Sunday, 31 July 2011

From Phil Lees,

At Point St John yesterday afterrnoon for the Ramsey gig rowing race. After all the boats had gone we watched a mother porp and calf make their way up the northern part of the Sound and out into the bay on the flooding tide with 2 Gannets diving around them - great stuff!

All the best.
Phil

Also severeral porpoises seen distantly from the Fishguard outer breakwater yesterday afternoon. I have just noticed this posting from Ray Wilkinson from the bird blog from last Thursday ...
There were several porpoises in the tide race at Strumble and 2 common dolphin beyond the race, heading east.

Saturday, 30 July 2011

Fishy tails from the Celtic Wildcat!



Yesterday's small boat survey aboard the Celtic Wildcat with skipper Nick O'Sullivan was (given the usual dodgy weather forecasts) a little bumpier than expected but we managed to get out and covered over ninety miles of sea including the Celtic Deep, the Smalls, a look at the Gannets of Grassholm and then back inshore with a brief visit to Skomer and Skokholm Islands.We had four Common Dolphin encounters although for some reason none seemed to want to join us for long. None the less everyone had good views and some pic's. (See photos here)
Brief but exciting sightings of three blue sharks was fascinating, all were in the Celtic Deep and some distance apart. They look a bit wallowy and weedy with the tips of their dorsal and tail fins flapping about on the surface but as one woke up at our approach and shot down to the depths, its true streamlined and dynamic charecteristics were revealed.
I say woke up, they do seem to be almost asleep! Also of interest was a big old bull Grey Seal, way out from land near the Celtic Deep.

The Gannets as usual put on a great show and the seabirds in general were pretty good, with an early Bonxie, single Storm Petrel and a lonely Turnstone, as well as a few newly fledged pufflings. The Puffin colonies of Skokholm and Skomer were nearly deserted, only a week after our last visit when there were still hundreds to be seen. We were hoping for an encounter with some big blubber but the conditions were not so helpful and we might be a bit early as most of our sightings of fin whales were in August...

Hmmm, next trips are in August, we shall see what we will see!



Yesterday/Friday was tinged with sadness as it was Verena's Bolender's last day working with us here in west Wales. She came to us first in August 2010 and helped organise and deliver last years Dolphin-othon. She also helped deliver our school days and lots of other stuff before she left in the snows of late November.
I managed to persuade her that Pembrokeshire is really warm and sunny in the spring and to come back in May for a second three month term. In this last term with us she has been the driving force with Dr Rob Davies and Colin Russel's team at the West Wales Biodiversity Recording Centre, in developing our new mobile recording system, as well as being the lead author of our latest Ferry Report which is just waiting for the last finishing touches before we publish it.

The good news is that she heard yesterday that she has been accepted for a place in Heidelberg University, the oldest and most prestigious seat of learning in Germany! I am sure all of us who have worked with her are not in the least surprised and will be wishing her well with her future studies!
Thanks for all your hard work on Sea Trusts behalf Verena, we will miss you!

Verena helping to deliver our recent "Marine Day" for Shropshire Wildlife Trust.

St Govan's

From Clive Hurford - Sorry for the late post, but was out at St Govan's Head last Sunday evening (24th), where there were at least four small groups of Harbour Porpoise (2+ animals in each), and at least two dolphins further out. The dolphins were probably Common Dolphin - but I can't be certain about this (due to the distance involved and the brief nature of the sightings). Also, three Grey Seals close in and copious numbers of Manxies passing the head on their return to the islands - not cetaceans I know but still nice to see...

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Unbelievable Whalewatching from the Stena Europe!


Another couple of days aboard the Stena Europe and more fantastic sightings in almost flat calm seas! Great rafts and feeding frenzies of auks, gulls, terns and shearwaters, gannets smashing in amongst them, glorious seascapes and also views of land from the sea...and of course cetaceans...
Some were close, some frustratingly just would not come into camera range. One of several sightings of breaching Risso's, a dark phase adult, black all over except for a pale melon which looked a bit like a lifesavers skullcap was particularly breathtaking.
Common Dolphins right in at the bow, other skulking away, the last pod of half a dozen sighted just off Strumble.
Porpoises with calves and gangs of half a dozen.
Three whales, one Minke and two not seen well enough to be certain but same place as two reported by Alan Murrow yesterday , (seen by his brother Len as Al took his break!) These were also seen by us and crew members as Al' took his morning break ! I only saw one of these briefly but it looked big and seemed to be in the company of a couple of Risso's. There seemed to be Risso's all over the place including a split up group of over 20. I cant believe TV crews arent queing up to come and film this stuff but we are obviously either too far away or not far enough away. With the sort of equipment they have it could be spectacular viewing but I suppose they prefer to be in Madagscar or Nepal than West Wales!
Ultra bright conditions made photography tricky but a couple of shots from Rich Crossen of a Common Dolphin and a Risso' surfacing are shown above whilst the Manx Shearwater below shows just how glassy calm it was.
I have just noticed this from the Pembrokeshire Bird Blog Posted By John o'Sullivan:Strumble Sun morning 15-20 Common Dolphins went west at 6:15, That's pretty likely to be the same ones we saw still in the area - nice one John!

Monday, 25 July 2011

Aperporth bottles and chips!

 Hi Cliff
We were at Aberporth yesterday and as we settled down to eat our chips from the benches overlooking the bay at about 7.15pm, right on cue 3 Bottles made their way from northwards across the bay towards Tresaith. They were quite close in just by the big yellow 8 knot buoys, one large adult showing very well. About half an hour later another solitary bottle passed the same way but much further out. Great finish to a good day out!
All the best.
Phil Lees

 I love watching bottles and eating chips! I did it for the first time at Channonry Point looking over the Moray Firth about twenty years ago the chippie in Rossmarkie was pretty good!
Also sightings of 20+ porposes seen around Ramsey sound from Alison Ross on Sunday including two mothers and calves.AT Strumble a dozen or show were showing on the dropping tide at about 6pm.

Sunday, 24 July 2011

Razorbill sweep up

We are heading off to the Humber for 8 days Bathymetric survey in the early hours, so wanted to quickly blog up some sightings for the past week.....

Weds 2oth - pair of Bottlenose just off the causeway between Barmouth & Aberdyfi.....we were making passage and had a tight water sampling schedule with tides so were unable to observe for long.

Thurs 21st - pod of 6 Bottlenose a couple of miles off Aberaeron. A further pod (5 counted) with calf off Newquay. Lone porpoise off Newport (midway between Ceibwr & Headland).

Sunday 24th - pod of 8 Bottlenose approximately a mile North of Cardigan Island. One animal was breaching and jumping clear vigorously.

Look forward to catching up with the Blog when we return!

Saturday, 23 July 2011

Stevo's survey at Mwnt

Friday 22nd July
Dad and I went to Mwnt at 3-5pm. We watched 4 adult Bottlenose Dolphins for about 1/4 hours.
They were doing deep dives and milling around close to the headland performing in front of us doing lots of activity and enjoying the sunshine The sea conditions were Northerly westerly wind force 4.
Ps it seems that the number of cetacean sightings is very good this year during this summer what do you think Cliff ?

I think we are doing pretty well so far Stevo, lets hope for good weather and more sightings and well count them up at the end of the summer!

Thursday, 21 July 2011

Celtic Wildcat today (Thursday 21stJuly)








All in all it was a day when we did not expect a lot. The weather forcasts were conflicting and changing day by day as Thursday approached but still appeared marginal from the point view of it being worthwhile as a good survey day. And it wasn't really. A northerly breeze had set in overnight chopping things up with an opposing tide in the morning. No problem for the Wildcat but anyone trying to survey from the bow was always in danger of getting a soaking (and I did) None the lesss we had a plan to let the paying passengers get some nice pictures of puffins and seabirds around Skomer and then belt out to Grassholm's fantastic Gannet colony. We could then wander southwards with the waves coming from behind gently pushing us along rather than smashing into us.
Puffins and Gannets obliged and then (against the forcast) things gentled down and we cruised out from Grassholm with the odd ray of sunshine favouring us. As I scanned the waves some slanting raked fins appeared in my bin's "Risso's I yelled and signalled to Nick to cut the engines. Although we have seen them regularly from the ferry, this was only our third small boat encounter and I did not want to scare them off. We spent about twenty minutes gently stalking them but they insisted on keeping a distance of around 100yds and so we took as many pictures as we could and hoped that they would be of some use. Difficult to tell in the swell but we reckoned on 6 animals and one pic (top left) showed a quite well grown calf amongst them.
We are a conservation organisation and so as much as we wanted some good quality images we made the decision to leave them in peace. I am pleased to say all the keen photographers aboard agreed with this decision.
By now we were dawdling south in the sunshine and feeling pretty pleased with ourselves and the world in general. Some dark splashy specks appeared away to portside moving fast in a convergant course. I asked Nick to put on a little speed and soon we had a pod of around twenty Common Dolphins running parrallel with us, we throttled back so as not to cut across their course counting dolphins in such conditions is difficult but there was clearly a couple of calves with them. They were obviously on a mission and held off for a few minutes before crossing our bow and dissapearing into the west. A brief but extremely satisfying encounter. We cruised on contentedly in a wide ark , as we had some time left as we came inshore we decided to have a look at Skolkholm on the way back in newly fledged Peregrines provided the next episode of our wildlife extraviganza two of them feinting at gulls and then sparring over our heads, a gentle look as some seals in south bay completed the dream day and Nick brought us back through the Milford Haven to Neyland, a boat load of extremely contented wildlife enthusiasts!

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Malcolm and some Newquay Bottles

Hi Cliff,



took Amanda to see some Bottlenose today,


went out with Steve and co,


very nice trip a nice few gentle encounters too,


nice to see how its done up there,


cheers


malcolm

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Porpoises in Fishguard Harbour.

This afternoon after three days chained to my desk I managed to break out and Verena, Freddie and I had a look from the Outer Breakwater at Fishguard Harbour. The Sea was choppy and rough as I expected so I congratulated myself on not bothering to bring a camera, I nearly went back for.
Dooh!!! as we looked around the end of the breakwater a gannet dived in about twenty yards away and  surfaced swallowing a mackerel. Just behind it a mother and calf porpoise surfaced. we watched them for half an hour or so, trying to work out who we were looking at. There seemed to be one paler mother with a very small calf , then another darker mother with a bigger calf, also  possibly another adult. Of course no camera no photo's Aaaargh!

Monday, 18 July 2011

Ernst the eagle eye has landed (and departed) ...









Some may remember Ernst and Aniek working with Malcolm the winter before last braving sub zero tempratures and getting images of a porpoise with a damaged fin proving a degree of site fidelity. Ernst came back for a few days. ...

Hello Cliff.



It has been wonderful to be back in Pembrokeshire again. Me and my mate have spent four wonderful days on the Pembrokeshire coast. We’ve experienced four day’s worth off cetacean action. It’s so great to finally experience Pembrokeshire in summer conditions, after so many visits in the cold and grayness of winter. Here is a short update of the four day’s worth of sightings.


13-07-2011


Penllechwen struck gold again. Normally quite poor in consistent porpoise activity, but generally makes up for it with great sightings if things do start to happen. After a rather porpoiseless morning we were rewarded with a tremendous sighting of about 32-36 common dolphins racing by at about 300 metres in full speed. Divided in three smaller groups, the animals passed west on the ebb tide, heading towards the Bishops & Clerks . At least two calves where sighted. Probably more present though. After a small breather and regrouping, the animals disappeared out of sight.


We met up with Malcolm in the sound after that to see six (after photo analysis) porpoise pass through on the flood tide. Two calves where observed. Of which a very photo genetic mother-calf pair.


About two hours later we met up with this pair again at Whitesands, near Saint David’s Head. They seemed to be resting and socializing in the calm waters there, not to far away from the swimmers. A very nice first day indeed.






14-07-2011


The second day, a visit to Skomer island. A few porpoise around at Skomer Head. A short visit to Strumble brought us a lot of porp activity in the final stage of the flood tide. About 15 porpoise feeding and porpoising activily on the surface, accompanied by circling and occasionally diving gannets. It was looking like the gannets where waiting for the porps to herd fish up to the surface.






15-07-2011


Strumble was the first venue of the day in search of those illusive risso’s. No risso’s sighted, though increasing porpoise activity during the progress of the ebb tide. Over ten animals where sighted at once, feeding in the tidal race just behind the lighthouse.


Next cetacean on the list was the bottlenose dolphin. First stop was Mwnt. Just two minutes after arriving, a mother and calf pair showed up and remained in the area for about one hour. The calf stayed at the surface, circling, playing and frequently blowing, whilst mother was probably hunting for fish further down.


Next stop was New Quay. Our luck was definitely in, because again the animals showed in not more than two minutes. From the pier we could see about 8-10 animals resting and socializing. After about one hour, most of the animals disappeared behind the fish factory. Two larger animals separated from the group and entered the harbor in search of fish. We positioned ourselves on the rocks at het harbors’ entrance. Whilst we where setting up the camera, one animal broke the surface, about twenty feet away from us, tossing a big mullet in the air. It took until the second and third jump for me to realize what was happening. One poor mullet was caught and immediately the duo left the harbor, leaving us utter euphoric on the pier.


16-07-2007


Last day of the trip, we decided to test our luck again and looked up the bottles in New Quay again on a dolphin encounter trip. We could have better stayed in the harbor, for animals where sighted on the way in and on the way out of the harbor. About three animals where slowly surfacing in the area before disappearing out of sight.


Right now, I’m on the ferry back to the mainland again. Though it’s mighty rough out there, I’m still scanning the water through the window, hoping to get a last glimpse of a porpoise this trip.


It was wonderful being back in lovely Pembrokeshire again. I guess it will not be the last time.


Best regards,


Ernst

Thats what I call talent, conditions were not great but he made the most of our Dolphin Coast, somone  somewhere should give this guy a job!

Trying to keep up!

Reports of  small numbers of Porpoises from Richard Stonier on Saturday and Sunday from Strumble gleaned from Pembrokeshitre Birds and a call from Adrian Rogers with around a dozen seen on Sunday evenoing in poor conditions are interesting whilst Adrian also reported a large fish breaching. Adrian is a keen angler and well versed in the subject but could not suggest a likely species other than some kind of Sailfish... A reliable report of  four Corys Shearwaters (unheard of in anything other than odd single birds at this time of the year)  from Strumble also from  RS may also be a part of an emerging jigsaw puzzle that is beginning to compose itself this year. It would not be possible to put all this stuff together without talented observers ... 

Friday, 15 July 2011

Ferry survey shock, no Minke's !

A common dolphin off the bow of the Stena Europe (CB)


A last minute decision to catch the last of the calm spell had Verena and myself aboard the Stena Europe yesterday. Several pods of common dolphin showed, with a small pod of Risso's and also porpoises seen .
The ferrys new schedule starting fifteen minutes earlier at nine PM gave us an hour of daylight on the return which with flat calm seas should on recent experience produced at least one Minke but apart from a porpoise sighting the unruffled expanse of briny remained undisturbed by cetaceans of any other description. Three species of cetacean, forty odd common dolphins 3 Risso's and a handful of porpoises would be considered pretty good going for under five hours of watching most places around the world but on recent precedents seemed a bit dull! The lack of Minke's given the perfect conditions last night came as a bit of a shock! It seems to me there was a sudden influx of Minke's which has ebbed away again but hopefully not forever!
Some Porpopises with Dutch researchers, Ernst and Stephen at Strumble today was pleasant, they were in the chop of the tiderace and difficult to see but probably a dozen or so... Great to meet up with Ernst again after his sterling work with Malcolm a couple of winters ago!
Strumble (mother and calf) Porps: Michael Rich


From Phil Lees...

Hi Cliff
Spent an hour around low tide at Pen Pedol (Ramsey Sound) today. Porps showing really well in the calm conditions - appeared to be 4 adults and 2 calves.

All the best.
Phil
and from Stevo...

Thursday 14th July
Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 10:00am . We saw 3-4 Harbour Porpoises maybe more in the ebbing tide. The gannets were diving and circling in the area where the porpoises that we've sighted . The sea conditions was flat clam and not a ripple. And the sun was shinning brightly.
allthingsgood
Stevo
Strumble porp: Michael Rich.

Ps, just noticed Rich has altered the WinW banner pic's , nice one Rich!

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Shropshire Wildlife Trust Visit

Cliff has been playing host to Shropshire Wildlife Trust today (their annual excursion)......We met with the first party at The Moorings at St.Dogmaels for a couple of trips on this evenings tide.....After a bit of birding around Cardigan Island we headed over towards Mwnt where the Gannets gave away a lone Bottlenose stemming tide. We then headed out to sea where we picked up another 5 animals. Later we picked up the same (probably) pod of 6 this time further out to sea around 3 N.miles off the Mwnt.....

Some of the Trust thought they captured some images and have offered to forward them on. Will post up if they do....

Great to meet the Trust, thanks for your company......and so pleased the Bottlenose Dolphs put in appearance.......as well as the seals and seabirds, of course!

Monday, 11 July 2011

Strumble 4 Porthgain 0 from Phil Lees

Hi Cliff
Spent an hour at Strumble this afternoon and was rewarded by watching a small group of 3 - 4 porps moving westerly for 10 minutes or so opposite the Observatory. Drew a blank at the Porthgain Beacon tonight, just loads of shearwaters to keep me enterained.
Regards, Phil

Fantastic ferry survey (Part Two)

Hi Cliff,
Here is the second part of our Ferry Survey.
After a very short night with an off effort sighting of Common Dolphins at 4:30am by Sarah and me and a sighting of a Porpoise at 4:40am by Alan Murrow, we started our survey again in the morning. We started off at Sea State 2 but it calmed down to a Sea State 0 as we got closer towards Fishguard. Even though conditions were excellent, there was no early sign of any cetaceans.
Being far past Tuskars Rock we finally spotted the first Porpoise, shortly followed by a few more Porpoise sightings, one of a mother and a calf. We got really excited when we spotted a distant pod of 4 Risso's Dolphins and a bit later a pod of about 20 Common Dolphins leaping out of the water and coming close to the ship. As the sea calmed down, it got more and more hazy. We could see Strumble Head Lighthouse flashing through the haze, and decided to end our survey due to bad visibility.
Just as we were about to leave the bridge the crew pointed a close Common Dolphin out to us and Rhianna was quick enough to get a glimpse of it.
Even though second leg of the trip was relatively quiet we saw around 30 cetaceans of three species and had a fantastic time on the Stena Europe.
Verena

Fantastic ferry surveys really producing the goods!

Hi Cliff,
Common Dolphin
After the fantastic trips on the Stena Europe last weekend, we decided to go out on the Irish Sea again. The Weather was calm and overcast, with a generally good visibility. Heading past Strumble Head we saw 8 Harbour Porpoise within 40 minutes. Followed by the first pod of 15 Common Dolphins which were quite far out. Later on we saw two separate pods both a lot closer to the Ferry and two Common dolphins coming right up to the ship. Half way towards Ireland we spotted the first Minke Whale quite close to the boat. In the following 30 minutes we saw two more Minke Whales all of them fairly close. The score of marine megafauna different species was rounded up by a pod of 7 distant Risso's dolphins and 53 Jellyfish counted by Rhianna.

After enjoying a meal in the pub and having a walk on the beach we were up for another survey in the evening. Going past Tuskar Rock we saw 3 more porpoises. Just as we were packing up and about to leave we saw a big animal leaping out of the water creating a giant splash right in front of the boat. We rushed over to the other bridge wing but unfortunately we couldn't find it again.

Many thanks to Stena Line and crew of the Stena Euorope for their warm hospitality and enthusiasm for our survey. Looking forward to the trip back tomorrow. Pictures by Sarah Allen attached.

Cheers! Rhianna, Sarah and Verena

Minke Whale.

Sounds Good!

From Malcom Barradel:; Hi Cliff, I did an overnighter in Ramsey Sound, I watched porpoise until dark at 10.30 The sound was full of porpoise. I reckon there were at least 25 and maybe as many as 40. I saw at least 3 (possibly 5) small calfs, and two other older calfs.
There was lots of foraging activity and gannet action too. But the best was the hour before and then half an hour after slack water (by which time it had got dark), there were porpoise North and South of the bitches in the clam waters of the still evening the porpoise blows were really audible, sometimes it was hard to know where to look first.
At dawn this morning (well 6ish) I went to the South of the Sound I was a lottle dissapointed that there were not so many porpoise, but there was again a nice movement of porpoise up through the sound at slack water when once again I can confirm at least three small ca
Nature tour boats with customers were out early and it was nice to see them slowing down and showing their clients porpoise in the sound .

Pembrey Porps

From Barbara Davies - Hi Cliff, Thanks again for great 3 day WOW course, and great to see us featured on the whales in wales blog! Sat 9th July. 2-3 porpoises spotted, all appeared to be adults although couldn’t be sure. Old Pembrey harbour jetty approx. 20ft above MHW. Time of high tide 12.16 at Burry Port, distance from animals approx 500m. Have retained separate and detailed recording for future reference. Best wishes,Babs

Saturday, 9 July 2011

More from Stevo at Mwnt

Mum Dad and I went to Mwnt at 1-3pm and we saw 4 Bottlenose Dolphins with a single calf off the headland. They were feeding and performing lots of action displays like leaping, and long dives and enjoying the sunshine with fantastic behavioural encounters. There were also lots of gannets amongst the Bottlenose Dolphins
Cheers
Stevo

Thursday, 7 July 2011

Another amaising WOW course delivered!

Mother and calf bottle's at Newquay
Given the extremely pessimistic weather forcast for the week by the BBC/Met Office weather clowns, it looked like this weeks WOW cetacean course was going to be a real challenge to deliver.
surveying aboard "Sulaire"
As it happened, it was a dream, great people, great cetaceans and with a bit of organisation we worked with the weather to make sure the practical stuff was delivered . Thanks also to Steve Hartley for getting us out on his boat "Sulaire " so we had both land and boat based surveys,  for our gang of students.


Day one: we did the classroom ID stuff at Pembrokeshire College then trialled it at Ramsay Sound. Plenty of porpoises including some with calves gave everyone a chance to use their ID skills and the survey recording sheets.
Day two, a morning visit to Strumble and our keen students worked hard to "dig out" a few porpoises during quite tough conditions, in my humble opinion, a great test.

Strumble Porpoise


This was followed by biology lesson and test whilst the heavens opened in the afternoon and we worked in our cosy "Yellow Submarine" facility in the Ocean Lab, Fishguard Harbour.
After more survey lessons and tests we climbed into the Mini Bus and headed off to Newquay. The Bottlenose dolphins were showing as we arrived at the car park and we ended the day with a Dolphin spectacular from both boat and shore completing surveys from both locations.

L to R = Mary, Elfyn, Melissa, Hannah, Aaron, Sarah, Verena,  Moyrah, Powell,  Barbara. (and sitting), Eirianydd. 


Thanks again to : a great gang of students, support from Pembrokeshire College, Steve Hartley and Elfyn Pugh who participated as a student but also helped attract other ORCA members to the course (Mary and Mellissa) and Sea Trust volunteer Verena Bolender who helped in the delivery.



allthingsgood, Walrus!


Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Porps and quandries in Ramsay Sound.



Hi Cliff




A group of common dolphin (15-20) one mile west of St Davids Head about mid day on Monday.



I have attached a couple of pictures of the Porpoise that have at times been showing very well recently.

Thanks Malcolm, sorry not to have replied to previous emails and sadly no time to see Lesser Grey Shrike, aaaargh, it would be a lifer for me!

Seems to me this vessel is extremely close to the porpoise on its starboard bow and possibly  in contravention of WiSe amd Pembrokeshire Marine Code 50 metre guidelines as well as the fact that harrasment, if proven can result in substantial fines or even imprisonment.  I suppose, (it may be) the crew  are unaware of the animal... All boat owners should be made aware of these facts.

Our second week of Wildlife Observer Wales cetacean courses is going well with great views of Porpoises in Ramsay  Sound yesterday and the group worked hard to dig out a couple of porps at Strumble today. Newquay tomorow, lets hope the weather gods continue to give us a break!

It looks like the Western Mail will be featuring some of Steve Rossers photo's and a report of our weekend ferry trips tommorow or perhaps the day after...

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Some statistics of the weekend

What an amazing weekend. More than a 100 sightings of Cetaceans in the Irish Sea. After a first trip of more than 50 sightings on Friday/Saturday, Cliff, Steve Rosser, Steve Davies and Sarah could add another 47 sightings on Sunday/Monday. Here are the statistics for the second trip:

Harbour Porpoise: 20 sightings of 29 individuals
Risso's Dolphin: 7 sightings of 33 individuals
Common Dolphins: 4 sightings of 28 individuals
Minke Whales: 11
Humpback Whale: 1
unidentified: 4 including one whale specie

Weekend whale and dolphin bonanza In the Irish Sea




Pic's Steve Rosser
Verena, Rich and Peter  started the thing off see previous posting: "Flat Calm Irish Sea" a summary of their Friday/Saturday Sea Trust Stena  Europe Survey. Steve Rosser, Steve davies and new volunteer Sarah Allen and the Walrus finished it off ! Short of time at the moment so I will let Verena put in the stats later but it was quite simply a Whale and Dolphin bonanza, not to mention our lovely porps!Highlights abounded but a distant glimpse of a Humpback Whale was perhaps sidelined by the Minke which defacated next to the ship and then proceeded to chase it like a dog! That even impressed our Captain, Bob Wheel and that takes some doing!

Sunday, 3 July 2011

Mwnt Bottlenoses

Saturday 2nd July, from Stevo - Mum, Dad and I went to. Mwnt at 1-3 pm, and we saw a pod of 5 Bottlenose Dolphins, close to us off the headland.
They were milling and mingling and also feeding, for the 2 whole hours of our watch. I think they were enjoying the sunshine. Cheers Stevo

Porthgain Porp

From: Phil Lees - Hi Cliff
Not so exciting as being out at sea but I spent an hour or so at the Porthgain Beacon this afternoon while my better half was gig rowing. With the great conditions for sea watching I was rewarded with watching a solitary mature porp feeding in the same area for 40 minutes or so about about 400m or so offshore. All the best Phil

Saturday, 2 July 2011

Bottlenose Dolphins doing a spot of Mackerel Bashing

A 3 hour wildlife watching charter today with a family from Llandovery.....a pod of 4 Bottlenose Dolphins (3 together and one bringing up the rear) observed near the Mwnt.....we slowed to 6 knots to pass by and head on towards Aberporth......having passed them, they kept 'catching up' whilst remaining around 100 plus metres off to our port hand and then stbd side, until making a few passes under the bow.......There were lots of boats out fishing for mackerel (succesfully) and the Dolphs appeared to keep hitting shoals....thrashing around briefly before carrying on.....We shot a video, but it's lost most of its clarity in the upload to our Facebook group :-(
Welcome to view it there, but not worth posting here i'm afraid.....Doesn't do them /the sighting any justice ;-)
Edit: Christina has just sent me this photo she took.....many thanks!

Flat Calm in the Irish Sea


Perfect weather for a Sea Trust survey on the Stena Europe from Fishguard to Rosslare with flat calm seas and a slight overcast. On the outward leg yesterday Verena, Peter Boyle and I were joined by Dave Smith of Orca who is attempting to see as many species of Cetacean as possible in Europe during July - well he got off to a pretty good start! We saw plenty of Porpoises on the way over - 17 sightings with a total of 33 animals, including 3 calves. Approaching the Tusker Rock on the Irish side we saw a lone Risso's Dolphin then a group of 4 more and the leg was then crowned with a Minke Whale ahead of the ship which we then passed on the port side. Not quite the close encounter which Steve Rosser had (see posting below) but we were not complaining!
After refreshments in Rosslare we reboarded the ship and were able to spend a further hour on the bridge due to the long evening light. In this short space of time we added another 8 Porpoises (including 1 calf) and had 4 sightings of Risso's involving 19 animals, including 1 juvenile. We hit the sack later on very contented.
This morning the conditions were again near perfect for the return to Fishguard with, perhaps, a little more glare. Risso's Dolphins featured across the breadth of the crossing - 7 sightings, 27 animals. Porpoise numbers were again high with 9 sightings of 13 animals and we added Common Dolphin to the species list with 4 sightings of 73 animals in total. Phew! Again the icing on the cake was a Minke Whale about halfway across which appeared on the starboard side at reasonable range giving good views.
Amazing to experience the diversity of species and number of animals in the Irish Sea. Oh for more calm weather to see just what is out there.
(Apologies for poor record shots of Porpoise with Calf and Risso's Dolphins!)
See Dave's report of his weekend in Wales here

Epic Sea Trust Stena Europe Ferry Survey.

I just met up with Rich Cossen and Verna from the ferry and it seems they had a phenomenal time out in the Irish Sea. I will leave Rich to give a full account, but  it  seems Dave Smith  of Orca ticked off several of his target species with them,  over to you Rich...

Whales of a different Welsh coast

Hi Cliff
Did a survey yesterday with Rob Colley on the Panther out of Burry Port. Lots of common dolphins in small groups varying from a single to fifteen animals. The highlight after a long blank spell was minke right alongside the boat. We are still uncertain whether it was 1 or 2 animals. I got a good photo of one dorsal fin so Rob will compare all our photos to try to ascertain if there were 2. We amateur photographers are never satisfied. The minke was too close for our long lenses and when it surfaced very close  (we heard it blow) astern and we were all looking either port or starboard a lot of hearts started racing.
Steve
Hmm, Rich Verena and Peter are out on the ferry, wonder what Im missing in the Irish Sea???