Strumble Diary 18/3/25: Just missed the main event!

I arrived at Strumble as the tide was almost topping out, at around 09.20 A sharp South Easterly wind against tide, chopping things up a bit further out off the coast. As I arrived there was a lot of Gannet and gull activity just off the lookout. Fiona Day and George Mee had apparently witnessed a large whale blow on Sunday so I was hopeful! A Kestrel just taking off from a nearby fence post was a nice greeting.

I decided to watch from the car park where i could shelter from the wind but be in the sun, beside my car. The seabird activity was dying with the tide, I counted 30+ Gannets and at least 100 gulls, mostly Herring Gulls, but by now most were mainly resting on the sea.It seemed i had missed the main event. There were a handful of Common dolphins dotted around hardly showing anything but brief glimpses Maybe just chilling out, digesting their breakfast,

I saw no porpoises and as the time ticked away i spotted odd Dolphins here and there, relatively close in. There was at least one mother and small calf but to be honest sightings were sporadic, there may have been a handful or maybe ten or twenty as they were mostly only briefly showing a fin occasionally head and shoulders.

Strumble often produces a little gem and today it was a female Merlin protractedly chasing what was possibly a Pipit The Pipit really did not wand to provide breakfast for the little raptor and took evasive action sending the Merlin high and low with close misses as the pipit jinked and turned for its very life. I lost them to view after several thrilling seconds so will never know the outcome of this life or death struggle. Either way it made my day and so I left with a smile on my face! (18/3/25)