At Last!

Although there have been several sightings of Bottlenose Dolphins around Fishguard Harbour since mid May I have failed to connect, until this afternoon. I was sat in the car on the breakwater staring out to sea when i noticed some splashing about a mile out. Eventually they got into range a mother and calf pair The younger animal looking awfully like Ringo but I did not get a good enough pic' of mum..

The other animal which followed them in was very splashy with some scratches on the dorsal fin..

The mother and calf went out to mid channel of the entrance and seemed to be deep diving. The third animal came by much closer in a kind of surging mode as if in a rush to catch up, but missed the mother and calf pair, continuing into the harbour and heading towards the quayside before turning, and making his way back to the entrance. The mother and calf then started to make their way out with the third animal following at a respectful distance. When I last saw them they were heading North  west out beyond Crin Coed Point.

Its not easy getting a handle on their behaviour. It seems that they are aware of each other but there seems to be some kind of barrier keeping them at least a couple of hundred metres apart. I can hardly believe that the pair may be Apache and Ringo, surely after four or five years, Ringo would be independent by now. The calf never seems to get any bigger, Unfortunately I would have needed to get a decent shot of the right hand side of its dorsal. Unfortunately the light was not so good today and they came past at a distance. Oh well  at least I managed a few shots from my first encounter of the summer. Hopefully its just the beginning of another fascinating summer of Bottlenose sightings in the harbour mouth!