Megan M report

Roger Strawbridge and the crew of the GSS range support vessel "Megan M" also saw the Bottles around Fishyguard Harbour and saw at least one mother with a calf. I thought I may have seen a mother and Calf entering the harbour but was not sure. Rodgers confirmation was a useful addition to our records, thanks Rodger!
A brief visit to the harbour this morning revealed nothing and a follow up visit to Strumble was not particularly productive with only a couple of porpoise sightings.

Wanderin' Star

Full of expectation after Cliff's sighting of Bottlenoses early morning, a small group set off on the Wanderin' Star for a Sea Trust survey from Fishguard along the coast to Mwnt and back. Off Pen Anglas we saw a Porpoise close into the shore and 3 more followed along towards Newport.

Heading towards Moylgrove a group of Gannets circling and fishing ahead held the promise of Dolphins feeding and sure enough 3 Bottlenoses appeared. They headed quickly to our boat to check us out and briefly rode the bow wave before continuing on back towards Newport. A brief but exhilarating encounter.

Fishyguard Morning

With a boat survey on the Wandrin' Star planned and what looked like a stiff breeze when I awoke at 06.30, I decided to check the sea state from Harbour Village.I was reassured to see it was reasonably calm but even happier to see some dark shapes surfacing in Fishyguard Bay.
At first I thought it was a Porpoise but it soon became obvious there were at least 8 perhaps 10 Bottlenose Dolphins passing on north wards. one group headed out towards Dinas Head whilst another couple headed for and entered the Harbour. Sadly I had a boat to catch and had to leave them, over to you Rich!...

Manorbier Dolphins

Late morning there were c.20 Common Dolphins some way out from Priest's Nose, Manorbier. They were in 3 pods quite close to each other and fishing with a large number of Gannets in attendance.

Lembit Has Landed! crustacean rather than cetacean!

When Lembit the giant Lobster was donated for exhibition, by Fishguard fishermen, brothers Titch and Gethin , they presented Sea Trust’s Cliff Benson a slight problem; how to house the lunker lobster!

“Lembit is huge and was in urgent need of a temporary home until I could work out what to do with him said Cliff. Thankfully I remembered that Pete Gleed at Pembrokeshire College had a really big tank . We dashed off to the college where Pete put Lembit in the tank , it was touch and go and we nearly lost Lembit , but with Pete’s expert care, Lembit survived”.

“Thankfully the Pembrokeshire National Park solved our next problem of how to exhibit Lembit by lending us another really big tank which we installed in the Ocean Lab, but our big problem was how to fill it with over 150 litres of fresh Sea Water. Thankfully appeals in the local press and radio were answered and over twenty volunteers turned out at short notice to the Ocean Lab, Fishguard Harbour on Saturday Morning to form a human chain of water carriers. Their mission was to fill the massive aquarium with sea water to house the colossal crustacean, Lembit the lobster!

It was a really great community effort and worked really well, with mums, dads, kids, grandparents (even a baby) involved, carrying the sea water in buckets from the slipway to the Ocean Lab. It took less than an hour, everyone had great fun and Lembit now is able to stretch is mighty claws and show them off to the public.

Quite a few people asked me why call a lobster “Lembit”? It just popped up into my head, I think “Lembit the Lobster” rolls of the tongue, nothing to do with a certain Welsh politician , Cliff added, ... that would be a bit too cheeky! “

Sad Striper Story

Late news from Rod Penrose, a striped Dolphin live stranded at Tenby last week. It was considered to be beyond help and was humanely euthanized . The Strange thing is that although Striped Dolphins have only ever been reported once at sea (one seen By G H Rees & self from Strumble in amongst a pod of Commons) they are reported as strandings most years. We must have seen photographed and filmed thousands of Common Dolphins in Pembrokeshire waters and yet have no other records. Talking to Irish Whale and Dolphin Group experts , it seems they get several strandings per year but again no sightings of animals at sea... strange eh!

Wall to wall porpoises...

This afternoon on the way to Strumble met up with Graham Rees, numero uno Strumbler. Best get there quick he said , your porpoises are wall to wall...
And they were, calmer today SE 2, sea state 2, spread over at least two miles of sea and a band width of at least half a mile. Sadly by the time we got ourselves organised the main body were dissapearing westwards with the last of the swiftly flowing ebb but still guesstimated between 100-200, lets hope for similar conditions tommorow, allthingsgood, cliff

May hmm...maybe?

Not exactly great weather for Cetacean watching here in Wales so far this month.
All sorts of adverse conditions but today I took a look around Pen Caer /StrumbleHead.
Its a circular walk culminating at Strumble. the wind was blustery from the East Nor East. N0t exactly what you would hope for as it creates a nasty onshore chop, sharp and mixed up.
None the less there was a large feeding flock of Gannets and gulls stretching over half a mile of the tide race and in amongst from start to finish Porpoises slashing the surface causing rips of spray and giving brief but discernable glimpses of backs and fins as they foraged in the foamy chop. How many...? I dont know 50+ minimum but it was certainly a heck of a lot more than the books say! allthingsgood, cliff

Belated Porpoise

Heavy week workwise, not much time or weather to get out looking. But snatched an hour at Fishguard Harbour on Thursday. Saw one single Porpoise, which tantalisingly stayed out range for good view, could it be Polo? watch this space!