Tuesday 30 January 2018

Strumble Diary 30/01/2018

With very strong tides at the moment and on a late morning ebb tide I didn't expect too much as although the porps like a running tide there tends to be less about with the very large tides. But things don't always go the way you think and sometimes what you see surprises you. So, with a calm sea for a change and good visibility what cetaceans were there were easier to spot than of late. The light was the only thing spoiling the day with the now usual overcast greyness pushing the camera sensor to the limits. Several porpoise were moving around at various points across my view and at least two were marked animals but due to their distance, angle and poor light it was very difficult to get enough detail to be useful for ID purposes.
    The one thing the calm weather does afford us though is the ability to see things much further out than would normally be the case in rougher conditions. Always on the lookout for Rissos this time of year I was scanning the distance as well as closer in. I saw what I thought were a large group of porpoise some two plus miles out with there being some twenty plus in the group. Unusual I thought but not unheard of and too distant to see what they were on the camera screen at the time so it would have to wait until I processed the images for a true ID. Surprise surprise! On viewing the images back home it was clear that it was a pod of Common Dolphin and I for one have never seen them this time of year before and I found out later that a Bottlenose has also been seen off the breakwater in the past day or so which is unexpected as well. Are we in for a bumper Cetacean springtime I wonder or is this just another sign that our waters are warming and things are surely changing for these lovely creatures.