Celtic Wildcat Skipper, Nick o' Sullivan gave me some images of the Pilot Whale that recently stranded at Llanstadwell.
From what I can make out Pilot Whales were possibly much more abundant in the past. Andy Rickard filmed a pod off Skokholm about ten years ago and they are also mentioned by Mark Cowardine in the Wales section of his book about whale watching in Europe, published in 2003. Having spent thousands of hours afloat in the waters around Pembrokeshire I have yet to see any here other than the two dead/dying ones that have turned up in Milford Haven. They tend to be found in deeper waters than ours, feeding at depths on squid. Something I had not noticed before when watching them off Tenerife was the teeth, which from this head shot are particularly impressive, thanks for the pic's Nick.
Speaking of the Wildcat, just had an email from Rich Crossen that our 28 April Wildcat Trip. only has 5 places left. I always find the first trip out in the spring incredibly exciting so if you want to get a look at the bird colonies Islands and hopefully see some cetaceans up close book early while you can! details of how to book are available on allthingsgood, cliff,
Monday 19th March
Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 2:30pm.
and we saw a single Harbour Porpoise in the flooding tide race, the time of the sighting was roughly about 3:10pm ish.
The sea condition was flat calm with a couple of white caps
Cheers
Stevo
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