Tuesday 29 December 2020

End of year round up...(part One.)


When I started on this round up I thought it would be easy enough to just cut and paste some of the more relevant postings from the archive. Not sure why but it does not seem to want to let me do that  so instead I have inserted live links of headings of posts that will take you to the relevant posts starting with Strumble Diary 18/01/2020 after the initial introduction...

2020 started off with a very successful New Years Day Porpoise watch at Strumble Head lookout here in North Pembrokeshire. It has been an annual event for about fifteen years, I can't remember when we started! 

Here is Stevo Lucas's Report... Little did we know what was to come...

Stephen Lucas

AttachmentsThu, 2 Jan, 17:37 (2 days ago)
 
Strumble Head
Summery
Wednesday 1st January 2020
2:30- 5 pm
We all had an awesome survey at. Strumble Head. And it was an amazing
turnout of people 60 + strong at the lookout. It was a brilliant day
that we all remember  also we saw. Risso's Dolphins, about 6 or more
and also. Harbour Porpoises about 10-12 and they were feeding with the
gannets. At the time the tide was ebbing and quite strong and we also
saw. Cormorants, Goldeneye, Oyster catchers, lots of gull species as
well and some people saw. Grey Seals. It is amazing what we have got
right here on our doorsteps. Lets hope this year will bring loads
more. Wildlife with their spectacular displays. It is fascinating what
we have got in this. Planet Earth lets protect all of the animals
that. God created great and small. It is powerful that we are so
blessed to have this wildlife. Anyhow that proves people. Are so
enthusiastic and its uplifting because when they see. Cetaceans in
their natural environment it is exciting and mouthwatering. Thank you.
Team Sea Trust for making this event so special very welcoming, It is
so great that people at the lookout get a good education about all of
our. Pembrokeshire Wildlife. An awesome day out had by all with. Team
Sea Trust and Power to the People.








Several of Holly's porpoise Photo ID volunteers also attended and Jupiter one of our star Porpoises also turned up!



Ken Barnett had been AWOL for the first couple of weeks of the year slumming it on a cruise in the Baltic or somewhere un-Welsh, but by the middle of January he was back with a bang! click on below for Kens report 

Strumble diary 18/01/2020


Holly's volunteers continued clocking up marked porpoises and all was going well.
Steve Rosser even led a Stena Survey the first for some time, see...



Porpoises, Common Dolphins and Risso's continued to show up in January all seemed to be going well!



FEBRUARY 2020

Lloyd Nelmes  and the Photo ID volunteers kicked off February with some nice close porp sightings at Pen Anglas a couple of miles east of Strumble ... 

Lloyd and his Saturday team at Pen Anglais


Risso's tend to disappear after the new year and porpoises tend to be the main bread and butter stuff. As is often the case in any season, bad weather can cause surveys to be abandoned but Sea Trust's teams work throughout the year and get results.March came in like a roaring  lion with wind and rain. Kens Strumble time 

MARCH 2020

Lloyd had some success with porpoises at Ramsey Sound, but with the tourist season fast approaching getting the Ocean Lab Aquarium smartened up and ready for business kept Ken busy.


None the less as soon as he managed to shed his overalls, he was back on the job and rewarded with more Risso's unusual for March! 

By the end of the month things were looking well back on track, with three species again !


All was going rather well as the weather lore goes, If  March comes in like a lion then it will go out  like a lamb! 


APRIL 2020.

The sun was shining on Ken and Strumble, what ever could go wrong??? The seriousness of the newly emerging Covid 19 pandemic was not really kicking in to our consciousness yet. How could we have guessed the terrible times that the human beings across the entire planet were about to endure. Lock down came in at the end of March and I posted this as we had to cancel our planned Easter Porpoise Watch


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