Same pod or not? News from the north from Alan Williams...

 Hello,

Yesterday (13th Jan) between 14:20 and 15:00 there were 100+ common 
dolphins at Mwnt, spread across the bay, mainly in groups. There were at 
least 3 porpoises just offshore until some of the common dolphins came 
close in. I have some video footage (from iphone) of some of the groups of 
common dolphins that came close in. I am used to seeing bottlenose dolphins 
at Mwnt but have never seen common dolphins off the Cardigan coast before. 
Best regards, Alan

Hi Alan,

Commons were first recorded of Strumble and Ramsey in the late 1990's although they were recorded pretty frequently offshore from pelagic birdwatching boat trips, before then. 

We (Sea Trust) started surveying on the Fishguard to Rosslare Ferry route aboard the Stena Europe in 2004 and would see them mid channel, in the summer... In 2007 we had our first winter sighting in December, but by 2010 we were seeing them in every month of the year.

Its generally accepted that they have extended their range northwards in recent decades and are now commonly seen in Scottish waters.

From 2000 we saw them occasionally but consistently, off Strumble during the summer months mainly in June. But as the years have passed they have become more frequent and are now seen all year round from Strumble and into Fishguard Bay. They are usually in pods of 30 to 60 ish but a pod of 300  or more was reported last year 

My old mate Steve Hartley who has been running dolphin trips out of Newquay for at least 30 years, had never seen a common there until a couple of years ago. 

It is a relatively new phenomenon. It may have something to do with our seas warming but also I fear its allied to overfishing off the Irish coast, depleting their prey there and forcing them to look elsewhere for food. see; Colin Barnes...

https://corkwhalewatch.com/

Cork Whale Watch

https://corkwhalewatch.com

.

We have seen commons and porpoise feeding together on occasions but i suspect the sheer numbers of commons may out-compete our resident Porpoises. The even newer phenomenon of Blue Fin Tuna foraging in our inshore waters, seen off Strumble this autumn is yet another occurance that  may well impact on our resident porpoises. 

Clearly bottlnose dolphins have long been the dominant cetacean species in Cardigan Bay and they do not tend to tolerate porpoises very well. If the common dolphins continue to  move into the bay it will be interesting to see if/how they interact.  

  allthingsgood,cliff