From Alison Ross...

Hi Cliff.

Patience can pay dividends. After having spent almost 7 hours up at Ramsey Sound on Tues.25th.Aug. watching for porps & not seeing any at all, I was lucky enough to see 3 moving up the Sound in the evening flood tide just as the light was beginning to fade. I also had a couple of sightings of a sunfish in more or less the same location, but 5 hours apart. I've never seen one before, until now.

All the best......Alison
Thats not luck Alison its pure dedication, you thoroughly deserved your porp's and the sunfish!

Fin Whales in Wales!

This is some film I took of the Fin Whales in the Celtic Deep on the 13th of August (lucky for some!) One animal that appears round about 5 min 35 seconds looks rather small , may be a juvenile Fin or perhaps a Minke? The blow would suggest juvenile Fin, I think as its blow is very obvious and I have never seen a minke blow, but others say they have.

Many thanks to Gaynor Mc Morrin (Chair of Fishguard Arts Society) for editing and putting into form I could upload onto blog! allthingsgood, walrus

Cannibalistic Pinniped

Reading Cliff's account of the Grey Seal eating the dead Porpoise off Strumble Head reminded me of an incident I witnessed there whilst sea-watching on the 12th October 2006.
Just after 8am on that day I was gazing out to sea and saw the familiar head profile of a big bull Grey Seal a few hundred yards offshore. It looked as if it was devouring something and I thought at first that it might have been a conger Eel. I have previously seen a seal eating this formidable fish when I stayed on Skokholm island a few years ago. I looked through my scope at the animal and was quite shocked to see that it was actually chomping away at the carcass of a dead seal pup. This old bull was taking chunks out of the body of the pup and was clearly relishing it. The carcass of the seal was on its back and I could clearly see the forelimbs. The bull was making inroads into the carcass from the front end. The head of the pup appeared to be missing. There was a motley gathering of gulls (kittiwakes, black-headed & herring gulls) round about picking bits of flesh up from the sea surface. Curiously there were also a few shags and auks about too which were taking a passive role in the proceedings. The shags were occasionally peering under the water.
When I related this incident to Cliff Benson not long after he put forward a plausible theory with regard to the presence of these birds. He stated that predatory fish may have been attracted by this feeding frenzy hence therefore the presence of the shags and auks which would in turn feed on the fish.
After watching this gruesome spectacle for a while I then saw a considerable amount of blood emanating from the seal carcass which coloured the sea round about red. I saw the bull rip out what must have been the internal organs (viscera) of the dead pup possibly including the blood rich liver. This too was avidly devoured by the bull throwing his head back in the process. Now not long after this the bull seemed to be getting uncomfortable with the ever growing band of seabirds gathering around and he took a deep dive and that was the last I saw of him and for that matter the seal pup carcass too!
Following this incident I trawled through my extensive literature on seals at home to find any reference of cannibalism in this species and could find no mention of it. I think I can safely assume that the pup probably died of natural causes as there is generally a high mortality among young pups in the first few weeks following birth especially on these wild windswept exposed beaches of West Wales and that in this case the pup may have been washed off a storm battered beach or sucked out of a sea cave whereupon it drowned and then the old bull seal came across the floating carcass by chance.
I wonder if this was the same animal that ate the porpoise!
Truly a case of a mammal eating Pinniped!

From Alison Ross...

Hi Cliff. Hope you are well. I was out at Ramsey Sound on Mon.17th.Aug, probably 6-8 porps there. Today, Sat. 22nd.Aug. in almost 4 hours of watching I only had a couple of sightings of 2 porps coming down the Sound together. There was a lot of boat activity going on. So, so frustrating!!

Another salty mammal!

Hi Cliff

As per our conversation, fisherman Dave Frampton spotted an otter off the rocks near West Hook farm (between Martin's Haven and Musslewick) at around 9.30am today.
Thanks

Lucy

Strumble shocker!

In a remarkable half hour at Strumble Head in the company of some of Wales most experienced Birdwatchers, I recorded a Sunfish , an Atlantic Grey Seal and a Harbour Porpoise. Not bad in itself but the remarkable and rather shocking aspect was the fact of how the latter two species were linked in one rather gory sighting.

Richard Davies commented on a seal below us eating "a big fish". We have seen them eat big congers, Wrasse, Pollock, rays and even once an octopus. I strained to make out exactly what kind of fish it was tearing chunks out of and remarked on what was a copious amount of blood.

As the seal maneuvered the "big fish" to tear another big chunk of flesh from its silvery belly, I noticed a flipper. Momentarily confused, I thought it might be the Sunfish we had seen minutes before but then I saw the small but obvious hortizontal tail flukes. It was a baby porpoise not more than about 2 feet (60 cm) long.

No wonder there was so much blood, the seal was devouring another warm blooded mammal. "Its eating a baby porpoise" I called, as we watched on in fascinated horror. To add to the pathos of the scene an adult porpoise surfaced a couple of times close by , (presumably its mother) before dissapearing again. We are a gnarly old mob not much prone to sentimentality but I think I can honestly say we were all a bit shocked by this "red in tooth and claw" episiode. with many thousands of hours seawatching experience between us , nonee of us had witnessed such a grisly event involving two of our commonly seen resident species.

Interestingly there was a huge tide ripping through, which may well have caused the seemingly new born porp to be swept inshore to be pounced on by the seal, Female porpoises also tend to leave very young calves bobbling around whilst they forage briefly usually returning to the calf within a minute or two. Perhaps this had created an opportunity for the seal to pounce.
One thing is for sure , you never know whats going to happen next at Strumble!

Newquay WOW!

At least two species of marine mammal pictured here! photographed in Newquay yesterday. Sorry the pics not up to usual standards but I was also holding a tray of excellent chips.
This was last day of our "Wildlife Observer Wales" course in which our students recorded
both Bottlenose Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises. All the participants passed and gained an OCN III qualification which is accepted by all educational establishments at an A level standard, a useful bolt on to any application for further education. Congratulations to all and thanks to fellow tutors Dr Steve Moriss and Powell Strong of Pembrokeshire College.

Elwyns fins!

Just in from Elwyn Davies, from our seatrust palagic last week. A couple of places available for Wednesday 26th on Celtic Wildcat Survey, contact me on info@seatrust.org.uk with contacts, £50 per head allthingsgood, cliff

Wales's most prolific marine wildlife watching hotspot!

From Pembs Bird blog , via Ray Wilkinson;
Having driven overnight from Devon, arriving at Strumble at 0345hrs, Kevin Johns was keen to see birds, but his first sighting of interest was a probable Leatherback Turtle.
As usual Strumble asserts itself as Wales's most prolific marine wildlife watching spot with weekend sightings of both a sunfish and a pod of c'20 Common Dolphins via Richard Stonier.

All in a weeks work!

From Steve Rosser whilst volunteering for Wildlife Trust S&W Wales on Skomer ;

Hi Cliff


Birding on Skomer was poor so I did some seawatching. Results set out below:

Sunday 9th 5 porpoise off Garland Stone
2 porpoise off Skomer Head
Monday 10th Sunfish off Garland Stone seen by Elaine (volunteer)
6 Common Dolphin crossed St Brides Bay in the general direction of Solva
Tuesday 11th about 40 common dolphin travelled from the direction of Solva towards Grasshome. Visible for over an hour but always distant.
Thursday 13th Sunfish off Garland Stone (photo attached)
3 Rissos off Mew Stone seen by Kenny on the Dale Princess
3 Common dolphin off the South of the island
8 common dolphin off Skomer Head
Friday 14th No cetaceans seen from the Garland Stone but one great skua.

You had a cracking trip!

Tight lines

Steve

Nice one Steve, quite a small Sunfish bit great to get anothr photo! will be in touch, allthingsgood, cliff

Moore Fin Whales

Great close up of a Fin Whale from Derek Moore who shared in the fantastic encounter on Thursday - quote from Derek " I am still coming down from such a great day " !
Click on photo for larger image.

Fin Whale Photos

I have put some Fin Whale photos, together with a few Dolphin pics from Thursday into a gallery which you can see by clicking here

Even smaller fins

Not strictly speaking whales, but this evening at Ynyslas hundreds of tiny By-the-Wind Sailors (Velella velella) were left on the beach by the ebbing tide. The biggest were 10mm long, most were much smaller.

Lesser Fins

Apart from the usual Porpoises off Strumble Head today, a group of about 20 Common Dolphins passed moving westwards in their normal lively manner. No Sunfish today but two yesterday perhaps helps comply with the information board statement "almost daily in August".

Ramsey Sound Porpoises

Sightings of rather smaller but great little cetaceans nevertheless from Alison Ross - What a difference a day makes! I only had 2 sightings of a single porpoise in 4 hours of watching at Ramsey Sound on Sat.8th.Aug but I've just been up there again after work this evening Thurs.13th.Aug and there were probably 20-25 porps there in several groups. As they passed by me moving up the Sound, their blows were really audible in the calm evening air. A perfect way to spend time unwinding from the stresses of work!

Fabulous Finwhale Fandango!

There are people who are reticent, reserved and apt to understatement and on this occasion I believe any of these might apply to the above description of the experience our Sea Trust volunteers and supporters enjoyed this afternoon. Our first intention was to survey our Bristol Channel Box but though conditions were favourable the Castlemartin firing range was in action putting the mockers on that.

We then decided to go out looking for whales and after last weeks tantalising glimpses we were on a bit of a mission. It took a long time and strenuous searching to even find dolphins given the relatively calm conditions but as usual the happy hunting grounds eventually turned up the goods and having got those under our belt we headed in the general direction of the place we saw them a week ago.

Whilst watching dolphins, Enid spotted something odd and the description was right for a whale although she was not entirely sure. A shark fishing boat (thanks Paul and Phil) , confirmed there were Fin Whales in the vicinity and set us in the right direction . Soon after I spotted towering blows and then everyone else saw them but mostly whilst looking in opposite directions.

We will never know how many we saw but somwhere between ten and twenty would be my guess. Not only did we see them but we got close up and personal with one animal lunge feeding next to the boat amid a frenzy of shearwaters and common dolphins, At one point it was seen diving below the Celtic Wildcat, much to skipper Nicks amusement. it went on and on before we reluctantly broke away. Hopefully there are some nice pictures to come, over to you Rich...

Fin......Tastic!!!

Last week on a Sea Trust pelagic aboard the Celtic Wildcat we were lucky enough to glimpse 3 Fin Whales. Today our luck got even better.................

12 of us set out from Neyland on a calm, sunny morning hoping to see some Dolphins and seabirds on one of Sea Trust's regular small boat surveys. First stop was Grassholm, some 2 hours out of Neyland, where the Gannet breeding season was in full swing with many near full grown young amongst the 32,000 pairs that breed there - the first spectacle of the day.

We then motored to some 8 miles west of the Smalls Lighthouse where we saw a pod of around 80 Common Dolphins, some 20 of which stayed with the boat for 20 minutes or more as we motored along at about 7 Knots. They were in a really playful mood and rode the bow wave, leapt, tail slapped and squeaked. Spectacle number 2.

And so onto spectacle number 3! Skipper, Nick O'Sullivan heard from a nearby boat on a private fishing charter that they had seen 3 or 4 Fin Whales some way to the west. We made our way in that direction and were soon seeing large, spectacular Whale spouts or blows some way off. As we neared the area where the whales were (some 26 miles WSW off St Anne's Head) we could see there were at least 4 individuals. Closer still that number increased to a minimum of 6 with, perhaps, as many as 10. We then proceeded to get incredibly close views of several animals including one which was lunge feeding so close we could see the fish leaping out of the water as it broke the surface. All this with the accompaniment of 100's of Manx Shearwaters and 10's of Common Dolphins staying close to the Whale to share in the pickings. The finale was for the Whale to pass under the boat (!) and come up the other side where it continued feeding for a few minutes before diving and disapearing from view. Phew!

Fin Whales are the second largest Whale (after the Blue Whale) and can grow up to 27 metres long and weigh up to 80 Tons. To see such magnificent animals in our own waters just off Pembrokeshire was a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience, but it demonstrates so well just how rich the seas off West Wales are.

Many thanks to Cliff Benson and Sea Trust for organising such a marvellous trip.

Porpoise Bristol Channel

Sighting from Peter Howlett - A single Porpoise seen mid-Bristol Channel heading up-channel about 4 miles south-southwest of Newport at 15.30 this afternoon.

Strumble - 9 Aug

Lots of Porpoises today but spread out in small groups, also a pod of 10 Bottle - nosed Dolphins which did not hang around for long, as far as could be ascertained they moved eastwards. A Sunfish swam west on the ebbing tide, the opposite of yesterday when one passed eastwards on the flood.

Risso's round off the week!

Its been quite a week here in Pembrokeshire with lotsa Bottles in Fishguard Bay, plenty of Common Dolphins, Porpoises and three Fin Whales out to sea. And again on our Stena Europe ferry survey we rounded off with Risso's, two sightings yesterday on the way out and a cracking pod of at least twenty on the way back today!

The weather clowns has the wind all wrong and a chunky sea made life hard staring into a glary gnarly sea but we managed to pick out the big beautiful risso's despite the difficult conditions. The pod of 20 is probably the biggest I have encountered in the Irish Sea. Our score rate with Risso's is really remarkable on our Stena Europe Surveys, averaging at least one sighting per crossing recently. If you would like an opportunity to join us on the bridge of the Stena Europe for our Dolphinothon 29th August -4th Sept inclusive email info@seatrust.org.uk for more details allthingsgood, walrus

Images; Mick Brown'; from a pod seen from the ferry on the 2007 Dolphinothon.

Whales like Wales!

As Rich says our meeting with the Fin Whales was tantalising and the views brief. However it does confirm the fact that late summer is becoming a season in the cetacean calendar of the southern Irish Sea when given the right conditions we hope to see these massive Fin Wales. Recent sightings include animals in the Western Bristol Channel and of course they are well known to overwinter off the southern Irish Coast. bit by bit we piece together a jigsaw picture of the marine wonders that lie just beyond our shores! For photos of Thursday's trip and previous ones click here.

Another fascinating allbeit smaller sea creature also made a splash for Adrian Rodgers:


Hi Cliff ,
Had a large sunfish at Strumble this evening , it breached 3 times. I haven't seen this before but i think others have, as far as i can remember.
Adrian


Yep Sunfish do breach although of course anyone who has seen one of these wierd disk shaped seemingly tailless creatures will find it hard to believe! In effect they heave themselves out of the water flexing their bodies and using their long flipper like anal and dorsal fins to add leverage to fling themselves horizontally out of the water. This can result in multiple leaps that I have described ; "as being like a dimented tiddleywink". Wikkipedia describes the ones we see here as "outside of their normal range" but we have been seeing them reasonably frequently from July into October since the 1970's.

Dolphins and Fin Whales

At last a sunny day with light winds after all that wet, windy weather!

A Sea Trust pelagic looked set fair, yet truth to tell the sea was a good deal rougher than expected as we headed out towards Grassholm. A large swell made conditions on the Celtic Wildcat quite uncomfortable for a while until we moved further out. One Porpoise was the sole cetacean seen until we left Grassholm with it's spectacular Gannet colony behind and headed towards the Celtic Deep and beyond. Near The Smalls lighthouse we encountered a couple of pods of Common Dolphins and we were to see nearly 150 in all in the next couple of hours. Several came and rode in the bow wave but only one group seemed intent on play as they leapt out of the water, albeit some way ahead of the boat.

The grand finale came around 23 miles off St Anne's Head when a blow and a huge broad splash some distance ahead turned into views of three Fin Whales one of which appeared briefly quite close to us before heading for the depths. We drifted for some time hoping for further sightings of the leviathans but had to be content with the first brief but exhilarating views.

Quite a day!

From Stevo Lucas and Ian & Sylvia Hotchin

Stevo rang to say he had been watching at Strumble and seen porpoises (at least six) on Saturday. Nice to know there were at least 3 species present there that day.
Ian and Sylvia were out in Fishguard Bay enjoying Sunday lunch on their sailing boat when a fin broke the surface near them. And then more, soon they were sorrounded by Bottlenose Dolphins! It seems whilst we were out bouncing about off Grassholm, the relatively sheltered waters of Fishguard bay were the scene of a bit of a feeding frenzy with lots of Gannets and at least 20 adult bottles putting on quite a display!
Interestingly, Ian did not see any calves or juveniles although he said they were well spread out and he could have missed some. Nice one Ian!

Lots happening despite weather.

From Alison Ross.
Hi Cliff. I spent a breezy but sunny 5 hours at Ramsey Sound today, Sat. 1st. August. There were probably about a dozen porps there, including a calf. Great to see those numbers again. Spectacular gannet activity as well, with sometimes several birds diving together. Usually porps can be seen moving north up the Sound on the turn of the ebb tide but today they were still very busy lower down in the Sound an hour and a half into the flood tide. What an extra treat! Food must've been plentiful there today! All the best.....
Hi Alison, do you think this unusual behaviour of the porps may tie in with the very small neep tides ?

From Richard Stonier (via bird blog)
Common Dolphin - 2 separate pods - 1 * 20 and 1 * 10 (The pod of 10 having at least 3 very small calves)Bottlenose Dolphin - c.10. Very unusual for Strumble. We had these animals at a bearing of "one o'clock" - they were actively feeding in amongst a large raft of Shearwaters alongside the above pod of 10 Common Dolphin. Unfortunately the Sea Cat then powered through the very spot these dolphin and birds were feeding. (The dolphins were seen to dive just beforehand). After the wake had calmed down the Common Dolphin were seen moving west but the Bottlenose were not seen again.

Brilliant sighting Richard, sorry to hear the Lynx messed things up but probably she was trying to take some shelter in the lee of Strumble rather than hit the gnarly bits further out. This is something we cant really object to as legally master mariners have to put the safety and comfort of their passengers first. I will go down to Stena today and make sure the Lynx are aware of the situation.

We had our annual visit from the BDRP contingent on the Cartlett Lady today , always great to see them and Adrian Shepherd whose luck was in again today as we managed to get out but it was extremely lumpy. Several common dolphin sightings heading out towards the Smalls but didnt quite get there! a splashy pod of 10+ porpoises just west of Grassholm was interesting as we had a similar occourence with Nick o' Sullivan on the Celtic Wildcat last month.
Nick was out today with fishermen and reported a Minke off the Hats and Barrells that we obviously missed by turning back! Andy said he could smell a whale and I reckon he could!
allthingsgood, walrus