Sunday lunchtime cetacean feast!

 

It was cold with a blustery east nor easterly blowing. I opted to watch from the car as I had only popped out to Strumble on the off chance without any extra clothing. Almost from the start i spotted Gannets circling and it was not long before it became obvious there were porpoises feeding.

The light was fluctuating and there was a confused shop as the tide was beginning to ebb. I did not expect to get any successful shots at the distance with my little bridge camera, but with a bit of cropping and enhancement I got this porpoise with feeding gannets. It was quite a feeding frenzy, not exactly porpoise soup, but plenty of animals showing.

After about half an hour a small pod of a dozen or so common dolphins surged through heading East at speed. Again it was a bit distant, and not easy to get them in my view finder but I did get the shot of a female and calf. 

It went a bit quiet after the dolphins moved through, but about ten minutes later, the porpoises were back on the feed with the tell tale accompanying gannets. 

But I was not the only one getting views of dolphins as when I got home I had a message from intrepid sailor, Ian Hotchin, who was reporting a small pod (6-7) Common Dolphins that were attracted to his vessel in Fishguard Bay, just a bit before I arrived at Strumble!... Is there anywhere else in the UK that produces such quality and consistent cetacean watching? I doubt it!