Row row row the boat (gently up the stream, if you see a dolphin SCREAM!)

And it was a scream, Fishyguard Ladies Rowing Team, had the time of their lives on our fourth day of the Dolphin-othon. Conditions were near to perfect and from start to finish we had Porpoises, Common Dolphins and Risso's , a total of 15 seperate encounters.
The Risso's seem to have perfected the art of placing themselves in the blinding glare, but there were screams of joy as Common Dolphins raced intothe bow of the boat giving everyone superb views. aAnd so it continues what will tommorow bring?

Sunfish off Ceibwr

I know it's not a Cetacean, but thought you all might like to know that we had our first Sunfish / Mola mola of 2010 off Ceibwr yesterday! Simon got some useable pics (and poss footage)....he is going to pass it to me in the next few days and I'll post up /Edit this post when I get it (when I get back from working in Porthmadog).....

EDIT: Here are the images...not great, but worth a look (always slightly embarrased when i see Rich's images on here by comparison ;-) )

We were cove hoping and had stopped at ceibwr for lunch...best shots are these from the cliff (path, not Walrus) Dan

Keep on running!

wow this is hectic! a quick bite to eat and blog, then back to the ship! We had a pretty good return leg this morning with Risso's Common dolphins and some really nice porp's, lets hope Emma and the girls are lucky this afternoon!

Day four, the presure is high!

Sitting in Rosslare Harbour the sun is shining the sea is merely rippled and conditions for day four are looking good our next team is going to be expecting a lot of cetaceans so the pressure is on! Alison Ross and Verena as monitors were spotting well and took a lot of the workload off me. today it will be Rich Crossen and Verena so its up to them (hehehe) Bring it on!

Having a Whale of a Time!!!

It just gets better out here in the Irish Sea, we gathered Elizabeths team and made our way up to the bridge for the afternoons departure for Rosslare. The sea was emerald and turquoise dying down to a sea state two with hardly a zephyr of cloud to hide the strong sun. We copped a couple of Porpoisses and then nothing, and nothing and nothing until we approached the Risso's triangle and then it all began to happen with Risso's following Risso's in quick order! I was just beginning to wonder if it could get any better when in the far distance a long black back emerged like a small island followed by a hooked dorsal fin....Yikes! a fin Whale !!! heheh! (Pic from Wildcat trip in August last year) What will tomorrow bring?

Normal service resumed

This morning out of Rosslare and yesterdays tempest had abated but left a gnarly sea with a bright low sun creating plenty of glare. It was hard work but eventually persistence paid off and two large fins cut through the residual chop on our starboard side, Risso's x 2 and scoreboard open! A long wait but then a couple of Porpoises on the edge of the glare followed by a surprise pod of 15+ Commons off Strumble. A bit of a grueller but conditions seem to be inproving so am looking forward to this afternoon with Elizabeths team!

Aaaargh!

So the wind blew , we managed a couple of Porp's and some distant unidentified but probable Common Dolphins but the further we sailed back to Fishyguard the worse conditions became forcing us to cancel Day 2... sorry Richard and gang, will try for next Sunday if you like!
Fortunately things are looking good for Monday and on ito the week unless the weather clowns have got it completely wrong!

day 1 It begins!

A brisk westerly breeze whipped up the sea into a sparkly chop. Things were not so promising as we set off on the first leg of the 2010 Dolphin-othon.
Shirleys team were in good spirits and we were optomistic after Adrians success on Thursday.
A brief view of a Porp' off Strumble opened the score although a big feeding flock of gannets to the south showed where most of them were likey to be.
We cruised along for some time enjoying the Shearwaters and even a late Puffin but cetaceans were scarce and difficult to see in the choppy seas.
The visibility was excellent however and we could soon see the Irish Coast and the flashing light of the Tusker rock Lighthouse. As the shore came closer I spied a very distant flock of Gannets whirling above some splashes. We tranferrd over to the starboard side and drew closer. Zokko! scoreone!!! a pod of about 25-30 Common Dolphins sensed our presence and came racing into our bow. This made us all happy bunnies I shot back to the portside bridge wing to record the sighting whilst the rest of the gang lingered watching the Dolphins dissapear in our wake.
Wrong! as they peered behind us I spotted two big fins to port... Risso's !
I yelled to them but by the time everyone returned the Risso's had disappeared. A rather nice Porpoise close to our bow ended the sightings but as we came into Rosslare large but extremely distant flocks of Gannets were tantalisingly out of range.
Not a bad start , Verena and I have just had Breakfast on Day two and looking out from Rosslare Harbour things look pretty calm and promising although wind is forcasted for later....

Dolphin-othon 2010 begins!

For the past five years , Sea Trust in partnership with Stena Line's Fishguard -Rosslare Superferry Service, have been giving Sea Trust supporters a chance to join us aboard the "Stena Europe" for a week long Dolphin watching marathon.

Our first team will join us this afternoon and we will be attempting to keep a daily update of what we see on the Whales in Wales blog. Weather forcasts for today and tommorow look a bright and breezy but the winds should drop by Monday.

Risso's Dolphins have become the focus of our Ferry Surveys in recent months and we hope to see and record more in the coming week. Common Dolphin and Porpoise should also feature prominently and Minke Whale should put in one or two appearances. Bottlenose Dolphins have been few and far between, so far this season but would be nice to add to the list. And then there is always the unexpected, perhaps A Humpback or Fin Whale will set pulses racing, or even an Orca?... watch this space!

Rogers Risso's

Hi Cliff ,

Yesterday afternoon's trip on the Stena Europe turned out to be a reasonable success.With F 5/6 North East winds & white horses as we left Fishguard predictions were we might not see anything. Fortunately out to sea it calmed down slightly & we had :

3 Risso's at 16.14p.m.
2 Risso's at 16.30p.m

2 Risso's at 16.43p.m.

Hopefully a couple of fin shots to follow later.

Cheers
Adrian

Adrian and his team made a great pre Dolphin-othon ferry Survey in conditions we would not generally expect to be productive. It just goes to show how numerous our Risso's sightings are and one can only wonder what might have been seen in less extreme conditions! The pic's show an overcast lumpy Irish Sea and it is often easy to give up in souch conditions. But perseverance pays and these raked hooked fins are typical Risso's, well done all! Lets hope the next seven days of the Dolphin-othon calm down and show us more!

Strumble Head Porpoises

From Stevo Lucas - I went to Strumble Head at midday until 1:15pm with Cliff and Verena. We saw about 50- 60 Harbour Porpoises with loads of gannets diving everywhere as we looked. There were also mothers with calves and they were spread out over at least two miles of sea!The sea conditions were calm. However, the cloud cover was 8/8s and it was raining hard and we got wet wet wet.

Here comes the sun!

image: Janet Baxter

Good evening Cliff ,

Had an hour & a half at the head & despite the coditions the Porps were showing very well . Not to be outdone a nice Sunfish was on view off & on for some time. My first this autumn.

Cheers
Adrian

Our first Sunfish of the year, (Mola mola) sighting from Adrian Rogers at Strumble!

The name "sunfish" often seems to bring an association with warm waters and perhaps with increased reports, the presumption of the seas warming.

Whilst I am in no doubt the seas are warming, this is not a good example. Oddly enough, elsewhere they are known as Moon Fish! The fact they seen to arrive in the summer on the gulf stream and dissapear in the autumn would suggest they are highly seasonal rather than just moving North.

Here in Pembrokeshire we have been recording them for several decades usually from the end of July to the beginning of October. I have heard of one or two others but this is a late first sighting for Strumble.

Ramsey Sound 22/8

Pod of 20-30 common dolphins moved north up Ramsey Sound at around 20:15 on 22/8. Some young evident in the group

Jack Sound, 22 August

At least 6 porpoises feeding in the north-flowing tidal race first thing. Included at least one calf. There have also been reports of a pod of 20-30 dolphins seen several times over recent days from Martin's Haven and the north of Skomer

Whats happening out there?

Richard Stonier and Strumble veteran Richard Davies, have been noticing a warship off Strumble in recent days. Yesterday using their magnificent ID skills they identified it as "HMS Echo"
According to Wikipedia, the naval survey vessel (which also has submarine support capabilities) is in the Far east on a five year mission ,however further research has revealed...


"17th Aug 2010HMS ECHO Visits Dublin
Having recently completed Operational Sea Training HMS Echo enjoyed a highly rewarding visit to the capital city of Dublin in mid August as part of a mid leg stand down from surveying in Cardigan Bay. "

Although according to available information, it does not carry SURTAS, the low frequency sonar responsible for many deep diving cetacean deaths , it does carry and use a range of sophisticated electronic equipment that might endanger animals in these cetacean rich waters.

Apparently it has been working in the area for the past 5 weeks, it will be interesting to know if there are any suspicious strandings over the period.
A Minke Whale stranded on the Lleyn Peninsular North Wales was suffering from malnutrition and old age according to Welsh Marine Strandings Coordinator, Rod Penrose.

If we spot Bin Laden rowing into Fishguard our eagle eyed observers will alert the Navy. It would be nice if they would tell us what they are up to!
Incidentally, The Welsh Assembley Marine Ecosystem Group has been pushing for a hydrographic survey for some time. Any chance of sharing a bit of info? The Irish Defence Forces work closely with and support the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group!

Strumble repays the time put in!

Richard Stonier had a phenomenal day at Strumble yesterday with several good birds as well as three species of Cetacean. His 12 hour watches and superb observation skills put most of us in the shade!

Cliff

c.15 Common Dolphin from Strumble between 0900 and 1030. Started out distant at 11o’clock, moved East, then at 2o’clock came close inshore (tide race range) where they were joined temporarily by a large bottlenose (could only see one). The Commons then left to the West along the tide race.

Basking Shark seen well at tide-race range at 1545.

Porps showing very well after 4pm.

Regards
Richard Stonier

Ramsay Round Up.

Hi Cliff,
At the sound on Tuesday, waited until an hour and twenty minutes after slack tide for a little group (which included a calf) of porpoise to come down the sound and past the bitches. Lots of boat activity North of the bitches, 15 boats crossing the sound (normal crossing speed) in the hour and twenty minutes after Slack water.

On Thursday at slack water porpoise moved up from their foraging activity in the south end of the sound, passing the bitches between 1110 and 1140.
During the same period 5 out of six boats passed the bitches and crossed the sound North of the bitches just beyond the newly introduced cautionary area at their normal crossing speed.

Between 1200 and 1215 I recorded porpoise North of the bitches, during this period Nine out of Ten boats crossed the sound North of the aforementioned area at their normal crossing speed.

At 1220 Two small groups of porpoise returned past the bitches moving back down the sound into the South end of the sound. I managed to get a photograph, it is not the clearest but you can see a young calf tucked in to its mothers side thus highlighting once again that in this area boats and vulnerable animals occur in proximity to one another!


I reckon 5 porpoise on Tuesday and 7 or 8 Thursday. I also got a photo of a marked individual again not the best photo, the nick out the back of the fin is very similar to one or two porpoise that were about in the sound last year.
Would appreciate hearing from anybody who sees this individual.
Cheers for now
Malcolm

you should have been here yesterday!

Porpoises evidently in among the fish judging by the number of Gannets plunging in around them... Graham Rees ( GHR ,Tuesday, Pembs Bird Blog )
We, Sea Trust / Pemb's Coll' WOW course, went to Strumble on Wednesday amd except for a few extremely frustratiing and unconclusive sightings blanked out, Today they (the Porps) were back again in force ( according to GHR). Yesterday at Newquay, Bottles were around for most of the day, we missed them today by an hour. Sods law but it seemed the WOW course clients were prettyu happy , so alls well that ends well... We should have been out on the Wildcat today but again weather/wind blew us out... arghhh.

Sea Trust and Pembrokeshire College, Wildlife Observer Wales students visited Ramsay Sound yesterday afternoon to practice their cetacean ID skills. No porpoises were seen untill we were returning to Treginnis but just as we were about to leave the coast path we saw a couple of porps with a calf. during the time we were there all boats seemed to be complying with the Pembrokeshire Marine Code.

New Quay - Aberporth

On the water Monday afternoon, New Quay to Aberporth and back. Lots of feeding and rafting shearwaters, some guillemot stragglers and a few terns.
Just north of Aberporth (we couldn't go further south because Range Control stopped us) we saw three Bottle Nose about 400 metres away; from our position they appeared almost lined-up in the water, about 50 metres apart and they were tail-slapping. They continued doing this - repeatedly slapping the water - for a couple of minutes. There was nothing in their vicinity that we could see. Does anyone have an explanation for this behaviour ?

Too late! early birds catch the Risso's

Apologies, not sure who's photo this is...

I popped down to Strumble at around 3 pm surprised to find only one other sea watcher there.
the wind was northerly and I thought there would be a reasonable chance of some interesting birds even though not good conditions for porp spotting. I caught a couple of glimpses of animals in the big surfs but gave in after half an hour as not even the birds were particularly interesting . But Adrian Rogers was way ahead...

Hi Cliff ,

A pod of at least 4 Risso's Dolphins seen at Strumble Head this morning at approx. 8.30 a.m. Feeding beneath Gannets at a distance of 1 mile & slowly moving West.

Cheers
Adrian

Dave and Sharon Brittain also had a nice encounter of the porpoise kind...

Hi Cliff,

Saw a porpoise with a calf or juv just of Wiseman's Bridge today,
spent a good while watching them seemingly playing and occasionally leaping out of the water.

Cheers

Dave and Sharon

Wildcat Boat Trip 12 August

Common dolphin bowriding Celtic wildcat by Josh s'Jacob

Rather rougher conditions than forecast made the Sea Trust dolphin survey on the Celtic Wildcat yesterday quite an adventure. As we left Milford Haven the seas began to pick up quickly so we headed for the shelter of Skomer where there was just one Puffin and a few Kittiwakes as the sea bird's breeding season has now passed all too quickly. An inquisitive Grey Seal came to have a look at the boat and we had good views of 2 Porpoises just off the west side of the island .
We then made a dash over to Grassholm in some quite large seas where the sun came out and the spectacle of the huge Gannet colony with many well grown young on nests was was enjoyed by all on board. We made our way south with the waves following us and had 3 brief encounters with Common Dolphins, with one small pod riding in the bow wave for a few minutes. There were plenty of Manx Shearwaters, Gannets, Guillemots & Razorbills seemingly enjoying the windy conditions as we made our way back to the Haven. A Sooty Shearwater and a Great Skua also passed close to the boat.
The remaining August trips on the Wildcat are fully booked but there is space available on the September trips - click on the Sea Trust Wildcat Boat Trips link to the right for dates.

Ramsey and Grassholm Sightings

2 Minke Whales just off the west coast of Ramsey on 9/8 and 2 more (or the same animals?) off Grassholm the previous day. A pod of around 20-30 common dolphins close to Grassholm on 8/8 and several more, similar sized but different pods, on the way back.

Greg

Cardigan Bay Bottlenoses

From Xavier Bellerson:-

Hi! Someone spoke to me the other day about the Whales in Wales blog so decided to take a peek today, as well as submit a sighting.

 

It was a day of calm seas, warm weather, and sunburn today.  Sailing around Cardigan Bay today the waters were quiet, the only marine mammals we thought we'd see for this particular trip were the heavily pregnant seals hauled out on the rocks towards Trwyn Crou. However on the return leg of the trip, just before we were due to turn into the harbour, a single adult bottlenose dolphin was seen leaping out of the sea approximately 300m from the boat. This of course delighted those on the trip as well as the researcher, providing a lovely end to an otherwise very quiet trip.

 

Our luck improved when sitting on the harbour wall in New Quay lead to spotting a small group of bottlenose dolphins who were causing a lot of commotion at the water surface approximately 900m from New Quay harbour. Appearing to consist of three adult bottlenose dolphins the animals spent at least 45 minutes taking some spectacular leaps out of the water, one or two seeming to belly flop rather than dive, with at least one individual seen to be throwing fish into the air fairly frequently. A similar sized group were spotted sporadically last week in this same area exhibiting these behaviours leading to a tentative assumption that they may be the same animals.  Whether the same or different they were an amazing group to watch, I only hope they return for the boat survey that will be carried out tomorrow afternoon which should allow us the opportunity to do a bit of photo identification onboard the Sulaire. This rambunctious group were not the only bottlenose dolphins spotted this afternoon, a definite trio consisting of two adults and a calf whose foetal folds were still prominent, were seen milling around the cardinal buoy, presumably making long foraging dives. The calf was a constant source of amusement as it rolled on the surface, leaping and splashing whilst the two adults calmly made their dives. This particular encounter was short lived as following an encounter with a speedboat this group steadily made their way North.

 Xavier Bellerson

Alonga Birds

Strumble Head : Despite looking for birds, watched a total of about 40 Porpoises, split into 4 groups, simultaneously make their way eastwards towards Fishguard. A couple of hours later and much further out c.30 Common Dolphins were boisterously performing near massed feeding seabirds.

Dolphs, Solitary Porp....and the Cemaes Seals are back!

Another pod of around 8 animals below the Mwnt this morning....One particularly large animal and a couple of youngsters among them....sat drifting for a while, until another boat arrived, so we left.....

Some extremely happy guests too! Choughs & Ravens as well as the usual suspects....also got to watch the Peregrine bothering a Fulmar.....

A solitary porpoise in the middle of the bay as we crossed to Cemaes (we sat a while, but only one animal observed). However, the biggest treat of the day (for me) was to find that the seals have come back to the haul out beach!!

I've been talking to Cliff about their absence and have been scratching my head as to what may have changed (they have returned some 6 weeks later than last year and previous year...and even then there were always a few about)....admittedly only 8 seals observed, 3hauled out (including a bull).....but 8 more than we have had for weeks....lets hope the trend continues!

Wet and Blustery Early Morning Trip....Brightened up by Bottlenose Dolphins

Regular Bottlenose activity continues out of Cardigan....

Having made passage from Newport this morning, and as per the title.....we met a pod of around 8 Bottlenose Dolphins off Cardigan Island (immediately off the seaward side) at around 9.00am. It was blustery and wet, but we managed to get some usable footage which we have uploaded to our Razorbillribs channel....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O2EbpqO1qw

When we first spotted them, a couple were firing large fish out of the water (no footage sadly)....the feeding activity soon ended and we sat drifting for around 15 minutes, during which time they approached us a couple of times....what a great start to the day!!

Out of Cardigan again tomorrow...

From North to South and inbetween, things being seen! things getting killed!

A brief visit to Strumble on Saturday revealed several old mates birdwatching including Colin Butters, they all remarked they had seen very few porpoises but I saw one almost immediately and also saw a nice pod of around a dozen closeish in a few minutes later as I watched from the car park. Colin emailed to say he had seen a few couple more but I think they were concentrating on birds!

A holiday maker told me of seeing a pod of Dolphins at Strumble yesterday lunchtime, from his description they were probably commons.

From Andy Rickard:

We had a small trip out yesterday afternoon and as sea conditions were perfect and fishing was not, we travelled out to some distance off Milford Haven and eventually met with a maternal group of 20 commons most with juveniles and another 5 with very young calves. One mum had two identical sized juveniles she bow rode with two nippers for a few minutes before peeling off . Do dolphins have twins? A mile further on there were more parents and young arriving from the NW possibly 100 or so and most with young. We watched for a while before returning speak soon Andy.

From PM o' Brian:

Cliff,
Only two dolphin sighting in July, both off Porthdinllaen. 18th 4 – Bottle nose dolphins
31st small group of unidentified dolphins, same area.
Sorry details are limited, but it depends on the person on watch at the time.
Peter,
National Coastwatch Institution, Porthdinllaen Near Nefyn, N of Lleyn Peninsular North Wales

From Steve Rosser:

Hi Cliff,

I copy below an entry on Glamorgan Bird Club sightings page by Barry Stewart for Port Eynon yesterday.
Plenty of feeding activity off the point this evening, with 13+ Common Dolphins feeding just off Sedger's Bank, giving great views, especially when feeding, often jumping right out of the water with Gannets diving into the same patch. Also interesting to see the Manxies following the Gannets and diving into the same spot straight after a Gannet dive. 60+ Kittiwakes & 44 Commic Terns also feeding in same area (all those identifiable being Commons).
Tight lines
Steve

Hi
A dead Dolphin was reported on Druidston Haven beach today, it is on the left side of beach only accessible when the tide is out.

Regards
Vivien Newing

I rang Rod Penrose to let him know about this and found out he had not yet been able to visit the site. He had however visited Abermawr and found the grisly remains a nonate Porpoise calf we had missed the day before. It was only the head end having been chopped in half, possibly another case of propellor strike.

I spoke to Vivien and it sounds like another smashed up porpoise...

thanks to all, keep them coming!

Bird's Rock, New Quay

Saturday 3.15 p.m. a lone Bottle Nose appeared off Bird's Rock about 100 metres out. It stayed in the area for 45 minutes, just circling and occasionally diving. It did not appear to be feeding. This animal had a very obvious, white tip to the beak and conspicuous white "lips" . When it eventually left the area and headed north, it's place was almost immediately taken by a mother and very young calf. The calf was probably just over 3 feet, creamy in colour and the foetal folds were still very visible.

I note the earlier comments regarding boat behaviour and from my observations (regular Dolphin Watch sessions) agree that the New Quay trip operators are pretty good at adhering to the Marine Code of Conduct - they certainly did this afternoon. Despite having the Code though, many boaters appear to be completely ignorant of it or are wilfully disregarding it.

All we are saying, is give porps a chance!

Hi Cliff,
small numbers of porpoise in the sound yesterday.
Plenty of boats and as a footnote to recent comments may I add the following Recent postings from me and others highlighting boat behaviour have upset even enraged operators who have felt called guilty without proof.
Following a constuctive meeting with Tom Luddington I have agreed not to post any more comment regarding boat behaviour in Ramsey Sound but to fill out the appropriate PMCG forms.
This done, Tom has shown evidence of code breakage and it was a agreed by the operator to be proven and the appropriate follow up action as been initiated.

I am a marine mammal researcher with plenty of paperwork to fill in but I cannot sit and see and not report bad working practice, so I will, as much as possible, make the time if needs be to fill in the forms and send in evidence, as I did yesterday, 4 reports which are being followed up in the appropriate manner, the last word from me in this blog on the subject, cheers Malcolm.

It seems to me that if there were no evidence of poor behaviour there would be no reports of it in the Blog. I have no axe to grind. I want the public to see our wildlife because in doing so they begin to understand what we are trying to protect.

Above is a dead porpoise calf I photographed on Newport Sands this morning I was with Rod Penrose of the Welsh Marine Mammal Strandings Agency and we picked this animal up after being informed by a member of the public.

It was Rods opinion that the injuries were consistent with propellor strike, a spiral chopping motoion by a sharp blade which on contact with the animal disembowelled and killed it almost instantly. It seemed to have been in the water several days so could have travelled some distance. Either Newquay or Ramsay sound might well fall within the parameters, or anywhere between.

We dont know who killed it, probably even the person who killed it never knew they had done so. I received another report of a porpoise calf found dead on Abermawr Beach, apparently its bottom jaw was smashed off. Rod was going on from Newport to try and find it, it remains to be seen if this was another incidence of boat strike.

Far better or worse?

I have been spending a little time in Newquay this week with Sea Trust and CBMWG volunteers, looking at what happened there with regards to codes of practice and general awareness as against Ramsay Sound. One obvious difference is that the majority of vessels involved in nature tourism in Newquay are relatively big and slow hard boats rather than fast RHIBs as are predominant in Ramsay Sound.

I really think the majority of Ramsay Skippers would prefer not to be disturbing the wildlife but in a way the power and speed of the RHIBs set the scenario.The hard boats don't have to slow down as they are generally cruising at well under ten knots. Having said that whenever I saw them in the vicinity of Dolphins around Newquay harbour, they seemed to be aware of the Dolphins presence and acted accordingly, slowing down further but continuing on their way, diverting if neccessary.

On the other hand it was pretty busy with other powered craft and paddled vessels making their way in and around the harbour.This scenario left a bit to be desired with powered boats leaving the harbour quite fast and perhaps not totally aware of, or ignoring the presence of the dolphins.

A few canoests were also out there, the majority were well behaved including the dude in the photo yesterday. He kept position and the dolphins passed close by.

Today canoes drove a mother and calf out of the bay, also another individual adult, not so good...

The Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Group Volunteers keep a record of all boat records in and out of the harbour and the different interactions with marine wildlife . There are large yellow bouys denoting the speed limits within 300yds

It’s always going to be a problem but I believe we need some clear guidance for all water users and some way of policing it. our aim must be to protect the wildlife that is not merely a life enhancing feature of our coast but also of massive economic benefit to places like St David's and Newquay.

More on 'Fin's'

The report on large numbers of Fin whales occurring off the Irish coast is quite fascinating. I guided on a trip across the Bay of Biscay into last weekend and we saw just one Fin whale which interestingly was just as we hit the continental shelf edge a couple of hours out of Bilbao in Spain. The previous 4 trips hadn't seen any! However the trip following ours had four animals. Up to a couple of years ago good numbers of Fin whales were regularly seen in the Biscay during the summer months. Their absence in the last 2 years has been the subject of much debate on deck, in the bar! And elsewhere and the consensus of opinion is indeed that they have 'migrated' in great numbers to the Irish sea/Celtic deep area. My information from informed sources is that Fin whales were much more evident in the Biscay earlier in the year. There is also a theory that many of these animals might be 'foraging' in the Southern end of the Biscay. We have been telling our clients and anyone else with an interest in the Fin whale situation to look at the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group sightings page and the 'Whales in Wales' blog to get updated news on their movements.
The latest report on this blog is timely as I'm back out in the Biscay again this weekend! So if I get any further information off my Spanish sources or the Biscay Dolphin Research Project (Marinelife) team on board the 'Pride of Bilbao' I will relay them to you all on here.
Its all exciting stuff!

Whales not quite in Wales or are they?

Image: Rich Crossen

As yet another of our Celtic Wildcat small boat surveys is blown out, news from the west from Malcolm Andrew of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group of big numbers of Fin and perhaps Humpback's arriving in the Celtic Sea area. Given that we had two contacts with the Whales last August, the situation is even more frustrating!

Large numbers of fin whales off Ardmore...and elsewhere!
2 August 2010
Having had an effort watch that yielded absolutely no sightings from Helvick Head early yesterday afternoon we decided that as the conditions were so good it was worthwhile visiting Ram Head and seeing if there was anything happening there.
After another 90 minutes of total lack of cetacean activity at Ardmore, just as we were considering packing it in I noticed a large splash of a dolphin breaching 8 kilometres offshore. As the clock ticked on to the 100 minute mark (the time usually allocated to an effort watch) we decided to draw a line under this particular effort but to dedicate some time to trying to identify what species of dolphin it was. As Ann continued to try and get some idea of this animals identification, or even its size (it was proving very elusive!) I decided one last scan of the horizon might be worthwhile. And so indeed it proved to be!
In an almost uncannily similar pattern to observations made on the 9th July I first of all picked up numerous ‘blows’ over the horizon to the east-south-east of us. Initial observations were quite strange as wherever the animals where in relation to us, the light or the curve of the earth was distorting their proportions making them look they were rearing out of the water and their dorsal fins looked as big as a killer whale’s!As we watched the animals began to move over the horizon towards us before circling to the south (see map below). The most fascinating part of this observation was revealed on returning home. The whales were first seen about an hour after low tide which tied in exactly with the timing of their first sighting over the horizon on 9th July.
With fin whales now being seen regularly off the west coast of Cork at the same time this would seem to indicate a large influx of these animals this year. Interestingly this is also the first time for us to see fin whales in August from Ram Head...any chance they might stick around for Whale Watch Ireland day on the 22nd?
Andrew Malcolm & Ann Trimble, IWDGUPDATE: A phonecall this afternoon from Martin Colfer on board the Rebecca C about 22k south of Ram informed us that he had both common dolphins and fin whales in that location. Communications from Padraig Whooley added to the picture as he encountered large numbers of fin whales in waters offshore Co. Cork -up to 16 animals some of which might have been humpbacks. A watch from Ram this evening yielded another 7 whales again to the east of us and about 12-15k offshore.

Common ground/sea - Dave Boyle, via Bird blog & Red from Strumble

from Dave,
saw a group of about 30 Common Dolphins (including several calves) late this afternoon between here ( Skomer) & Ramsey

From Red Lyford, camping at Strumble,
I big Basking Shark seen Sunday Morning approx, 9am.
Minimum 50+ Common Dolphins and at least 4 calves @ 0745, am this morning (Tesday) heading West towards Ramsay. It seems that Common dolphins have beeem heading inshore preumably following shoals of Mackerel.
Fits in with Greg and Lisa's report earlier, seems Commons may be following prey inshore...

Ramsey Sound Issues

5 or 6 common dolphins (including at least 1 calf) making their way up Ramsey Sound this morning at around 10:00. A rare sighting so close to the island. They were respectfully watched by 3 of the local tour boats, including our island passengers and provided a really good start to the day for these visitors.

Interesting to note comments below on boat behaviour and how perceptions can differ. From a seabird and seal viewpoint I have had little to complain about during the 5 years I have been here. The majority of the boat operators display very good behaviour in connection with these aspects of the code and indeed are good ambassadors for it. Many a time an operator has spoken to a kayaker about to haul out on a beach full of seal pups and saved me the job of shouting from the cliff top at them. The majority of the operators do a good job of “policing” the area during these sensitive parts of the season and, in contrast to a comment below, set a good example to visiting private vessel owners. I should also point out that the majority of kayakers are well behaved and respectful of the Code too.

As ever at this time of year, we will be monitoring boat and kayak behaviour around our pupping beaches and we will also monitor boat behaviour around slack water in the new highly sensitive area for porpoise around the Bitches. All our observations (good and bad) will be reported to Tom Luddington.

I am due to meet with some of the boat owners soon for our annual review so will pass on concerns raised regarding the porpoise situation.

Newquay operators care!

An afternon spent at Newquay in Ceredigion was a pleasant reminder that tour operators and cetaceans can get along together in harmony. There is a quite different set up with the operators there clearly adhering to their code of conduct. This mother and calf were strolling around off the harbour wall and the tour boats coming in to the harbour slowed as soon as they spotted them and gently steered around them. Scores of holiday makers were thrilled at the sight of the mother and calf, as were we .

They were obviously quite unpurturbed by the boats who passed by gently without crowding the animals or lingering in the vicinity. After a while another mother and calf pair wandered into the vicinity. Three canoeists came in for a look but again, remained at a respectful distance allowing the dolphins plenty of space. As I watched Steve Hartley an old mate and also one of the boat tour operators popped along for a chat carefully watching his skipper and satisfying himself that he was sticking to the codes of best practice that the Ceredigion County Council Community Dolphin Watch and nature tour operators have agreed.

According to Steve the system works well there and sets a good example to visitors. There is also a warden with a vessel who helps patrol the area advising mebers of the boating public of their responsibilities to the wildlife. If only....

Who Cares?

Hi Cliff, hope you're ok. I spent over 5 hours watching porps up at the Sound today, Sun.1st.Aug, including sightings of not just one mother & small calf, but two. Another example of apparent lack of awareness by boat operators. I caught sight of 2 porps gently surfacing away from the ebb tide race further into St.Brides Bay. Behind them was a tour boat approaching the area. At first I thought it was coming in to look at the porps but I was really concerned at the speed it was doing. It did not slow at all & passed over where I'd seen the porps within seconds of my sighting. Had they not seen porps surfacing in front of them in a flat sea? I frantically looked about for further sightings of the porps & eventually saw 2 further to the left of the original sighting. I really hope that they were the same 2. I met Malcolm there who had been watching from a different vantage point & we both thought there were about 10-12 porps in the Sound today. We watched them move up the Sound at the end of the ebb tide but were frustrated once again by boat activity. 2 tour boats crossed the Sound at the Bitches without reducing speed despite it being the optimum time for porps moving up the Sound. At the time, we were watching porps moving up, both north, & south of the Bitches. Thankfully Malcolm had his camera. All the best... Alison

Minke, Risso's and Common's but no porps!

A little weather window opened up and I decided to do a Ferry survey. We set off yesterday in more or less perfect conditions but missed out on porpoises as we passed the usually infallable area around Strumble.

Myriads of Manxies, Auks and Kitties formed small to medium feeding flocks as far as the eye could see which was somewhat distracting , but still no porps.

About forty minutes into the crossing, I spotted a patch of disturbed water and then a Minke Whale slid up and down as I yelled Minke! Its footprint was quite obvious to the naked eye and everyone got on to it as it surfaced again in a rather slo-mo fashion before dissapearing for the third and final time.

Stacey, Katie and Stephanie (my co-observers) were fairly chuffed as was I, a great if belated entry to the recording sheet. Three small pods of common dolphins punctuated the next couple of hours along with surprising numbers of migrating terns.

As we approached the Tusker I saw some splashing in the far distance and realised it must be Risso's. The aquabatics continued as we approached and I managed to get a few record shot pic's with my 200mm lense which i have included although they are a bit pathetic!

Conditions this morning were less goood with a ss3 and heavy glare. We still managed a couple of Risso's sightings but then it dried up and apart from a seal we saw no more marine mammals.

The Minke literally came out of the blue, the commons and Risso's were fairly much as scripted but no porp's is a bit of a poser!