Tarka look at this!

We wondered if you were interested in a picture of an otter taken in the rock pools at low tide on Broad Haven beach this afternoon. Apparently he has also been seen in Little Haven. He was very at home in the pools and feeding well on fish and crustaceans.
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Rob and Les Whittaker

Very interested, Rob and Les! these beauties are coming back and getting to be seen all around the coast now, where thirty years ago I dispaired of ever seeing one, many thanks!

Playful Bottlenose off Mwnt

Haven't posted for a little while, but thought you might like to see some shots from today. On charter to the EA this morning, out of Newport and then Cardigan.......where we picked up a pod of 6 Dolphins including a mother and calf, and with one extremely playful Dolphin putting on a great show....the pics don't really do his vast array of tricks justice i'm afraid.....

Four species in three days!

Above: porpoises off Strumble : Michael Rich Below: Bottle Newquay : Walrus

Having completed the ferry survey with sightings of Risso's and Common Dolphin also Porpoises, Rich Crossen and I took the opportunity whilst in the area, for a look for some Bottlenose Dolphins from Newquay yesterday. We met up with volunteer, Caroline of the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Group who was surveying from the Harbour Wall. Unfortunately for us we arrived a bit late for a display of breaching and fishing but still managed some tantalising glimpses of at least two individuals the best views were of a well grown juvenile which we were informed was possibly a regular known as Barry or Bazza! He did not want to play for Richards fearsome array of camera and gynormous lens so as the saying goes; I will substitute one I took earlier!

Risso's as far as the eye can see...

Steve Rosser
Another short weather window in this most unsettled of autumns. We owed Sarah Graham and Ed' Parrot a day out as prize winners of Cardiff Universities, Wildlife and Conservation Group, photographic competition, so gave them the opportunity to join Verena and myself on the ferry for a survey, Sun /Mon.

It was sea state 3 briefly, on leaving Fishguard but things settled down and we saw odd porps and distant feeding flocks of Gannets with Common Dolphins beneath, eventually confirming them through the telescope.

I began to dispair that we might see anything "up close and personal" but as we approached the "Risso's Triangle" in almost perfect conditions, a row of Risso's appeared in the distance in front directly on course. Eventually we got closer and they were just milling ahead and did not move until we were almost on top of them! They then dived arching their backs and fluking appearing back in our wake a few minutes later. Half an hour later , and closer to the Tusker, another similar sized pod gave a repeat performance I hope Ed's photo's are OK, my film aint bad! So on leg one, three species including some really stonking close Risso's!

The return leg was again pretty calm as we left Rosslare, although a bright low sun created some glare. We picked up odd porpoises and more horribly distant gannnets with dolphin's beneath but too far to call. About this time we were joined by Liz and Brian Snell who were on their way back from Ireland in their campervan, two more pairs of sharp eyes were a welcome addition! It was all getting a bit frustrating when Verena saw some long distance splashing, they at least promised to be on our track, with some hope of getting a half decent view.

By the time we closed with them they were still a mile away or so on our port beam. I got the scope to get a better view and then found another pod and another and another, the furthest were probably five or more miles away the nearest a mile. Pod sizes seemed to vary from half a dozen to a dozen but could well have been twice that number. There was a lot of Risso's out there and probably more... About half way across the wind and sea increased to three and the sun dissapeared closing down long range observation's... so we will never know how many Risso's were out there...
Two thirds across and the sea calmed again and we picked up occasional porpoises. Three more Risso's not far off Strumble and odd porpoises almost into the Harbour!

An epic trip which again shows that the southern Irish Sea must be one of the best places in the UK to spot Risso's!

Some Richard Stonier Strumble stuff!

Strumble (18 Sep 10)
Cloudy with sunny spellsWind: NW (F2) am, SW (F3) Common Porpoise - Common but not showing very well Common Dolphin - c.15 @ 0710Basking Shark - 1 (Full breach but not seen before or after!)

From Stevo Lucas at Strumble

Tuesday 21st September Between 4:30pm and 5:15pm ,Dad and I were spotting porpoises continually, feeding in the flooding tide. Also plenty of gannets diving amongst them.It is difficult to guess how many porpoises, but we thought that there must be at least 20 maybe even 40.

Dolphins at Dusk

As I was taking Verena home after a long day of volunteering with us, I suggested we take a look out from the viewpoint above Harbour Village in Goodwick . The view is of Fishguard Bay with Fishguard Harbour directly below.
The sea was quite calm as the bay was sheltered from the prevailing wind and it was likely we should see anything that surfaced over a wide area . We scanned and scanned and were just about to give in, when a small yacht motored into view outside of and running parallel with the Outer Breakwater. A back and fin surfaced a hundred yards out from the yacht and although not bowriding, seemed to be loosely associating with it, moving in the same general direction in a unobtrusive manner.
Soon after Verena noticed another couple of animals shadowing the yacht and as we tried to get better views, a juvenile bottlenose made an elegant breach bsides its mother, a lovely moment!

We rushed to the harbour and onto the outer breakwater, greedy for more and better views but darkness was descending and we saw no more of them....

Fishguard - Rosslare Ferry

Kelly and I went on a Ferry survey last Friday. We set off in Fishguard at a Sea State 3 with a strong wind blowing into our faces. After a while Kelly spotted some Common Dolphins in a distance of about 200 m. Then for a long time nothing happened. But getting closer to Ireland, the Sea calmed down and finally it changed to a Sea State 1. Suddenly I heard a splash and about 4 Common Dolphins were right next to the boat, and stayed at the boat for some minutes. An amazing moment. Only short time later we spotted another small pod of Dolphins coming directly towards as and we enjoyed them, as they disappeard below the boat. By now we could see Ireland clearly at the horizon and some circling gannets in a distance. Yeah! Another pod of at least 15 Common Dolphins. We passed them at a distance of about 500 m. So all in all it was a great day for Common Dolphins and we enjoyed the trip. Verena Bolender

Porth Dinllaen Dolphins

Info via e mail. Porth Dinllaen (Llyn Peninsula) 11:00 18.09.2010 52 deg 56.374N 004 deg 33.165W

Approx 6 dolphins type unknown as were just swimming and no breaching.

Kind Regards

Ian Greenwood

Bottlenose dolphins!

hey everyone

a post by the newbie here Kelly

yesterday me and Verena drove to the marine wildlife centre in New Quay to have a look around and speak to some of the volunteers there etc

any ways took us an hour to get there and we went onto the harbour wall to try see some bottle nose dolphins.

We were there for a while when luckily one surfaced right in the spot i had my binoculars trained on, very exciting. The woman who we were sat with seemed to think that they were a mother and calf which had been sighted on and off for the past month around them waters.

I saw them again briefly some time later but then lost them in the very rough sea

Brief Strumble Visits

Saturday 1600-1630 , a brisk westerly and bright sunshine rolled combers up with some porpoises (most satisfyingly) appearing subsurface surfing with others in a near tide race with a dozen or more Gannets in attendance.
Sunday, similar times; plenty of porps but further towards and behind Ynys Micheal and difficult to see in sea resembling molten lead!

Verena and Kelly go it alone!

I've been on a Ferry Survey with Kelly today. We left Fishguard Harbour with the Sea being a State 3 and got a bit wet as it started to rain. Getting closer to Ireland the weather improved and the Sea calmed down. But still we could not spot any Cetaceans. After a while I went over to the starboard side, and 3 Common Dolphins appeared right in front of me. I shouted for Kelly, but when she came over the dolphins were gone. We went on and saw nothing but water. Nearly being in Rosslare, we decided to end this survey, when we suddenly saw a Splash in the water and a fast moving Dolphin, although it was too fast to identify it. Kelly was really enthusiastic about being in Ireland as it was her first time in Ireland and we had a lot of fun exploring the Beach of Rosslare. We hope the Sea is calm tomorrow and we can see more cetaceans.

On the way back in the morning we saw more than we saw on the way there that's for sure. About ten minutes into the survey we saw common dolphins then for the next 3 sightings they were about ten minutes apart. We were on a roll!

Then bit of a gap between the next sighting but these were all right up close to the boat! About 3 or 4 common dolphins swam right past the bow of the boat and for one second I thought they were going to be fish food! It was okay though they popped up on the port side right next to the boat which was pretty cool.

It was not good weather though with about sea state 3 and it also started to rain so we went and stood in the bridge under shelter. Didn't want to get the binoculars wet. Honest that was the only reason.

Fishguard Harbour update.

Thankfully, the pod of four common dolphins (including a juvenile) which were present until it became dark last night in Fishguard Harbour, seem to have found their way out since we left them.

Press release

Disturbing times in Fishguard harbour, twice in the past month Common Dolphins (which are rarely seen in coastal waters) have entered Fishguard Harbour becoming disorientated and in danger of stranding. Cliff Benson Sea Trust south and West Wales founder/coordinator, is concerned that it may be due to Naval actions in the area. Several British warships have been exercising in Cardigan Bay in recent weeks including both HMS Echo and HMS Quorn. We also saw a submarine in the area last week whilst conducting our Dolphin-othon surveys aboard the Stena Europe.

It seems strangely coincidental that groups of dolphins end up wandering around in circles seemingly disorientated in the harbour, which is a completely alien environment for these oceanic wanderers. This at the same time as the senior service are being quite active in the vicinity.
I tried to contact the commander of HMS Quorn, passing on my contact details and some copies of our Wildlife guide whilst they were refuelling in Fishguard Harbour on Friday. I hoped he might contact me so I coulsd give him some of our recently collected daata but I have had no reciprocation.

We have been monitoring the area all week along with others of our shore based observers. The Common Dolphins have been in the vicinity of the harbour for most of the time and would be vulnerable to any loud sub surface explosions or electronically transmitted noise.
I am not saying these unusual occurrences are down to Naval exercises but it does seem suspicious.

Last time we were fortunate in being able to ask the Fishguard Ladies Rowing Team to push them out to the safety of deep water. This time I felt it better to let them find their own way out as it got darker and the tide receded. I only hope it was the right decision and that they find their own way out this time.

During our week long Dolphin-othon surveys aboard the Stena Europe, crossing the Irish Sea from Fishguard to Rosslare, we averaged 2.3 sightings of cetaceans per hour and 14.8 animals per hour. This is staggering, better than almost anywhere else in Europe. We are trying to make this clear to all the maritime authorities and stakeholders but it may be an inconvenient truth to some...

Mwnt Bottlenose Activity on Lifeboat Excercise

Glassy seas for start of Lifeboat excercise this morning....with the wind getting up by 11ish...

Around 10 Bottlenose Dolphins active off Mwnt (wide distribution) lots of breaching activity and at least 2 youngsters in the main pod.

Richard Stoniers Strumble Cetacean Highlights.

Richard really puts the time in and gets just rewards. Interestingly his Common Dolphin sightings match with what we were getting from the ferry. The Risso's are nice records as well as we saw none off Strumble from the ferry. Interestingly the books always say that Risso's get whiter due to scarring with age. I have seen White Calves and dark calves I have seen white and dark juveniles and also white and dark adults. Most show some scarring apart from new calves but it seems to me that we get pale and dark phase Risso's.

Strumble (04 Sep 10)
Common Porpoise - Common and showing reasonably well Common Dolphin - c.10 @ 0950 and c.30 @ 1100

Strumble (03 Sep 10)
Common Porpoise - Common and showing well Common Dolphin - c.5 @ 1100 and c.10 @ 1120Sunfish - 1


Strumble (02 Sep 10)
Common Porpoise - Common and showing wellCommon Dolphin - c.20 @ 0820 and c.10 @ 0935

Strumble (31 Aug 10)

Common Porpoise - Common and showing well all dayCommon Dolphin - 2 @ 0905, c.20 @ 1030, c.10 @ 1045, c 30 @ 1100, c.10 @ 1130, c 10 @ 1315. Some records are duplicate sightings of same individuals but there were at least 3 different pods. One group of 10 came within 100yds of shore - the closest I have ever had them. A number of calfs with them.
Risso's Dolphin - 2 @ 0805. One very large dark male with a huge fin and a second smaller and all white individual. On view for circa 15 mins.

Strumble (30 Aug 10)
Common Porpoise (Common and showing all day)Common Dolphin - c.15-20 (@ 1000 heading East at long range then at 1315 close in tide race heading West)

// posted by Richard Stonier

Mwnt Bottlenose Dolphins

From Stevo Lucas - Mum and Dad and I saw 7 Bottlenose Dolphins at Mwnt today. They appeared to be a family group of 5 adults and 2 calves.

We saw them at 1pm traveling slowly from east to west, towards Cardigan island, close to Mwnt Head.

We lost them at 1.30pm close to Cardigan Island.

Final Day!

Day seven blustery out from Tusker sea state 4-5 heavy glare, not really worth an effort survey, we started looking at the stat's

By the end of day six we had seen a total of 513 animals including:

1. Five species
2. 65 porpoises
3. 363 common dolphins
4. 68 Risso's dolphins
5. 1 fin whale
6. 1 minke whale
7. and 14 unidentified animals including a whale sp.

One "off effort" sighting of 10 common dolphins was collected as we came into Strumble this morning by Verena and Rhi' so that brought the tally to 373 Commons.

One new species was a submarine, I had never seen one before, cruising along on the surface at 14 knots, obviously not in a rush! The night watch had spotted a similar target on the radar off Strumble at around 11.30pm, the senior service have obviously been busy in the area with Hms Echo still about, and HMS Quorn refuelling at Fishguard when we berthed. I took the chance to deliver some of our Stena Sea Trust Wildlife Guides of the Irish Sea, and one of our Whales in Whales blog cards.

After grabbing a quick lunch we met up with Sarah's team and were soon embarking on our last survey of the Dolphin-othon!

Sadly Sarah had a full on case of Sea Sickness although the sea state was only one but a quite big swell had developed. So the Dolphin-othon sort of did end with a whimper although we addded four more Risso's one spotted by Sarahs Mum and Sarah as she hung on for grim death on the side rail! We also added 3 more porpoise and another 30 commons so the totals were:

1. 5 species
2. 570 animals
3. 403 Commons
4. 72 Risso's
5. 68 Porpoises
6. 1 Fin whale
7. 1 Minke Whale
8. 14 unidentified including 1 whale sp.
9. Average of 2.33 sightings per hour
10. Average of 14.8 cetaceans seen per hour

Forty five volunteers and monitors took part and we also had massive help and service from Stena Line, John the Taxi, and the staff at the Harbour View Hotel, Rosslare. Thanks to all the team leaders and monitors and most of all those incredible birds and cetaceans that made it all such a gas!

Mwnt Bottlenoses

Sightings from Winnie - Wonderful dolphin sighting at Mwnt on 1^st september. it was a beautiful sunny day, with clear, still water.

there were 5 or 6 adult bottlenose dolphins and 2 calves, close to the beach, they then swam slightly around behind the mount, still very close in to the shore, causing a great deal of excitement with all the holiday makers on the beach.

They were just milling around, seemed to be playing and enjoying themselves, I watched them for about 40mins, from about 2.30pm, before they headed of.

They were breaching, tail slapping, playing together, was an amazing sight!

Out with a bang!...or a whimper?

Another sunny day dawns over the Wexford Bay, our last of this years Dolphin-othon.
Verena and Rhi Till and the Walrus are the team this morning ,again the sea state is a little choppy but not much more than Sea State 3 probably calming down as we progress in a majestic fashion towards sunny Pembrokeshire.
It aint easy with lots of glare and gnarly little wavelets but we will do our best to sort out the flippery things and progress the scoreboard.
I havent looked at totals yet but I have a feeling it will be pretty impressive. We have recorded five species so far,(Porp, Com.Dol, Risso's, Minke and Fin Whales.) a sixth would be a new record.
So what will Sarahs team see... it would be good to finish with a bang!

Another great day at the office!

After working our eye balls to gristle with only one brief Risso's sighting, despite good conditions, we copped into what appears to be the semi resident Common Dolphins off Strumble.They split into two groups ahead of the emerging Sea Lynx which was powering out from Fishguard at 35 knots. A couple more Porps added to the score but all in all and on top of yesterdays relatively frustrating afternoon, I was far from optomistic for this afternoons leg. The fact that we had seen a couple of Royal Navy ships including a "Sandown" class Mine Hunter apparently armed with SURTASS (cetacean crippling sonar) was not lightening my mood.
Meeting up with Paula and her team which included several old friends cheered me up a bit and I knew they would forgive me if we did not see much!
Sea State was one and remained so. (which I note was not the case further west Rich!) Things started slowly and the report that another Naval Warship was operating in Cardigan bay had me wondering if the skittishness of what few cetaceans we had seen recently was to down to some naval operation.
Then we had our first pod of Common Dolphins , a bit distant, but spectacular and this set the mode, with pods of dolphins some near some far some coming to the ship others going. This interspersed with odd porp's and a few of the now ultra reliable Risso's. We finished the trip with 15 encounters of the cetacean kind. Another great day at the office!

The Celtic Wildcat goes Continental

With Cliff nearing the end of his marathon Dolphinathon I went out on the Sea Trust Dolphin Survey on the Celtic Wildcat today. Amongst the 9 guests we were joined by three lads from Belgium - our first booking from the Continent!
Conditions were a little rougher than forecast, particularly in the afternoon, but certainly acceptable and what a joy to get out after so much windy weather and cancellations in July and August. The trip started off well with three Dolphins shortly after leaving the Haven and a further 12 an hour and a half into the trip which came and joined the boat briefly. There were also superb views of a small group of Gannets diving close to the boat into a shoal of fish which must have been very close to the surface. Grassholm was the usual magnificent spectacle with the added bonus of a number of this year's young Gannets close by on the sea and some seals on the rocks.
We then headed out to The Smalls and beyond getting out 24 miles or so from St Anne's Head. The sea picked up somewhat in the afternoon but we continued to see small groups of Dolphins some of which came over to the boat briefly and in all we saw just over 70 Common Dolphins including quite a few young calves.
On the Bird front highlights were 2 Great Skuas and 3 Storm Petrels as well as good numbers of Manx Shearwaters, Kittiwakes and Auks.

Day six and its another sunny day!

A decent nights sleep always helps in terms of an optimistic outlook, and so we are hoping for plenty of sightings and good views as we move into the final couple of days of our Marathon Dolphin Watch.
It has ben enjoyable but quite stressful organising everyone in two differnt countries twice a day. Verena our new long term volunteer has been a great help but the big thanks go to the Stena Booking staff, particularly Matthew and of course Carl Milne for his continued support.
Everybody aboard the ship is incredibly helpful and cheerful and having spent several days aboard I can see how life aboard a noisy busy ship working 12 hours on and 12 off, for a week or more at a time could begin to wear you down.

The Staff at the Harbour View in Rosslare have looked after us like the old friends they are reserving tables and serving delicious food quickly and efficiently. The Smithick's and Guiness
has also gone down pretty well and everybody assures me its at its best over here!
Ah well time for breakfast and then the ship will sail,wonder what will turn up this morning! New girl Katie is hoping for some nice close views, I hope the Dolphins cooperate

So near and yet so far away...

One of those frustrating days when you keep getting glimpses of things without really managing to nail them properly. Conditions were a gnarly this morning with heavy glare and a small but distracting chop.
This afternoon we picked up Kims team and Katie Booth and set off back to Rosslare. The wind had dropped and all seemed set fair for another cracking afternoon of the cetacean kind.
We picked up odd porpoises, which would show up and then dissappear with half of the team missing them. It became more and more annoying until at last Verena copped onto some Risso's which although not close, showed well enough for everyone to see them. Katie was delighted as they were her first ever Dolphins on her first ever trip to Ireland.
Some more brief views and then I spotted some Gannets wheeling a couple of miles ahead of the Ship. At last I thought, some nice close up views but true to form as the ship approached they started moving off we got views but again distant and not very satisfying. So not our best day in terms of quality views but still a worthwhile addition to the weeks total.

Morning Crossing on the Dolphinathon

Having enjoyed an exciting trip over to Rosslare yesterday with plenty of sightings I stayed with Cliff and Verena for the return leg to Fishguard. Strange how two days can be so different - there were few birds to see and fewer cetaceans with just 1 Common and 4 Risso's Dolphins and all of these in a 15 minute period halfway across. Seems we should have had the Fishguard Ladies Rowing team with us for good luck!

So, no pics of Risso's Cliff but here's one from a memorable trip on The Cartlett Lady last October.

Port Eynon Dolphins

Information sent in by Alan Williams - There have been reports (on the Gower Wildlife and Glamorgan Birds websites) of shore-based sightings of up to 16+ common dolphins off Port Eynon Point over the last three weeks or so.

I visited mid-morning on 30 August and spent 1.5 hours at the Point watching a pod of common dolphins in calm sea conditions (initially 6 feeding under diving gannets, later increasing to 10+ displaying more playful behaviour). They ranged from between half a mile to a mile offshore, with a spotting scope being necessary to observe when at longer range (at which stage porpoises became more evident - there were at least 4 present).

Day five We need some Risso's pic's (no pressure Rich!)

Ace photographer Rich Crossen has been tasked today with getting us a great Risso's shot, he says if we can get the captain to get a bit closer he will. Sadly Captain Chris o'Connor seems to think going in straight lines rather than zig zagging across the Irish Sea is the best use of his ferry so it aint going to happen! We will have to rely upon the Risso's to allow us to get closer before wandering off into the glare. Amazingly we have had more Risso's encounters than Common Dolphin or Porpoise. Are we seeing the same animals or is there a constant stream heading in and out of the southern Irish Sea? As yet we have not manged to get any photo's that would help identify them . Yesterday though, we had a couple of Risso's which seemed to be associating with Common Dolphins on the way to Fishguard . Coming back to Rosslare we had another similarly composed group in more or less the same area...
Clive Hurford and Janet Baxter have both reported encountering Risso's and Commons associating. Which begs the question, what are they eating?Risso's are supposed to be squid eaters and Commons usually (hereabouts ) Mackerel etc. Always more questions than answers but we are at least sure of the fact that there are a heck of a lot of animals out here!
Kim's team will be joining us today so lets hope the cetaceans keep on coming!