Tuesday 12 October 2010

Bird's Rock (New Quay)

Tuesday afternoon was bright and still and I guessed that it would be a good opportunity to see some Bottle Nose, however after about an hour I had only seen a very distant "something" in the water. Then, at 3.45 I quite clearly saw a splash, probably about 800 metres out. The splash turned out to be a pair of Bottle Nose heading in. As I was observing them, I noticed other splashes and after 10 minutes I had six dolphins, some 350 - 400 metres out.

At this point the dolphins turned and began to head towards New Quay and were joined by another pod so that in total there were at least 10 - 12 animals either swimming individually or in groups of two or three, although at one point I did see four in "line abreast". There then followed an amazing display of what looked like "competitive" breaching, with multiple dolphins out of the water at the same time, and some pairs crossing in the air.

I didn't have a camera with me (of course) but two animals stood out because of markings on their dorsal fins: one had the top third of it looking almost white, whilst another had a slightly smaller area in an off-white/grey colour.

I know that some people have been fortunate enough to see mega-pods, but a dozen dolphins at one time is impressive enough for me.

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