Sunday 20 November 2011

Is the southern Irish Sea the best place in the world to see Risso's Dolphins?

(Just in from Adrian Roger),
Jonathan Bennet reports having seen four Risso's just below the cliffs near St Justinians in or around the northern entrance of Ramsey Sound (not specific.) Jonathan is a keen local birder and knows his stuff, so great to get this message through the local birders grapevine!
Update... apparently they were very  close in under the cliffs , so close Jonathan could  not only see the blows but also the blowholes opening and shutting! Lucky man, it must have been a thrilling few minutes until they moved off to the north, presumably having come through the sound.  
I spent a short watch at Strumble with no sightings and begin to wonder why, as I have seen nothing there for some time which is incredibly unusual.
Image: Ramsay Risso's, Rich Crossen sept 09
Although we can never gaurantee Risso's off the coast here they do turn up reasonably frequently. Given decent weather from June through to about now I would put a fair bet on seeing them from the Stena Europe on one of our surveys. There can't be many places where you are in with a good chance of Risso's if  you put in a bit of time and effort!

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