Strumble Porp's showing well!

Looking good for Mondays Porpoise watch..From Julia Riddel:
Spotted several porpoise (between 5 and 10 individuals) 29/04/10 at about 16.30.
With the naked eye (no binos) so no more than a couple hundred metres off Strumble Head.
Travelling west.

Hope this is useful.

Julia

Fishy-guard Dolphins

A chilly early morning visit to Fishguard Harbour made leaving a warm bed worthwhile when a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins were again discovered making a dawn raid. At least a half dozen individuals were inside the harbour mouth when I arrived with others out in the bay. I presume they are the same pod I saw a couple of weeks ago and which were also reported by Stacey Weeks, our MMO volunteering with Celtic Diving this summer. During a half hour or so as the sun rose above Dinas Island, the dolphins moved to and fro concentrating in feeding frenzies as they herded fish together in the harbour mouth. I was reasonably pleased to see that I had managed to get a few images of the dolphins and their prey together including the middle right with a fish in the dolphins jaws. I think its either a bass or a sea trout, none the less it is important evidence of the fact Fishguard Harbour is a feeding site for our Bottles!

Strumble Porpoises

Info from Stevo Lucas - I was at Strumble Head on Monday, with my Dad and my friend Mark. We saw about 15 Harbour porpoises swimming, fishing,in the strong flood tide, between 3pm and 4pm.

Look out for little black backs with us on bank holiday Monday

Michael Rich took this picture on a visit to Strumble last week. The main reason I am blogging it is because it perfectly describes what the beginner is looking for, with the Herring Gull to give some idea of scale.
Hopefully the conditions will be nice and smooth next week for our Strumble porpoise watch:

Monday 3rd May, a porpoise picnic, spring birds and wildflowers 2.30pm at Strumble Head watch porpoises, seals, spring bird migration in full swing, see a profusion of coastal wild flowers with Sea Trust volunteers!

Cetacean Sightings in Ceredigion

Sunday 18th April 2010
Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (New Quay) - boat survey aboard the 'Sulaire'
7 bottlenose dolphins, 3 harbour porpoise.

Link - http://www.cbmwc.org/

Thursday 22 April
1 Bottlenose Dolphin off Aberystwyth at 3pm swimming slowly catching fish and traveling away north to south.
Report sent in by Stevo Lucas.

Friday 23rd April
The following cetacean sightings were reported on the Ceredigion bird blog.
5 bottlenose dolphins off Aberystwyth (opposite the old college?) 2 were seen breaching.
Report by Ian Lycett and Rachel Davies

Two bottlenose dolphins seen at Mwnt (Pen Peles) earlier in the day heading north.
One porpoise seen off Ynyslas at sunset.
Report by Janet Baxter

Split fin there for third month!!!

Hi Cliff,
did an overnight out at the sound, there were c8 porpoise still in the sound as the sun set, also another positive id of the split fin with her calf, a smaller number c5 were present for a while this morning.
At this point I would like to recommened a book to all cetacean lovers, Its by Alexandrea Morton and is entitled "Listening to the Whales" it is an extrodinary account of a womans dedication to the discoverey of our more intellegent cousins, the orca,s.

cheers for now
Malcolm.

I do not think anyone would dispute the fact that Malcolm Barradell has progressedand redefined monitoring one of the UK's best cetacean monitoring sites, Ramsay Sound, and along with help from Alison Ross and others such as Ernst and Aniek have probably put together one of the most substantial and important pieces of cetacean monitoring in European waters from the viewpoint of consistency, seasonality and week in week out observance.

The most substantial observation so far as I am concerned is that one identifiable porpoise has been resident for at least three months which has never before been confirmed in British or (as far as I know) European waters. Splitfins disfigurement seems not to have jeopaardised his/her capability to survive but ironically may proved the case for residency and proved the need to classify Ramsay Sound as a European Site for Special Area of Conservation for Porpoises as a species within the Habitats and Species Directive.
This is groundbreakimg stuff !!!

Making the most of it!

With three keen local volunteers , Ian Hotchin, Tony Lucas and Trevor Morris, we did our third Sea Trust Stena Europe ferry survey of the month making the most of the fine weather. With Sea State of 2-1 for all of the two legs of the trip, we should not have missed much with such a team.

The outward trip yesterday, produced 7 sightings of a total of 15 porpoises amd one unidentified dolphin.

Our second leg this morning produced 10 sightings including circa 110 Common Dolphins amd 10 porpoises. birdwise surprisingly few seen odd migrating hirundines and meadow pippits with Auks including puffins, manxies gulls etc. I for one prefer April without the showers!

Sash's Basking Shark record is extremely interesting, well done Sash, however it does sound unusually small , perhaps a calf at 12 feet or a juvenile at 15. A full grown basker would be up to twice this length although I appreciate it was a rule of thumb estimate. According to Wikkipedea, the largest recorded was just over 40 feet in length!

The first Sighting this year off the Irish Coast were 27th of March off Kerry and West Cork and so this is pretty much in line with those moving slowly east

Our Irish collegues in the Irish Whale and dolphin Group count them as "honourary Whales" which is good enough for me!

images cb.

Marloes Peninsula: Porpoises and a Basking Shark

The Northerly winds over the weekend and at the start of the week, while cold, gave a very flat calm sea, and so an unusually good opportunity to look for porpoises. As well as the regular group of 3+ in the northerly tidal flow out of Jack Sound, we found groups of 2+ porpoises in the South, which is unusual, including a couple between St Ann's Head and Skokholm, and another small group between Gateholm and Skomer. While Porpoises clearly can move around a lot, I was very heartened to see so many (and so frequently) on the South side of the peninsula.

Slightly off-cetacean topic, but an incredible marine surprise, was a massive Basking Shark off Marloes Sands on Saturday 17th April. It cruised nearly the whole length of the beach at just after low tide, and at times was as little as 50 yards off the shore. It then swam out to Gateholm, and was last seen, nearly an hour later, heading towards Skokholm. It was surprisingly dynamic, often turning in tight circles, then rising nearly out of the water, before sinking down a couple of feet or so again. How big was it? I tried to estimate its size based upon its dorsal fin. Given the number of feeding Razorbills that it swam close to, I used these as my unit of reference, and that gives an estimate of a fin height and length at the base of between 2 and 2.5 feet ("two and a half Razorbills"). Based on the distance between the dorsal fin and the (much smaller, but frequently visible) tail fin, and the similar distance to the nose (when visible), this gave a length for the whole shark of between 12 and 15 feet.

We looked for it again that evening and the next day, but to no avail.

Dolphin Watchers at New Quay!

Local 'legend' Stevo and father Tony enjoying the pleasant morning sunshine on the 'Sulaire' at New Quay on Tuesday 13th April. Dolphin watching from a deckchair! (now you don't get that on the Celtic Wildcat!)

Ha ha! no deckchairs on the Wildcat, but usually some dolphins, good job they got there early to see them from the shore!(cliff)

Sure Cliff the dolphins they saw were going 'North' the opposite way we were going! (Elfyn)

Hi, Cliff, hope you're ok. Glad you had a good ferry survey last week. I've had a good couple of days up at the Sound Sun.18th & Mon.19th.Apr. Porps were present there for almost all of the 8 hours I was there over the last 2 days. It's so difficult to say how many are there. Just when you have been watching 2 or 3, suddenly there are 5 or 6. The important thing is that they are there & their presence has been recorded. All the best.....Alison

Fishguard Dawn

I woke early and with the promise of a sunny spring day ahead, leaving my bed seemed a great idea! The sun was just rising above Pwllgwaelod on Dinas Island as I drove to the end of the Fishguard Harbour outer breakwater.

With nothing more than the slightest breeze rippling the sea it took only a couple of minutes to find what I had come hoping to see. A big sickle fin and back broke the dapply surface and as i scanned around others were coming my way from the north. Around a dozen bottles and at least a couple of calves cruised around Fishguard bay and the harbour in a pretty relaxed way although I did see a couple of breeches in the distance. They mooched about for an hour or so untill I heard the sound of a fishing boat steadily making its way out of the inner harbour and as it passed, several of the Dolphins came in to bowride. I saw Titch waving as he saw them too from his boat Avalon.

Having played with Avalon for a few minutes, the pod split up and then slowly wandered off north again. A magical way to start the day!

From Andrew Crowder...

A slightly delayed report because I've only just got back to my e-mail. 8.00pm, 17/04/10. 3-4 porpoise just on the outer edge of Fishguard harbour, towards Dinas Island. Appeared to be feeding, acompanied by several pairs of auks and a gannet. Sea was like a millpond & rose tinted just before sunset. RegardsAndrew

Two days, two surveys, s-oo different!

Another survey of two distinct halves with Stevo and Tony Lucas volunteering with me. The first in choppy-ish sea state 3+ was relatively uneventful, a single porpoise our only reward .
This mornings survey started (17/4/2010) with light northerly airs and a sometimes glassy sea with the bright sun seemingly diffused and causing little glare! presumably the diffusion being the result of the Icelandic Volcanic dust?

Either way, we could see pretty well for miles in any direction and had plenty of warning to get the camera out as a pod of ten or so Common Dolphins ran in up to our bows not far past the Tusker Rock Lighthouse.
Not long after we spied another group of about fifteen muddling about around 300 yds off our port beam, things were pretty quiet untill we were well into Welsh waters with only seabirds (nothing unusual) and flotsam to keep us amused.
As we approached the Welsh coast, we started picking up porpopises, which totalled 28 as we ran alongside Strumble, before we entered Fishguard Harbour.

WOW!

Hi all, Sea Trust is offering our OCN Level 3 Wildlife Observer Wales (WOW) Cetaceans course in partnership with Pembrokeshire College. Dates 17/18/19th August 2010.


There is Limited availability, book now to avoid dissapointment ...
Course leaders:
Dr Steve Morris
Powell Strong
Cliff Benson

OCN Level 3 Wildlife Observer Wales (WOW) Cetaceans
Apply for this course online
Email Admissions
Keyfacts
3 Day short course, OCN Code BZ1822 Date of course: 17th, 18th and 19th August 2010. Optional boat day (with extra cost)

Course Overview

The aim is to provide training in cetacean (whale & dolphin) survey and monitoring skills and methods. It includes classroom training on basic cetacean biology, survey methods and cetacean identification. These are followed up with survey training on land (weather permitting) and at sea (optional at extra cost). Participants are required to complete a period of unassisted survey within the 3 day period and provide records for assessment. Developed and delivered jointly by Pembrokeshire college Coastal Zone & Marine Environment Studies course and SeaTrust, the marine branch of the Wildlife Trust South & West Wales.

Entry requirements
Age 16 or above
Able to walk the equivalent of ½ hour on the coast path
Able to spend a whole day on a small open boat (optional)

What you will learn
As the course does provide an academic qualification, 4 assessments are included:
Cetacean biology lecture and classroom test and
Cetacean survey methods and classroom test and
Cetacean identification lecture and classroom test and
Cetacean field recording, assisted and unassisted.

How you will learn
A mixture of classroom lecture and tests plus field work.

Boat Option
Once we have a group of students together, we can discuss the option of chartering a boat for field work. There will be an extra cost for this and it will be dependant on availability of suitable boats as well as suitable weather.

Benefits of this collaborative between Pembrokeshire College and SeaTrust
This combines the academic and teaching experience of the Coastal Zone & Marine Environment Research Unit with the field experience of SeaTrust staff and volunteers. The result is a professional mix of theory and practical.

(OCN level 3 is an A level equivalent academic qualification, recognised by all UK educational institutions and Universities.)

How you will be assessed
Classroom tests and collation of field records.
Benefits of this collaborative between Pembrokeshire College and SeaTrust
This combines the academic and teaching experience of the Coastal Zone & Marine Environment Research Unit with the field experience of SeaTrust staff and volunteers. The result is a professional mix of theory and practical.

Things you may need for the course
Sturdy footwear with good grip for the coast path
Appropriate clothing for coast path (and small open boat - optional)
We can provide binoculars, but your own would be preferable

Course Fees
£95 per person
Booking, further information & contact details
Contact the course admissions team on 0800 236 716
Or Pembrokeshire College WOW staff: Powell Strong (01437 753 166)seatrustorganisation@gmail.com or
Course information, including fees, is subject to change - click HERE for further details.
Updated April 2010

Early birds catch the Dolphins!

While we were waiting to board the Sulaire with Steve Hartley yesterday morning off New Quay Harbour wall at 9.15am We saw 2 Bottlenose Dolphins, I think mother and calf, chasing a fish as there was a lot of splashing.We watched it for about 5 minutes before they swam off to the north. Stevo Lucas

Pair of Porpoise Cardigan Island to Cemaes Head

Just got back from lifeboat training...sea trialling our relief Atlantic 75 (whilst Tanni Grey is away for refit).

Gannets working beyond the island and a pair of Porpoise crossing the bay between Cardigan Island and Cemaes Head. Daniel

Re- Orca sighting in Criccieth

Hi Cliff ,

Regarding the possible sighting of an Orca in Tremadog Bay off Criccieth and the correspondence on here I received this e-mail from Nicky Davies who lives in Hay-on Wye. She is experienced in studying cetaceans and has seen Orca's in Shetland and she says- quote:-

'Hi Elfyn, saw your piece on this blog re- orca sighting and thought the same- yearling seal maybe, otherwise large (very large) fish. Having seen this behaviour before in Shetland a few times, it looks good- alternatively a nice piece of photoshop creativity!'

Porps and that Picture...

Report: On thursday 8th April me and my Dad saw one lone Harbour Porpoise at Mwnt at 240pm.We saw it again at 3.10pm It seemed to be fishing
allthingsgood
Stevo

Hi Cliff. Hope you're ok. Porpoise in the Sound today. At least 6 which is'nt a high number compared to some days but they were in the Sound for the 5 hours I was there. That included a couple of sightings of a mother & calf which was really exciting.....all the best, Alison.

Also a few Porpoises showing at Strumble today which is encouraging. We also had mothers and calves off the ferry last week , they really do seem to give birth at any time of the year even now when the water is at its coldest.

Elfyns Orca mystery is a bit of a poser. I can't see the white eye patch that should be visible but of course may be obscured by shadow and the mouth is pretty difficult to define. Other than those provoso's, Orca would be favourite. Not sure if the "fish" has been cropped but again porpoise would be a possibility. There have been at least two different parties of Orca's reported around the Irish Coast last week, one pair off the Saltees which is no more than a couple of days leisurely swim to North Wales for an Orca!

Orca (Killer Whale) seen off Criccieth?

It was a gorgeous day yesterday (Saturday 10th April) and my wife and I took a spin up to North Wales. I was sitting on the sea-front just below Criccieth castle scanning Tremadog Bay through my scope in the hope of seeing porpoise or dolphins. The sea was mirror calm and there were lots of auks scattered around a wide area. I wasn't surprised that I didn't see any cetaceans as there were some jet-skiers around. My wife was sitting beside me reading the North Wales edition of the 'Daily Post' and she said have you seen this? To my surprise she showed me an article regarding a possible Orca (Killer Whale) which had been seen very close inshore at Criccieth and it showed a rather poor quality image of the animal which had been taken by 18 year old Jenny Donelan who was on the beach with her mother Carys Roberts. It didn't say when the image was taken but I presume in the days previous. Looking at the photo it does look remarkably like an Orca with the white under the chin and a blunt 'beak'. There also seems to be a dorsal fin which from the angle looks quite tall which may indicate an adult male. This 'animal' seems to be tossing something in the air which is assumed to be a species of fish. The paper must have contacted the 'Sea-Watch' foundation for comment and Gemma Veneruso of that organisation has examined the photo but could not conclusively say whether it was an Orca or not and studying the image I think she was right in saying that. However if you take a look at the image which you can see on the link below I pose some interesting questions for you to ponder over. If this image is of an Orca (and I'm not doubting that its authentic and taken at the given location!) and if I'm correct in my assumption that its an adult male due to what appears to be a tall erect fin then compare the lenght of the so called fish to the fin in order to get a size comparison. If an adult Orca fin is say 1.8 metres then I would say the 'fish' is as long as that. So is it a fish? Could it indeed be a seal or a porpoise? I don't know readers please take a look at the article and the photo and come to your own conclusions on what you see.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2010/04/10/suspected-killer-whale-seen-off-gwynedd-coast-55578-26212867

Irish Glassy Sea

A Sea Trust Dolphin Survey on Stena Europe on Thursday/Friday was a "game of two halves". On the outward leg to Rosslare on Thursday afternoon the conditions were good with a calm sea but there was a distinct lack of birds and just 5 Porpoises not far out from Fishguard seen.
Friday morning for the return leg to Fishguard dawned with conditions even better, indeed the sea was glassy calm on the Welsh side. More birds seen too starting with 12 delightful Black Guillemots in Rosslare Harbour and plenty of Manx Shearwaters and Auks on the way over too. We also did better for cetaceans with a total of 26 Porpoises including one group of 15 with a calf by Strumble and Common Dolphins also put in an appearance with a group of 10, 90 minutes or so out from Rosslare.

Not neccessarily happy slapping?

Hi Cliff,
very few porpoise around in the sound, a couple on Friday, non on Saturday, a couple on Sunday, Alison was still out there when I left, maybe she had better luck.

Those that did arrive down the sound on Sunday had to run the gauntlet of NT Boats.
Funny how some of these boats enter the porpoise sensative area, decide after a few minutes there are non to see then leave as if there is no porpoise sensative zone!

I had a incident of a porpoise tail slapping last week, this one individual, apparently an adult, on its own, tail slapped repeatedly, diving for a few seconds then reappearing and tail slapping again, my last thought was, was it just trying to get a bit more power into a quick shallow dive?

cheers
Malcolm

Interesting thought Malcolm.
I have seen and filmed Common Dolphins suffering from a spinal deformity (Scoliosis) doing just that and there are instances of similar behaviour in the case of a female bottlenose dolphin in the Moray Firth. Presumably some injury to the spine might cause the same effect in porpoises, although this, and how animals might sustain such an injury or indeed an injury as sustained by Splitfin are open to conjecture.

Yes as you say, again the season for Nature Trip (NT?) boats is on us and again the skippers are under pressure to get in and out quickly to fulfil the number of trips that will increase bums on seats and profitability. The operators seem to feel this is reasonable and has no effect on porpoise numbers using the sound. Who knows sightings may even increase?

None the less it does seem that from your work and Alison's observations there is some pretty obvious decline in sightings since the end of the last nature trip season. Whatever the reason it is a cause for concern and highlights the fact that were it not for yours and Alisons efforts along with Ernst and Anieks work and photo's, these facts collected would not be documented.

Splitfin photo : Ernst Schrijver

Strumble porp tailslapping, but why? .. and splitfin again!

Good Morning Cliff ,
I had a short watch at the head this morning & during the time i was there saw a few porps one of which did something i have never seen before.It was out approx tide race distance & for what must have been between 5 to 10 minutes swam around on the surface & Tail Slapped a minimum of 26 times , there were quite a few around this morning but it idin't seem to attract any of the others.

Cheers
Adrian

Thanks Adrian for this, I have seen them tailslap repeatedly, often juveniles seemingly displaying high spirits , but this seems a little excessive, any ideas?
later... spent a half hour at Strumble with Alison, checking out the porpoise activity saw some breaching and even a bit of fluking as well as a couple of tail slaps , they seemed a bit excited though difficult to work out exactly why or hiw many in very roughed up seas
from Alison...

Just catching up with news from Ramsey Sound. Not many porpoise there yesterday, Sun.4th.April but on Sat.27th.Mar.about 12-15, maybe more, active in the ebb tide race, including a tight group of 9-10 which I watched move all the way up the Sound at the start of the flood tide. Also had a sighting of Splitfin, the porpoise with the severely damaged dorsal fin which I also recorded in the Sound on Mar.7th.. The same animal was first identified in Feb. east of St. David's Head by 2 Dutch volunteers. Sun.28th.Mar., still good numbers there. I think not so many, but actively present in the ebb tide for the 3 hours I was there.....all the best, Alison.

Splitfin again, this is really important because in the past so called "experts" have denied that porpoises are "resident" and so therefore objected to classifying areas such as Strumble or Ramsay Sound, as "of importance to porpoises". Therefore although anyone who spends time watching the porpoises here knows at least some of them must be resident for lengthy periods. Because most porpoises appear pretty uniform given the distances and brevity of sightings, we could not prove it, denying their place in the listing for marine SAC protection status within SAC's. Splitfin is beginnig to provide the proof we have been looking for!

Dolphin Survey Boat Trips 2010

Sea Trust is running a number of Boat trips from Neyland in April, July, August and September this year. These trips are a great opportunity to see Dolphins and other cetaceans as well a variety of seabirds and the Pembrokeshire Coast and Islands. The first trip on Sunday 25th April is now full. Full details of all the trips can be seen by clicking on the Sea Trust Wildcat Boat Trips link to the right.
Click here for photos from the boat trip in April last year.

Early morning porp and fifth sighting of split-fin... ferry survey...

A phone call from Becky Hotchin this morning who told me she was watching a porpoise out of her window looking down on Fishguard harbour had me out looking before breakfast but It had gone before I could get there ... I later heard from Tony Lucas who had been informed by somone else of the porpoise in the harbour (Chris Williams) both reports tallied, nice to have independant confirmation!

Last week we had Amber Farmer doing work experience with us, a keen and intelligent young loocal girl who I hope will continue to be involved with our work along with her father Ian. We made a spur of the moment ferry trip which on the outward leg on Wednesday was inbcredibly calm although only porpoises were seen. the return was quite choppy but Ian spied a couple of Porpoises right on our bows as we approached Strumble. I look for wards to seeing Ambers report on her week with us! As a first language Welsh speaker its really good to be able to support her in trying to attain her career choice. Hwyl Amber!

Its sad to loose Ernst and Aniek, who put in a very impressive performance and as Malcolm reports, a fifth sighting of split-fin, incredibly the most sightings of an identifiable individual animal we have ever recorded!

Hi Cliff,
a good showing by porpoise in the sound today, had eleven in one of my five minute scans, meanwhile Ernst and Aniek were seeing porpoise at St Davids Head (c3) including a fifth sighting of the split fin.

I was interested to read Alison's concern, we were discussing it a few days ago whilst out in the sound.
The numbers in the sound today are about average for the year, numbers have been down but the frequency lack of occurance in the sound is more noticible.

I think the main thing is to maintain a consistant method of recording such as the one that I have used over the last four years.
I still watch from all three sites which cover the North as well as the South of the Sound.

Ernst and Aniek whom I invited to here to help with my project whilst fulfilling their own research objectives. have spent a lot of time watching from St Davids Head and Penllechwen with some interesting results.
It seems that porpoise are often around those areas when we normally assumed them to be in the sound.
The results of my own observations and E&A's will be written up by the end of April.
Watch this space!
Cheers
Malcolm