Sunday 18 June 2017

Porthcawl Dolphins

I took my new knee and my crutches over the common to do a porpoise survey. A 5 minute sit down to recover before starting looking at ideal sea conditions but the swell was quite large. After ten minutes I spotted a fin near West Nash buoy, 6.4km from my watch position....yes the sea was that flat out there. A couple more fins appeared before it dawned on me that they were not porpoise fins. Then one breached looking just like a common dolphin. A local fishing boat passed by heading for his favourite secret mark followed shortly by Porthcawl RNLI on exercise. I phoned the lifeboat station to ask a favour, could they please ask the crew to count the dolphins. My count had been 3 adult 1 juvenile. The RNLI confirmed 3 dolphins but did not see a juvie. When I got home I started having doubts. Were they commons or bottles. In all honesty at 3 1/2 miles with some heat haze I could not be sure. I then phoned the skipper of the fishing boat with one question were they 6ft long or 10ft. From his description they were definitely commons and his grandson has some 'cracking photos'. I hope to get a copy tomorrow. To finish the call I said 3 dolphins wasn't it. Good grief no at least 10-12. After 60 years messing about on the coast at Porthcawl they are my first local dolphins.