Strumble & Breakwater 01/08/2023

 According to the forecast, today was to be the best day of the week, so off I want ever hopeful that it was right and that I might have a good session. Two birders in situ when I arrived and reported a few commons seen earlier at distance. By this time the ebb flow was well underway so I settled in for my session. 

It was a while before I spotted my first porpoise, just a single well out in the disturbed waters. Holly and the Tuesday crew arrived and with more eyes on the water the sightings increased. They were being stealthy though and I finished my session with no images at all. I returned home hoping that the breakwater might bring better luck. A stop off at Harbour Village on the way back showed no dolphins at the breakwater or off Crincoed point.

Later in the afternoon I decided to take a second look and this time spotted several Bottlenose off Crincoed and the Pebbly beach area behind the harbour, some 1/2 to 3/4 mile away.

Off to the breakwater then in the hope that they might make their way over there as well. As usual I got to the breakwater and there was no sign of them at all. I spent a good fifteen minutes just scanning the area and eventually I spotted them well off the point at Pen Anglas. Thirty minutes went by and I was nearly giving up when I spotted two moving closer. To my relief they all started coming in my direction so it was camera at the ready and "Action! Action! Action!" 

Now when I was a child my parents always nagged me not to play with my food, just to eat up and get on with it. Well, no one seems to have told the dolphins this as this sequence of images shows they clearly do like playing with their food. I've never seen so many airborne mullet in all my life, with one reaching the dizzy heights around ten ft out of the water, doubtless to be consumed on re-entry. The bottles didn't stay off the breakwater for long but kept moving across the bay I'd guess chasing shoals of mullet as they went. An encounter full of action and a great end to what otherwise would have been a disappointing day.