Strumble Diary Saturday 10/05/2025

 Another very productive day at Strumble. Good numbers of Porpoise and Commons on a lovely sunny day. I settled in around 08.45 and waited for the action to start. Lots of porps out in the outer tide race as in previous days and as the tide built up they moved closer in. At this point I was joined by Harry (volunteer) and a visiting chap from Hereford. Midway through the session several groups of Commons started to pop up all over the area in front of us before joining up out toward the NW of the lookout leaving the porps mostly in front and to my right (NE). The action was hectic to say the least with some vigorous feeding. By 10.45 the action had moved well West of the lighthouse so I called it a day and made my way home. Glad to report three marked animals for the session, two definite returners and one possibly new one.

 

All the years I've been surveying at Strumble this is the first time I've seen a seal actively follow a potting boat looking for scraps. It seemed quite happy close to the boat as the fisherman just carried on lifting his pots. He didn't encourage the seal, it just followed him for the whole string until he move on.

Wednesday the 7th May and Friday the 9th May

 I didn't get enough content to do a blog on Wednesday so I've incorporated it into today's post.

 

The start to the session on Wednesday was impressive to say the very least. As the outer tide race formed my friend Barry and myself counted 30-40 porpoise over a large area just over a mile or so out. Loads of Gannets above barely visible to the naked eye in the haze were wheeling and diving in amongst the feeding porpoise. Seeing this I was hopeful of a good session as the porpoise moved closer in. Sadly this didn't happen and as the tide picked up they all moved directly west and over the two hours we were there we didn't see a single animal in the inner tide race. A consolation shot of a reasonably close Common Dolphin and a few of the distant Porps was all I came away with.

Friday 9th

 The start was much the same with large numbers of porpoise visible on the outer edge of the distant tide race, although the sunny day made viewing much more pleasant. This was interspersed with sightings of closer Common Dolphin racing after fish and moving rapidly through West to East. Thankfully some of the porpoise did come closer with most of those being on the far edge of the inner tide race, but at least within camera range. I suppose if the fish are out there then that's where the porps are going to be. We started the survey at 08.15 and finnished at 10.25.

                                                                         Wednesday

                                                                               Friday

 

Strumble Diary 30/04/2025

 A bonus session today as the hoped for boat trip was postponed due to the increased wind off the west coast. A beautiful day again but still the breeze was colder than expected. There were Commons at distance to the North but nothing visible closer in. A local boater was enjoying the Commons while being very respectful and letting them come to him before moving quietly on. A few porpoise came in much later with one distinctly marked animal as highlighted below.

I've included this image above to demonstrate the effect of heat haze as described in a previous post.