Monday 31st March 2014
We went to Strumble Head at 4pm 
And we saw 8-10 Harbour Porpoises plus 1calf in the flooding tide moving past to the east
and there was gannets but not feeding and the conditions was sea state 2 wind from the SW and teaming of rain.
Stevo

"H" hits the Strumble Jackpot

 

 Four Risso's spotted today at Strumble Head copyright .Aeron John Photography

I know there is 3 in this pic but one was trailing behind.

Heading North - East at approx 1700 towards Fishguard approx 100 yards off shore. Well within the rough,obvious current stream.

Standing by the railing at the obs post and counting 12 o'clock in front of you, these were spotted at 11 o'clock and continued to approx 2 o'clock between the 2 black fishing buoys. Also at approx 1800 a single porpoise seen in the same area going in the same direction
Along with the others earlier in the month these are the first Risso's recorded here at  Strumble or on our Stena ferry Surveys in March. Obviously "H" was the right man in the right place to get pic's yesterday, well done H!!! 

And more porpoises...

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Went for a walk in the Deerpark, Marloes yesterday at about 3:30 and spotted a porpoise from the lookout station swimming past Wooltack Point heading west towards Skomer.

Regards,
Dave Mathias

Dead dolphin at Newgale

There is a (very long) dead immature dolphin (I think) at Newgale, on the cobbles by the middle car park. Impossible to tell what it died of, but yesterday a Raven was doing what Ravens do on carcasses.
Hi Sash,
              thanks for this, interestingly I have seen a couple of carcasses like this over the years, with what appears to have been a fillet neatly taken off one side. Its only a guess but I think this animal may have been caught as by-catch by one of the fishing boats out there and someone has decided to try out a culinary experiment...

Pen Anglas Porps again

We've been out filming with a Dutch TV crew for 'Visit Wales', launching 0700hrs from the Ocean Lab..... Having cheated the forecast, we picked up a single Porpoise between the outer breakwater and Pen Anglas, then 2 or possibly 3 animals feeding in the tidal disturbance just off Pen Anglas.... Also had a couple of seals, Plenty of Rafting Auk, quite a few on the ledges, and fulmar, shag and cormorants all beginning to take up their places on the cliffs near Needle Rock....

Porps from the South of the county

I saw a porpoise feeding just round the corner from  Stackpole Quay yesterday ... yay!!
Jackie Kempton

First Porpoises of Spring!

We keep an almost daily watch (weather permitting) for porpoises off the outer breakwater of Fishguard Harbour and unusually have not seen a single porp since the autumn. Today two adults were feeding in the harbour entrance I tried to get a pic but these were the best I could manage, non the less from the fin shape it could be a juvenile, lets hope they are there tomorrow to get a better view!

We were not the only one's!

single porpoise spotted today 50 meters off Strumble Head

Regards,
liz clark 

Thanks Liz!, Some more Clark's,  the Clark brothers, local fishermen told me that they have been seeing Dolphins including a particularly inquisitive Bottlenose with a serrated dorsal fin which seems to follow them around whilst they are potting also Graham Devonald had a similar occurrence last week! We are hoping to get some picks so we can pass them on to our colleagues in Cardigan Bay Marine Centre to see if they have a match in their Photo ID catalog. 

Porpoise sighting

Single porpoise spotted approx. 50m offshore just out from Sandy Haven yesterday evening, sent in to us by Gwyn Thomas.

Stormy Strumble Porp

Cliff and Stevo went to Strumble Head and we saw a single Harbour Porpoise in the ebbing tide.
The sea condition was turbulent quite choppy and the view was very brief in the big waves.

Strumble

Two groups (viewable at the same time) were fishing offshore for about an hour this afternoon. There were at least six animals in one group and at least four in the other. Both groups attracted attendant Gannets and Herring Gulls.

Dolphins make a splash and plenty of Porp's on our Stena Europe ferry survey...

The sun shone yesterday as we sailed out of Fishguard on our three and a half hour crossing of the St Georges Channel to Rosslare. We started off  slowly with a couple of Porpoises about ten miles off Strumble and and then waited almost another half hour for our next sighting a pod of around 40 Common dolphins feeding below at least 50 Gannets. They came in to see us and we got some pic's and some film.another reasonable fruitless half hour passed and then we started a series of 11 Porpoise sightings in the last hour of survey for a total of 37 individuals!Another splendid meal in the Harbour View topped off the day before returning to the ship for a good nights sleep. Up bright and early and after a splendid breakfast we set off at nine into a rather murky Irish Sea. There was little evidence of the Porpoises we saw coming in and a choppy sea state three and hazy horizon made spotting them a good deal harder.none the less during the course of the trip we managed nine separate sightings . Eight were of Porpoises but we also had another of two Common Dolphin. so all in all a pretty eventful Trip for team Sea Trust!

22 sightings
20 porpoise, 2 common dolphin

Individuals
56 porpoise, ~40 common dolphin

More photos: 
https://www.facebook.com/532791560088466/photos/pcb.753979091303044/753977931303160/?type=1&theater
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eekw4-JMgHQ&feature=youtu.be

More common dolphin shots from Steve Rosser:

Strumble Diary; first calf of the year!

Another lovely early spring day and so we headed to Strumble to see what we could see!
Most of the porp activity seemed to be quite distant but we did witness some really nice gull interactions with mainly Herring Gulls chasing the porpoises as odd animals pushed what seemed to be small fry to the surface. A mother with a small calf managed to dodge my efforts to film her but it was good to see them however erratic their progress! We should be on the ferry tomorrow and I am just praying the weather continues nice and calm!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Q_bPpTPO8&list=UU9WgsTMCKUMJ7PDPcHDCABQ

Porpoises Strumble

Cliff, Hannah, Stevo and new vols Emily and Joel went to Strumble Head at 4pm.
And we saw at least 20 Harbour Porpoises in the ebbing tide race; they were feeding in small groups spread out. There were quite a lot of seabirds flying about too - gannets, Gulls, auks, divers, shags and Cormorants . The sea condition was quite turbulent and the wind from the NE.   

Sunny Strumble: Stevo Lucas

Our vols hard at work

Friday from H...

A single porpoise spotted approx 75 - 100 yards off the cliffs of Porthgain today. Heading West at about 1400. Looked like an adult!! No shot as wrong lens on. Was shooting landscape for a publication :).

Strumble Porps 8th March

Had to have a quick look at Strumble on my return from holiday. Nice to see a few porpoises fairly close in enjoying the spring sunshine.  

Hero's and Villains!

As a proud Welshman, I am disgusted at the lack of true Welsh heroes on this page. I can only hope that this is corrected sometime in the near future

Hugs and kisses
-Samuel

Regards,
Samuel King | kinuel09@grid.johnwarner.herts.sch.uk

A Welsh Heroine at Strumble....

OK Samuel Lee Halfpenny, George North and Richard Hibbard to be going on with!
 I obviously don't qualify on either count ! If any one wants to spam Sam with lists of Heroes Welsh or not feel free!
On a more groovy note, team Sea Trust went down to Strumble this afternoon to do a click count and apart from several Porpoise sightings also managed to record at least two separate Risso's. 
One Risso seemed to be feeding by swirling on the surface much as Dan described to us the other day.
Another cetacean organisation that pretends to be "The cetacean Monitoring Organisation" seem to be using our "Whales in Wales" title, I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

Wildlife Observer Wales courses this year

Still spaces available to sign on to our WOW courses this summer! Get in touch for more info.

A sunny March survey

The promise of a brief weather window had us jumping on the ship within an hour's notice after months without a survey and we weren't disappointed; we'd hardly even rounded the end of the breakwater when we had our first porpoise, shortly followed by a single Risso's dolphin off Pen Anglas which seems to be a hotspot for them lately! A few more good porpoise sightings, and a very brief glimpse at a couple of common dolphins underneath the bow made for a nice crossing!
Hopefully the weather will hold out and we can squeeze in a full trip again this month!

7 sightings in total:
5 porpoise - 12 individuals
1 common dolphin - 2 individuals
1 Risso's dolphin - 1 individual

Mad March Risso's!

I had a report from Dan Worth of Razorbill Ribs last night of Risso's off Pen Anglas (Fishguard Bay).
Dan reckoned there was a loose group of around half a dozen animals seemingly foraging in the tide.
These so far as I can be sure are the first (if only just!) March records for Risso's in Pembrokeshire waters.As such we have now recorded them in every month of the year .
Risso's are little known although they are probably the second most commonly recorded dolphin in Pembrokeshire waters . The books refer to them as preferring deep or shelf edge waters but it is not our experience and I have been watching and enjoying them in Pembrokeshire for over thirty years now!