Porthcawl Porpoise

It was a cetacean free summer in Porthcawl this year. I do a constant effort survey at least once per month and my May survey produced one porpoise. June was blank. Two July surveys were blank as was August and all carried out in good weather conditions. On 11th August a local birdwatcher had a single while sea watching in a gale. Conditions were good on Wednesday 18th so I did my survey. My routine is to set up the telescope, record the conditions, and the have a quick scan with binoculars for an obvious gull feeding frenzy before a methodical telescope search. About 500 metres due south was a porpoise showing really well. A prolonged check of that area revealed a total of three. Yippeeee. They stayed visible for the whole hour of my survey moving slowly west with the ebbing tide. I was advised by a local trawlerman that a late run of mackerel have arrived so presumably the porpoise were following the food.