Monday 14 August 2017

A Sunday Stenna Survey

A weather window on Sunday saw Steve, Fenella, Sophie and Chantal board Stenna Europe. Chantal was a Sea Trust intern back in 2006 and had travelled down from Surrey to do the survey. Before we reached Strumble we were surrounded by common dolphins. They were intent on feeding so there were no acrobatics and counting them was difficult. A group of 8 a group of 6 and lots of singles/pairs. A couple of miles on and more common dolphin, again feeding and a few more miles yet more commons. Chantal is from Holland and has only had the occasional porpoise for years so she was ecstatic. Steve went in to the main bridge to make coffees and missed the sight of 3 rissos showing well one being almost white. They then dived flukes high in the air which is a sure sign of a deep dive. A few miles on we had an unusual event. A large fin, unmistakeably rissos but just in front were the 4 smaller fins of commons. I have only witnessed the two species together once before on a small boat survey out of Swansea. A single porpoise and some very playful commons rounded off a very pleasant survey. As there is no time to go ashore with the new Stenna timetable we went below for a bite to eat and to warm up. When we got back to the bridge 1 1/2 hours later the weather had changed. The breeze had freshened, the clouds had gathered and the sea was getting up. We got to Tusker without seeing anything and then the rain started. It cleared eventually but a single porpoise off Strumble was the only sighting of the return leg. A big thank you to all at Stenna for really looking after us.