Another Day Another Minke

Let me set the scene. Up at 5.15am and things looked very overcast outside. Got my gear together and set off for Strumble. It wasn’t overcast as I soon found out, it was sea mist. Drat it I thought, would it be like this at Strumble? Thankfully as I drove along things started to get better and by the time I got there visibility was out to a mile or so. Soon the layers were coming off and by 6.45am it was T-shirt time. Such a stunning morning. The sea was calm, the gannets were diving and the Manx Shearwaters were skimming the surface on the hunt for small fry. Only the sound of the softly breaking waves on the rocks and the bird sounds all around. Perfect!

             

7am on the dot and something caught my eye off to my left leaving a large swirling footprint in it’s wake. I waited for it to surface again and was delighted when a Minke Whale appeared a few minutes later. It hung around for twenty minutes or so surfacing a few times in that period allowing for some decent images.

I hadn’t seen a single porpoise nor did I until about 30 minutes later. I was looking over towards Cemaes Hd when I spotted a female and calf just sauntering along in the calm waters. I could also see another porpoise some 80-100mtrs behind them. I was determined to get a record shot at least so trained the lens on the pair and prepared to shoot.  As they surfaced I pressed the shutter button and at that very moment a male  (the one from behind I assume)  made his move and tried to mate with the female. It was the most stunning bit of Porp action I’ve ever seen.  She batted him off though  like an Aikido master sending him spinning in the air several feet above the water. It was all over in a couple of seconds so I feel very  lucky to have been on this when it happened.  

Still reeling from this I then spotted the Minke again exactly one hour after the first sighting and managed a few distant shots before it vanished again. It was back to porpoise hunting again and I spotted several over a large area but distant. I did latch on to the mother and calf pair again this time heading west  and again she was being harassed by a group of what I would think were four juveniles but again she wasn’t having any of it and swiftly moved off.  All quiet then and time for home so with the binoculars packed I turned to put the camera away and as a parting shot right below me and no more than 40mtrs off the rocks the Minke came up, gave a massive blow, took a good breath and slipped away leaving me with a very big smile and a true sense of having touched nature on another glorious day. I so love what I do.

If I thought it was all over I was wrong. When I got back to the bay I decided to see if there were any Bottlenose off the breakwater. There sure were and so I spent another very pleasant hour or so watching them forage before they moved off across the bay. Phew!! What a morning.