Another day another Risso's and some more!

Old friends Monica and Adrian came to volunteer with us yesterday and struck lucky big time. With a pretty messy sea, spotting anything was difficult and a family who I had met and shown around our Ocean Lab had given up and said their goodbyes. But Monica undeterred, spotted something and got us all looking out beyond the lighthouse. I spotted a distant porpoise and then another closer both showing briefly. Then I saw a couple of big fins... Risso's!

I ran and managed to call back the family. and we began working together to spot the animals in the broken sea. I always love it when people see Risso's for the first time. They are impressive animals and little known outside the cetacean watching world or even in it. Generally they are considered to be off shore shelf edge creatures but we have been seeing them off Strumble for decades.

We studied them moving out north-eastwards with the rising tide. It was pretty choppy and keeping up with them was pretty difficult and reliably counting them was impossible  As they moved out, one or two animals breached repeatedly much to the joy of all those watching! 

It was only when I got home and processed the images that I noticed this very small calf.  It was only a few days ago when we saw what appeared to be a Risso's giving birth and now today a very small calf, maybe the same one, difficult to know as the adults were to far away to get a clear picture.

We tend to ignore the porpoises while there are Risso's about but they were also popping up closer in as the Risso's passed by. Its high time Strumble Head was recognised as one of the most productive cetacean sites in Europe and it should have its own special protection!