursday 1st September
Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 2:15pm.We saw 3- 4 Harbour Porpoises in the ebbing tide race.Sea conditions was calm and hardly a ripple Cheers Stevo...

Anyhow despite a far from encouraging forecast I decided we would risk it and not cancel todays Wildcat trip. And so we were lucky again with far less wind than forecast with plenty of sunshine and Dolphins. We had several encounters and lots of sea birds culminating in a 100+ feeding frenzy, more from Jessica later...

Aberystwyth & Porthmadog Bottlenose Dolphins

2011-09-01T20:04:00.003+01:00

A sunny and generally flat calm couple of days working our way up through Cardigan Bay from Newport Pembs to Porthmadog working rivers, estuaries and outer sites (middle of Bay) on the way (water sampling). Day one revealed no cetaceans and relatively little else of note......but today made up for it. Heading out of Aberystywyth Marina (immediately outside the harbour wall) we met a lone young Bottlenose who was idly milling about (0830hrs BST). We sat at rest (engines off) and he briefly headed over to check us out before going on with his bimble.....(last image above)

At sea there were large rafts of Razorbills in their winter plumage as well as Shearwaters.....As we headed in from our final site 25Kms outside Porthmadog (at around 5kms out) we were met by a feeding frenzie of 6 Bottlenose (with calf) with one breaching clear.....all joined by lots of Shearwaters and several Gannets. We then headed in further and picked up another pod of six animals also feeding......all go in Porthmadog!

Dolphin-Othon,Wednesday 31st August

2011-09-01T11:44:00.003+01:00

Images: &Words: Jessica Creak

Wednesday morning brought with it, as well as a warm but glaring sun, a large number of Risso’s dolphins. In just a 13 minute time window, 32 Risso’s showed us their fins. This wasn’t the only sighting of the morning however, Commons and porpoises were also to be seen, earmarked by feeding gannets near both the Irish and Welsh coast.

We had a large crowd of cetacean spotters joining us in the afternoon; including the Hambley’s and the Wiseman’s along with Stevo and Tony Lucas. The trip swiftly became very exciting with a sighting of a pod of over 100 common dolphins.

Spotted by the Walrus a few miles out we waited patiently for them to come into view, and with Sarah and Susan (12 and 14) mastering the telescopes everyone was very happy to catch the active pod breaching all over the place. Our friends the Risso’s also popped up again as we entered the infamous “Risso’s Triangle” so overall another very successful trip! Bring on Friday.

Dolpinothon day two just gets better...

2011-08-30T21:27:00.016+01:00

We get about an hour in between arriving in Fishguard and then setting sail again on the afternoon sailing to Rosslare. In that time we have to drive to and from my house , I sort out emails etc try and work out what the weather is likely to do, eat something and then meet the next team get onboard and set up for the next leg. Its hectic but with a calm sea, nice overcast sky and plenty of sightings this morning, Jessica and the Walrus wer still pretty keen to get back out onto the Ship and see what else is out there...
The afternoon session began with the Gambicatsteam (Frances, Helen and Godfrey) joining us, we clocked up more Porpoises, Risso's as well as a couple of enigmatic but distant large whale sightings , all very exciting but also a little frustrating, as they were unresolved as to species.

Image: Jessica Creak

This morning has dawned bright with a bit of breeze, its not going to be easy on our eyes but with a bit of luck we will add a few more animals to our score!

Dolpin-Othon day two! Rosslare -Fishguard leg.

2011-08-30T13:12:00.005+01:00

Second day out from Rosslare and started dull overcast with choppy sea dying down to almost nothing on the Welsh side. 15 sightings some better than others but Rissos and Porpoises added to species list more later.... Ps, thanks for Phone message Ian, yep we got the Bottles from the ship!

The Dolphin-Othon Begins!

2011-08-30T08:11:00.001+01:00

Sea Trust volunteer monitors (Jessica Creak and Ana Cowie and the walrus) met up with the Fishguard Ladies Jemima Rowing Team, aboard the Stena Europe yesterday (Monday 29/8/11) to begin this years annual Dolphin-Othon.
The voyage started with a bang when we spotted the bottles off the breakwater, a female with a young calf, probably the same ones as seen by Ian Hotchin on Sunday.
Sea State was quite choppy which with a bright sun made for difficult viewing conditions. None the less distant feeding gannets were seen and under one the splashes of dolphins. Not particularly satisfying for our Jemmima's but about half way across, I spotted Common Dolphins breaching in the distance. To squeals of delight they came racing into our bow (see Jessica's pic)

Another distant sighting brought the total to four, about thirty animals, a great start!

Fishguard Bottles report again from Ian

2011-08-29T09:01:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately I could not get there immediately to see them yesterday, but Ian reported a mother and calf hanging around the harbour entrance and some more further out into the bay. We arrived a couple of hours later and could not find them so perhaps they have had their weekend holiday in Fishyguard and returned to the north! Ian said that was the direction they were heading in when he last saw them.
We will be starting our annual Dolphin-Othon today finishing on Sunday Morning. the forecast looks good for the next few days so lets hope our teams see some really good stuff!

Backyard Bottles are Topnotch!

2011-08-28T13:10:00.000+01:00

Another call from Sea Trust supporter/yachtsman Ian Hotchin yesterday afternoon had me rushing out to the outer breakwater at Fishguard to try and photograph the bottlenose dolphins he had reported.
It seemed there were two seperate pods, one off the end of the breakwater, the other out towards Pen Anglas
I took a lot of photo's and have not managed to go through them all but I think one was "Topknotch" who seems to be a regular visitor though more often seen around Mwnt/Cardigan Island. More later...

Strumbler Stonier, had a whale of a time!

2011-08-28T09:52:00.004+01:00

I had permission to use this image but can't remermber who I got it from, apologies!

*** Humpback Whale ***

Seen at 1410 for at least 5 mins moving East into bay and breaching. It must have breached (complete breach) at least 8 times. (Lost count in excitement!)

Sunfish - 2

Common Porpoise - Showing quite well late afternoon in reasonable numbers

Posted by Richard Stonier at 6:17 PM (passed on by RS from Pembs Bird Blog)

This is the second, Humpback sighting from Strumble and a just reward for one of its most concientious observers... Well Done Richard! First sighting was in June 2005 during a Sea Trust National Biodiversity Week event seen by Bethan Cox, Chantal Bloomink and the Walrus. I filmed it and its on You Tube although its not very good as its very distant and only really distinguishable as as Humpy in the last couple of seconds of the clip. None the less it is a good record shot! Heledd (nee) Phillips reported a large whale she suspected of being a Humpback a year or so before that, but was not certain.I have to say we were all a bit sceptical at the time but I am inclined to believe she was right! Its certainly worth a mention,so this is probably the third ever reported Humpback for West Wales although only the second confirmed sighting.
This year I had a brief sighting of one from the Ferry but in Irish Waters. Last Weeks Fin Whale encounter inthe Celtic Deep had a distant whale that breached several times which we suspected of being a Humpy... Just goes to show its always worth having a look at Strumble, with two whale species this week

Cardigan Island sweep-up

2011-08-26T21:31:00.002+01:00

We are still working away in Grimsby, and also (mid week) in Milford Haven on Enviro Monitoring Charter, but have managed to get out of Cardigan /home over the past few days, so wanted to post up a few sightings:

Weds 24th - Cardigan Lifeboat: 1900hrs pod of 7 Bottlenose heading towards Mwnt three juveniles in the pod.

Fri 26th - Two Bottlenose briefly surfaced alongside the RIB as we made way through Cardigan Island Sound towards Mwnt (heavy chop)....surfaced twice each to see what we were, and then dissapeared.....

Belatedly from "Stevo"...

2011-08-26T16:56:00.001+01:00

Saturday 20th August

Mum and I went to Mwnt at 1-3pm and

We saw a group of 5 Bottlenose Dolphins with a calf at 2pm.

They were travelling across the headland but very closely in and then another group of 3 Bottlenose Dolphins came in to Mwnt bay and

they were feeding and milling around in front of us when they were still there when we left the watch and we also saw a couple of gannets circling and diving in the sea.

The sea conditions was south westerly wind force 3

Cheers

Stevo

P:S 3 species in 24 hours Commons / Fin Whales/ and bottles awesome stuff!

Yep Stevo, and with Bottlenose Dolphin frome Steve Hartleys boat "Sulaire" on the last day of our Wildlife Observer Wales Cetaceans course three species (Porpoise, Minke Whale and Bottlenose Dolphin) we finished the course in grand style. As you say the cetacean watching in West Wales is awesome!

WOW... a Minke Whale.

2011-08-24T22:40:00.007+01:00

Day two of WOW course and after Biology lecture /exam in Ocean Lab we went on to practice ID and Recording skills at Strumble Head.
Around 30 Gannets were wheeling about foraging about a mile out. Porpoises were present but not making much of a show, certainly much more restrained than yesterday. whilst scanning ,Powell and a couple of others were left off balance by a small whale that made a subtle low key appearance before disappearing without a trace! it was undoubtedly a Minke when all the relevant details were put together, a rare but valuable sighting from Wales premier land based cetacean lookout! two species logged with the hope of Bottlenose Dolphin with Steve Hartley on "Sulaire" tomorrow on our last day!

WOW Course Porp's in Ramsey Sound

2011-08-24T08:35:00.005+01:00

Image: James Davis

Just a brief visit to Ramsey Sound yesterday afternoon with our WOW course Students produced some smashing views of Porpoises (from the Copper Mines) , surging down the sound against the tide, their blunt snouts and silvery sides clearly visible!

A surprising lack of cetaceans ...

2011-08-22T23:06:00.002+01:00

A last minute ferry training session for new volunteer Jessica Creak in less than perfect conditions, although today better than yesterdayday, produced a small surprise.Yesterday a couple of Risso's sightings and common dolphins, today nothing except a dead seal! surprisingly no porpoises. Despite it being a training sessiomn with only myself and Jessica, we were trying hard and Helmsman, Alan Murrow, was also trying hard to spot animals adding a couple of sightings yesterday. Senior Master, Collum Claire, rushed out from the bridge to try and get us onto "a fin" off Strumble but we could not find it... seems we were just a couple of hours too late...

Good Afternoon Cliff ,
At about 8.15 this morning i had 10 to 15 Common Dolphin move East to West quite slowly ( it took about 20 mins ) , 1 obvious small animal in the group.
Cheers
Adrian

Fin Whales!

2011-08-20T14:09:00.006+01:00

What an experience yesterday! The hour or so that we spent with the 10 to 12 Fin Whales some 36 miles out from Pembrokeshire in the Celtic Deep was truly wonderful. The Whales were busy feeding, coming to the surface to breathe for a few minutes then disappearing for 5 minutes or so to reappear with much splashing. On occasion they could be seen rolling over showing their Pectoral Fins -see gallery of photos here . One animal, a long way off was seen to breach twice. The Dolphins and 1000's of Manx Shearwaters in attendance added to the drama. Click here for a BBC Wales News article on the encounter

So, another successful Sea Trust cetacean survey despite the rough sea conditions and the grey skies. The surveys have become very popular attracting people from far and wide. On yesterday's trip we had a family of five from Norwich (including an 86 year old grandmother who enjoyed it immensely despite a soaking), a couple from Sussex honeymooning in Pembrokeshire, a chap who had driven down from Cambridge overnight to join us and a photographer who is currently putting together a Hungarian language photobook on Wales! The next two trips are sold out but some places remain on the trips on 15 and 29 September.

Zippedydoohdah! fintastic Whales in Wales!

2011-08-19T18:40:00.009+01:00

I sat in my garden at 6.30 am, drinking tea, sadly aware of the fact that the sunny calm morning was going to deteriorate. The only question was when? Would we be able to get out to the Celtic deep before the forcasted winds got up and made a mess of our hopes to see the fin whales we knew to be out there?
Hardly a breeze as we ate our bacon butties at Neyland Marina and the party gathered whilst Nick readied the "Celtic Wildcat" for our mission , for we were most definately on a mission...
Plan was, bat on out to Nicks happy hunting grounds with the rising wind in our teeth and hope when we got there:
(A) there would be some Whales
(B) the sea would not be too rough to see them!
Well the wind was increasing and we were certainly batting against a choppy sea. Passing a couple of small pods of Common Dolphins without giving them more than a second glance, we were on a mission. Eventually soaked and thirty odd miles offshore, Nick picked up a blow and homed in on it! Fin Whales, lots (ten+) of Fin Whales, thousands of Manx Shearwaters ,and hundreds of Common Dolphins, all intent on hoovering up the small fry that must be there in huge quantities. Photography was rather challenging as the boat lurched around in the heavy seas but Rich Crossen got some shots which set the scene -a couple here, more tomorrow.
I also got some film, a lot of it pretty wobbly but some bits are reasonably good and really show what was going on out there.
A professional cameraman equipped with the latest gear and editing facilities would have really done it justice. And it deserves that kind of coverage, the BBC's Natural History Unit is based no more than a four hour drive away. Our research since 2004 has proved this is an aannual occurrence with Fin Whales seen in August whenever our boats can get out. It would need some planning but if they got their act together we could prove Welsh Waters can produce wildlife spectacles to match any in the world!

More big blubber! and more Risso's and other stuff from the ferry...

2011-08-18T21:51:00.001+01:00

Images: Steve Rosser

We did another Ferry survey yesterday/today aboard the Stena Europe. Although weather was not quite as good as we hoped, we still managed four Risso's sightings , two Common Dolphin sightings and eight porpoise sightings, sadly all the risso's were \a bit distant for photography but Steve managed to snap these commons speeding into our bow!
Whilst confirming our trip for tommorow with Nick o' Sullivan, skipper of the Celtic Wildcat, he told me that whilst shark fishing today they were surrounded by up to 30 whales... sleepless night ahead!

Blue Shark - Amroth

2011-08-18T20:10:00.003+01:00

There is plenty going on in the seas off Pembrokeshire at present! The wonderful sightings of Fin Whales some 28 miles off St Anne's Head yesterday as reported in the posting below confirms Sea Trust's belief that Fin Whales pass through the seas off Pembrokeshire's waters in numbers each year.
Rather closer to shore the Blue Shark pictured was found on Telpyn Beach, just east of Amroth, by Mrs Campion this morning and reported to Sea Trust. The shark was approximately 5.5 feet long and did not have any wounds on it. It had clearly been washed up or stranded earlier today and had apparently been seen close inshore yesterday. Blue Sharks are rarely seen close inshore although they are regularly seen in the Celtic Deep some 25 miles plus off the Pembrokeshire coast (see posting of 30 July below). It seems likely that this shark was ill to have been washed up on the beach.
Many thanks to Mrs Campion for contacting Sea Trust and to the members of her family for showing me the shark.

Offshore on Celtic Wildcat - 17 August 2011

2011-08-18T09:58:00.005+01:00

A group of members from the Mid Pembs and Bird Group section of the Wildlife trust went ‘Offshore’ on the Celtic Wildcat to watch sea birds and marine mammals.

What and an absolute treat for all. Having seen many seabirds, a few porpoise and some pods of Common Dolphin our skipper spotted Whales in the distance. As they came closer to us we had many exciting views of them, as best as we could at the time we decided there were between 10 and 12. They were accompanied by ‘bow wave riding’ common dolphins and Manx shearwaters. A couple of hours later we spotted another two animals which may or may not have been from the initial group.

Good luck for the Sea Trust trip tomorrow and hopefully for those on board the animals will still be there

Fin whales

2011-08-18T08:54:00.002+01:00

Yesterday in the Celtic Deep on a trip on Celtic Wildcat we had at least 10 fin whales. A quick preliminary look at the fins showed a group of at least 8 and one group of at least two. They appeared to be feeding when we first encountered them, though there were few birds there were common dolphins in attendance. The photos will be sent to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group who have a photo ID catalogue of Irish fin whales.

Stevo the Strumbler!

2011-08-17T11:50:00.001+01:00

Monday 15th August
Chris and I went to Strumble Head and we saw 3-4 Harbour Porpoises maybe more in the flooding tide. The time of the sighting was roughly 1:45pm. We also saw Gannets circling and diving into the sea. The sea conditions was flat calm and hardly a ripple
allthingsgood
Stevo

Good spotting Stevo, I visited Strumble last night and there were at least ten feeding in the tide along with half a dozen gannets!

I guess thats why they call it the blue...

2011-08-17T08:38:00.001+01:00

Blue Shark image: Richard Stonier.

When I was a kid the word Shark was generally proceeded by the words "man eating" or followed by the words "fin soup" neither appelation serves these magnificent creatures kindly, both being used as an excuse to kill them.

Richard photographed this specimen (8ft long and around 150 lbs) being caught off the Scillys.

Once upon a time it would have been killed and hung from a gallows back at the home port, but now they are tagged and released...

We saw a couple very briefly from our last "Celtic Wildcat" trip, indeed Nick our Skipper also does angling charters which also are part of the tagging scheme.

Thanks Richard for sending this picture of what is primarily, and should be respected as one of the oceans most graceful and beautiful creatures.

Newport sighting from John Goss & Playful Piniped video

2011-08-14T22:34:00.003+01:00

We're currentkly working a long contract in the Humber so haven't posted for a while....... But here is a report sent in by a friend, John Goss, who holidays in Newport.....

"There were 2 dolphins which we observed on Friday evening at 6pm . We first saw them at Dinas Head and they proceeded towards Cwm Y Eglws .... It was thought that it was a mother and youngster due to the difference in size .... They just headed in 1 direction so assume they were chasing mackerel .... funnily enough i saw another one in the same location at 8pm on Saturday but it looked darker in colour so i'm thinking that was a porpoise..... very exciting.....tried taking vid but it was too far away..."

We're back to the Humber next weekend, but a programme of water sampling in Cardigan Bay before-hand.....Not a cetacean I know, but thought that blog followers might like to see this video of a very inquisitive and playful one eyed seal we encountered on the Humber.....I've never seen one playing with a buoy like this.....she kept us very amused for an hour whilst at anchor....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgWmy7OM-Y

All the ferry best for Verena!

2011-08-14T10:01:00.004+01:00

Verena' last day with us on the ferry yesterday, before heading back to Germany and her place in Heidelburg University to study biology. All who have met and worked with her will have been impressed by her good humour, common sense and problem solving capabilities, we will all miss her, Good Luck Verena!

She has been an outstanding volunteer, helping Dr Rob Davies to sort out the teething problems of our new Arcview GIS recording system which is now up and running. She also managed to transfer all our previous ferry sightings onto the system and is the main author of the new Sea Trust Stena Ferry Report we hope to launch at the end of the month. The main reason for the trip was to test the fool proofing of the system with me (the fool) doing the data entry. I managed fine, it works, it is now officially foolproof !!!

Allthough some of our ferry surveys back in July rank as some of the best, the weather was not so good on Saturday and we only had three sightings. These included two porpoises and some Risso's that we did not see until they were alongside us, close enough to see them and a small calf, visible underwater as they dived to avoid the ship.
There have been Bottlenoses seen from the ship and from the shore in recent days around Fishguard Harbour but they were gone as we came into Fishguard at lunchtime. It is interesting to note that although we see bottles reasonably often in Fishguard Bay, the number of sightings from the ferry are few and far between...

Great to see the Swansea-Cork ferry sightings of Fin Whale, thanks Peter. It will be interesting to see if we can locate them again from the "Celtic Wildcat" on Friday, hopefully the weather will allow us to get out there!

Swansea Cork Sightings

2011-08-13T14:47:00.002+01:00

From Peter Howlett: -A little late but thought you might be interested in a few sightings from the Julia from the sailing 7/8 August. We were probably the only people on the boat happy that she was delayed as it meant a full day at sea on the Monday.

Westbound: 100+ Common Dolphins in mainly small groups and mostly south of Pembs, also 9 Porpoises.

Eastbound: 4 Fin whales about 15 miles off the Irish coast only 2 hours out of Cork. Minke Whale 11 miles south of St Anne’s Head. 70 Common Dolphins again mostly in small groups with last 4 being seen just 12 miles SW of Worms Head. Half a dozen Porpoises.

Large numbers of Manx (not surprisingly) and a couple of Great Shearwaters as well.

Cheers

Peter