To the breakwater then and at first no sign of anything there or off Pen Anglas. Sat in my car to keep warm I was scanning around when I spotted a lone Gannet over by Penrhyn so brought the binoculars to bear and saw the telltale fin cutting the water beneath it. A lone Common Dolphin and the second in a few days. It eventually made it's way across the bay towards me but only to within four hundred metres or so. I got the shots I wanted and watched it enter the bay and after several minutes I lost sight of it and never saw it again.
Tony and Stevo arrived and we kept watch over the outer bay and after admiring some ringed plover and sandpipers on the blocks we spotted a few porps moving in from the direction of Crincoed Point. They settled on an area some two hundred metres out and were foraging there for some time. I had to leave but got a few shots and was delighted to find later that one was a marked animal so another for the Fin ID Project.
A group of gulls caught my attention near the Cow and Calf islands on my way back and I stopped to see what was going on. They were circling over a cormorant in a life and death struggle with a large Pollock. Life for the cormorant and certain death for the Pollock. What a struggle it had with several attempts to swallow this fish that was nearly as big as itself. Several times it had to spit it out and rest all the time weary of the circling gulls. Persistence paid off though and eventually it got the bulk of it in, however as it swam away it was evident the last 5% would have to wait awhile which was the last bit of tail still sticking out of it's mouth. A varied day to say the least.
