I arrived at the lookout around 10.30am and looked out over a calm sea with excellent visibility allowing for the best conditions for some while. It was between tide so I knew there weren't going to be many porpoise around but there is always a chance of seeing Rissos this time of year. First sighting was of a single porpoise travelling through against what was left of the tide race followed by another some ten minutes later. Two other brief sightings a bit later and that was it for the first hour. Scanning around I spotted an old beam trawler right out on the horizon and it was while watching this that I spotted a Risso tail slapping some 3-31/2 miles out. Keeping an eye to the general area several more appeared as if answering the call of the tail slap. Holly and the Monday crew arrived and soon we were all watching the distant action. The Rissos were well spread out and the estimate was 18-20 animals in small groups of twos and threes. As they moved west one in particular got very active and breached several times with others less active splashing around in it's vicinity.
As they moved out of view our attention returned to the porpoise and in fading light we observed several more moving in as the ebb tide was just getting going. Sadly we had to go too but were happy with a reasonably productive session. No clear images of marked animals due to the poor light but a good record of the day regardless.
