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| Ian Hotchin |
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| The Bottles were obviously fishing, Maybe a Sea Trout? |
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| Mother and calf. |
Just after five yesterday afternoon I got a call from Sea Trust supporter and local yachtsman Ian Hotchin telling me he had some Bottlenose Dolphins around the harbour mouth here in Fishguard. I shot off with a couple of guys from Colorado that I was about to give a lift to St Davids.
Unusually, these were our first of the year, normally we see them first around March or April.
I rushed to the Stena security office and got the keys to the breakwater gate from Dawn, telling her to come and see them. She said she couldn't as there were lorries arriving, We arrived out on the breakwater and I could see Ian on his yacht pointing to where they were. We moved on towards the end and there, about three or four hundred yards off a big hooked fin revealed their presence. For the next 15 minutes I tried to get pic's of them with varying degrees of success. And then they were gone...As i looked around to try and find them I saw a fast patrol boat heading in to the harbour as well as a slower tug and heavy lifting vessel. The Dolphins had obviously heard them and just decided to disappear. Two minutes later Dawn drove up. Sorry dawn, enjoy the pic's though!
Having downloaded the pic's there seemed to be a single adult and then a mother and calf. The presence of the calf probably explains their disappearance as the boats approached. Either way it was great to see them, lets hope it was not just a flying visit!
Film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lur7-6TLuiU&feature=youtu.be