Moby Dick returns to Fishyguard (with a calf !)

Fishyguards most famous cetacean Moby Dick was reconstructed in Sand by Sea trust volunteers over the half term holiday, Mums dads and kids braved the wet and windy forecasts, with more than 50 people young and old taking part. Special thanks to Sea Trust stalwarts, Tony and Stevo Lucas and Colin Butters for coming along to help! allthingsgood, cliff

Gannets don't lie!

Yesterday I got to Strumble as the tide was dropping , and porpoises were visible over mostr of 180 degrees probably fifty or so but spread out and not easy to see in the fast advancing wide and choppy tide race. The gannets were equally spread out but still there in numbers!

Gannets everywhere

Stevo Lucas "on watch"

I had a look at Strumble on Sunday around early afternoon. The very big tides at the moment are difficult to judge at Strumble with eddies and counter eddies that seem to bear no relation to the tide table. Consequently the view from the car park revealed a relatively flat sea, with little tidal activity. This is the time when most porpoises seem to take a nap and apart from one individual seen briefly surfacing, this appeared to be the case.

The presence of over 50 gannets dotted about on the surface, (unprecedented at this time of the year), just lounging about was worthy of note. Any but the odd one or two travelling gannets passing by are relatively scarce. The fact they were dotted around on the surface is reminiscent of the summer months when large aggregations can be seen feeding over porpoises. As the tide slackens activity ceases and they settle on the surface awaiting the next tide.

Short days and bad weather are the bane of the winter cetacean watcher, but the presence of this large group of Gannets may be a clue not to be ignored. If there are lots of fish there, it must be an attraction for cetaceans.

Porps here and there but not today!

Yesterday morning I had a few distant porpoises off Strumble lighthouse as they headed west with the tide. Yesterday evening with a sunny end to the day and glassy seas two porpoises were viewed in Fishguard bay (one close to the shore another half a mile out) from the Harbour Village veiwpoint. Both did the trick of showing quite well and then dissapearing without a trace for no apparent reason, such are the ways of porps!
Today Stevo and I had a look from Strumble , Harbour Village, and the outer breakwater but the brisk ESE wind was creating a clutter of waves and we saw nothing.

Porps at Strumble not many, not near

Yesterday I had a quick look at Strumble before the rugby and saw a single porpoise faffing about on the surface It looked like a well grown juvenile. It went down and reappeared a couple of minutes later in the same glassy overfall in the tiderace. This was repeated a couple of times. It may have been a newly independent animal developing its hunting technique searching for food in amongst the gullys and rocks that cause the overflows...
Today I met Malcolms two new researchers Lisa and Jacob (?) we saw a few distant porps , I left them to brave the chilly north west breeze, they sure make them tough on the other side of the North Sea!

Seal pup Warning!

Martin's Haven has a new-born seal pup on the beach, with the mother and a bull in the bay. This morning many visitors were coming right onto the beach, and the mother appeared to be quite distressed at being unable to get back to the pup. It would be greatly appreciated if people could keep dogs on a lead and off the beach to avoid causing any more stress to the mother and pup.
from Sach T (via Pembrokeshire Wildlife Blog)

Stevo on the ball again!

Hi Cliff
Tuesday 8th February

At lunchtime today between 1:00pm and 1:45pm.
Dad and I saw about 15 Harbour Porpoises feeding in the ebbing tide at Strumble Head
It is a nice sunny day with fresh south easterly wind force 4



Cheers
Stevo

Nice one Stevo! I was there a little bit after you, (15.00) and they were now just feeding off the lighthouse. some were probably hidden from view but I rekoned about a dozen including a mother with a calf.

Pair of Porps at Poppit

Viewed from the Lifeboat station today with our super powerful new spotting scope! The sea beyond Cemaes Head across to Cardigan Island was whipping up nicely with a strong Southerly....The two porps were working their way across the bay in the calmer water, really pretty close in (at low tide).....

There is some serious wind on its way this weekend (SW gusting 60 to 70mph - and a big swell building). Diving now cancelled this weekend :-(