Consecutive dolphin days in the St Georges Channel

Given the amount of activity and favourable weather, I asked Steve Rosser and Matth Davies to do another ferry survey Monday/Tuesday. Although they did not connect with any whales or big dolphin pods they had a nice encounter with a small pod of commons coming ito the Stena Europes bows as well as several porpoises. Two ferry surveys in January both with common dolphins, not bad eh? - Walrus.

Irish Humpback link

Cliff,
I expect that you know all about this and may even have seen the pictures. Here is a link to BirdForum and the Mammals and Sea Life Forum

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=162090

or for full story
http://iwdg.ie/article.asp?id=2351

It's not a million miles from the Pembrokeshire coast - wouldn't this be a sight to see at Strumble.
Regards Colin

Hi Colin,
yes well worth a look.
I have seen a humpback breaching off Strumble! It was in June 20005 with Chantalle Bloomink and Bethan Cox. Bethan spotted its spalshes as it breached about a mile and a half out, and then Chantelle identified it through the scope. I even got some film, not brilliant but good enough for a record - showing the diagnostic long flippers!

On the other side!

I was lucky enough to join Padraig and several of his IWDG friends watching Fin Whales from Ram Head near Youghal a few years ago. It seems that they may be getting more frequent along the southern Irish coast, lets hope they begin to spill over to our side soon! Might be worth going over there again some time next winter , anyone interested?

Cliff....on same day as you had your dolphins off the Ferry, we had both fin whales and humpbacks off Hook Head, on the other side of Co. Wexford!

Filmed one HB breach 11 times in 40 mins.

Wonderful end to the large whale season


Pádraig WhooleySightings Co-ordinator

Irish Whale & Dolphin GroupDereenRossmoreClonakiltyCo. Cork


Phone: 00-353- (0)23-8838761Website: http://www.iwdg.ie/

In my last post I mentioned we saw a dead dolphin (see below)
It may have died recently but in this kind of weather it may have drifted many miles from where it died.
Sea Trust was set up to monitor this kind of thing and if anyone finds any dead cetacean or any other interesting marine life let us know and we will pass on to relevent authorities.

Ramsay rewards patience!

Hi Cliff. Hope you're feeling better. Glad you all had such a rewarding ferry trip. Sorry I was'nt able to be there. Just catching up with recent visits to Ramsey Sound. No porpoise sightings there Sun.17th.Jan. but Mon.18th. I watched 3 movng down at the start of the ebb tide & in the tide race for a while at the south end of the Sound. Porps recorded today, Sun.24th. in the ebb tide race until the light began to go at 5pm. At least 4 there. Numbers still low but the main thing is they are there. All the best.....Alison

Winter warmers

Sea Trust /Stena Ferry surveys in January are usually more a test of endurance than productive from a sightings point of view. And the first leg yesterday afternoon proved to be so, with a single porpoise spotted by Sara, the only reward for a bitterly cold watch happily attenuated by darkness before we reached the Tusker Rock.

In the early morning we were awoken by the ships fog horn , I turned over in my bunk cursing our luck. I awoke again at eight and thanked allthingsgood, as Rosslaire was clearly visible out of the cabin window. Breakfast in the truckers bar confirmed the fog had gone and the sea was calm, helleluja!

Julia opened the score with a porp near the Tusker, the sun rose and gave a little welcome warmth as I battled with a head cold and streaming eyes to focus my bins. Amaizingly I spotted half a dozen circling gannets and then managed to get everyone else on to them as the water below them erupted with a splashy display of dolphin fins and flukes!

At least seventy Common Dolphins raced in to meet us as we approached, a fantastic amount for this time of the year. We were all pretty chuffed but a few moments later a dead animal floated by, which Rich Crossen managed to photograph. Our elation waned a little but not long after, more gannets were sighted ahead and another even bigger pod of Dolphins came racing in to our bows, wave after wave, bringing the total to more than a couple of hundred! The rest of the trip was pleasant but uneventful except for birds which included nine brent geese and a single but extremely exceptional puffin.

Not bad for midwinter!

New Quay porpoises

Wandered down to the Harbour at 2.00 p.m. expecting (hoping) to see some Bottlenose. What I got were 2, possibly more, porpoises. They came in from the West and stayed a little further out (500 metres+) than we normally see dolphins. They were still there when I had to leave at 3.00.p.m.

Libman

Rogers Risso's

Image: Steve Rosser

Adrian Rogers is a bit of a star when it comes to spotting winter Risso's. We had some in Fishguard Bay off the Stena Europe in December but not brilliant views so it was nice to hear they or others are about ...

Good Morning Cliff ,

While at Strumble this morning i had two encounters with Risso's Dolphins , firstly at 10 a.m. two heading into Fishguard Bay beyond the tide race at approx the 1 o'clock position then at 10.45 a.m. four came out of the bay beyond Mackeral Rock . These were three adults ( one quite large ) & a smaller individual which may have been a younger animal.Also three Porps this morning in the tide race at 11 a.m.

Best Wishes
Adrian

Flying porpoise caught by Dutchman!

Hi Cliff,
No porpoise in the sound today but Ernst and Aniek had luck at Penllechwen
Where Ernst got this photo, beginners luck or what!!
They reckon there was a group of about 6 animals around for the whole of the two hours they were doing their survey.
Cheers
Malcolm

Across the Water

Wonderful sightings from across the Irish Sea!..............

Hi folks, wicked whale watching in Waterford/Wexford waters......Sunday 17th delivered some awesome whalewatching experiences for the 11 hardy soles who braved the swells of the recent storms as we launched from Dunmore East at 11am today...in bright sunshine we soon picked up our first sighting of a lone fin whale about 5 miles south of Hook Head. The omnipresence of seals and sea birds and the busy herring trawlers suggested bumper fishing so we headed out a little deeper and picked up large blows a mile off our port bow and for the next 1.5 hours we were entertained by two humpbacks which were initially well apart but we were graced by their presence on seveal occasions, coming within 20 metres of our craft -in fact, they were so close that we could clearly identify one with a distinctive notch on his fin. The occasion was somewhat marred by the appearance of an angling charter who insisted on running over the whales and we were glad when they soon tired and left us to our more sympatethic approach by skipper Brendan who acted in accordance with protocols and ensured we had another 30 minutes of fabulous inter-action with these majestic beasts. Our only regret was the lack of fluking which will make matching more dificult but I'm confident that the humpback with the distinctive notch will be easily recognisable if it is on our database. Many thanks to Deirdre Slevin for organising the trip and to skipper Brendan Glody for launching amidst doubt over sea conditions and his sensitive approach and general care for welfare of whales. Kevin MacCormick

Happy Birthday Stevo!!! Coastal access success!

Met up with "Stevo" Lucas today with Math Davies at Stevo's homeand shared some birthday cake! Stevo and his parents Delyth and Anthony had been feeding the fish and octopus in our Ocean Lab exhibit whilst I was snowed in. He and I had tried to get to Strumble without success but ...

Hi Cliff. Hope you're ok & not still iced in. I managed to get up to Ramsey Sound today, Mon.11th.Jan, the first time since New Year's Day. Only the weather prevented me going up before & I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms!!! Not many porpoise there, only sightings of 2 in the ebb tide race. Not great numbers compared to some days there but I look on it as seeing 2 porps is better than seeing none at all. Nice sightings of birds as well, lots of lapwings & fieldfares feeding in the fields. All the best.....Alison

Wildcat Surveys

The following dates have been allocated from Nick o' Sullivan's "Celtic Wildcat" for 2010. The day usually starts with us meeting at the Neyland Marina at 0830 am returning at about 6pm. It really is a marine magical mystery tour passing by our Pembrokeshire Islands into the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and Bristol Channel. We never know what we are going to see but we usually see something amazing! A superpod of Common Dolphins off the Smalls last June, Fin Whales in August, Risso's Dolphins in September and another 1200 Common Dolphins in October!

If you want to book, reply with Boat Trip in the subject box to seatrustwales@googlemail.com

Thursday 15th July

Thursday 22nd July

Thursday 29th July

Thursday 5th August

Thursday 12th August

Thursday 19th August

Friday 27th August

Thursday 2nd September

Thursday 9th September

Thursday 16th September

Friday 24th September

Thursday 30th September

Aberystwyth New Year Bottles!

Hello again Cliff and Happy New Year, My latest sighting from New Quay: New Year's Day 14.00, 4 Bottlenose approached the North side of New Quay harbour from the West. They swam past my location as far as the Cardinal buoy and then turned back West. As they turned they seemed to hit upon some fish because they started making fast runs and lunges in the water, and as they came closer (300 metres) I could see that they were flipping fish out of the water. I could also see that the original 4 were now 7. Two of the animals appeared to be much larger than the others and both had distinctive white markings on their dorsal fins. They were in view for approx. 45 minutes. I also saw approx. 10 birds (individually), about the size and shape of a cormorant and similar in flight, flying low above the water, white neck, which was quite long, white body including under wings, but dark on top. Definitely not a gull. I'm not very good with birds - any ideas ? All the best David Cunniffe

Hi Dave, Happy New Year to you and all W in W blog readers and contributors!
Another great sighting of what appears to have been two mothers and calves?
Your birds (as you say) are definately not gulls. Immature Cormarants have pale undersides but so do winter plumaged Divers. The give away with Divers is that their legs and feet also stick out well beyond the tail. My money would be on these, but identifying different species of Diver in Winter plumage is tricky. The smallest and probably commonest are Red Throated, which have a distinctive upturn to the bill if seen well enough . Black Throated (rarest) tend to have a dagger bill and noticably large white flanks. Great Northerns are bigger have a remenant collar and socking great feet, but its all a bit academic unless they are close and you have a really good view.
Hope this helps, allthingsgood Cliff

Mystery starts the New Year along with our Porp Watch

Our New Years tradition of a Porpoise watch at Strumble got off to a great start thanks to Radio Pembrokeshire plugging the event and flyers by Catherine Davis and Stevo Lucas (above, facing in hat)... We started in bright sunshine and had to cut the event short as a mini blizzard swept in from the sea! Sadly no porpoises seen but the 80 supporters who came along seemed to enjoy our wevent especially the walk with NP warden Ian Meopham. Not sure what was causing Alisons splashes but It does not sound like a seal to me?

Hi Cliff. Good sightings of porpoise in Ramsey Sound on my last couple of visits. Mon.28th Dec, probably about 8-10 in the ebb tide race & moving north at the start of the flood tide, a couple of sightings of one logging, behaviour I don't see often, but have seen a few times. Probably similar numbers seen today, New Years Day. Not somuch in the tide race itself, but more on the edge of the tide or in the slack water where there are often eddies & upwellings. Some splashing caught my eye on the far side of the Sound as I was about to leave. I could see a dark shape coming partly out of the water & then falling back with a great splash. It was moving up & down in slack water followed by a large flock of birds. My immediate thought was that it was a cetacean of some kind but I could see no dorsal fin. I can only conclude it was a seal although I've not seen seal behaviour like that before. Could it have been stunning fish in some way? All the best.....Alison.