The curse of all coast watchers is the dreaded sea mist, so with poor viz in Fishguard Harbour I travelled to Strumble more in hope than anything else. The viz was poor there as well but a bit of excercise never harmed so I set off for the point. As I reached there, there was approximately 100mtrs of visibility over the water. This fluctuated coming down to twenty or so metres and out to half a mile at best. Very frustrating as at times I could see porpoise but they were obscured by the mist.
Now, in my previous post I mentiond the wonderful show of Squill on the clifftops and said I would take some shots to show you, especially those who for whatever reason can't venture out onto the rough coastal headlands. At the end of this post I will include some images although in the flat light conditions they are not the best but will give an idea of what I was eluding to. Before that though I will go through the porpoise situation including a mating attempt which I managed to capture.
Despite the misty conditions I saw at least twelve porpoise over the period of three hours. Most too distant and in the mist for any meaninful images. However, a few came closer in and thanks to the wonder which is the "De-Haze" tool in Photoshop I was able to turn what I had into decent enough shots. What I was pleased to capture was a mating attempt. As I was tracking a porpoise through the lens a male appeared out of nowhere and made a lunge at the female. Now the porpoise act of copulation is a very quick and to be honest a quite brutal affair. When I say quick, it's over in a single second and it's the speed and force that makes it so brutal. Often the female will respond by flinging her suiter high in the air as she bats him off or sometimes the force and speed create a lot of water disturbance and splash as they collide. Whatever the outcome it's a sight to see and we as watchers are priviledged and very lucky to witness this intimate part of the porpoise life cycle. If you look closely at the image sequence below, the male is easily recognisable by his protrusion (being polite) and the latter three images show the female making good her escape, but in the last of the sequence the male has caught up with her and surfaces beside her. Education is a big part of what Sea Trust do and I would like to think I play my part by bringing such behavior to a wider audience through what I enjoy doing so much.
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| End of mating sequence. |
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