Strumble Diary 30/08/2026

 In answer to Cliff's hopes in the previous post ( "I hope Ken gets some images"). Yes, I Did.

On arrival at the lookout where several birders were in situ, I was soon pointed out several Rissos off to the NW. Not as close as the other day and a different pod, confirmed as the more distant group as sighted by visiting birder on my watch of the 28th. They were a bit hard to spot in the difficult light and the increasing swells of the dropping tide. They were also moving further away with the tide as time went by. By this time Harry had joined me and had sighted a Sunfish some 80mtrs out. This was the start of a Sunfish fest as eventually we totalled five within an hour. As the wind swung around more Southerly things calmed a bit and it was a while before any Porpoise were sighted. Harry had gone by now as had all the birders who were off to Newport as a rare "Bairds Sandpiper" had been seen there. A few Porps were active off the point with several more seen moving up the tide race. The action soon died away so I called it a day at just after 13.00 and made my way home.

Seagulls pecking at parasites on the Sunfish.

 

 

Strumble Diary: My first Risso's of the year!

09.30 11.00 Wind SW 4, light shower, sunny intervals,18c. An early start 09.30 and having just set up my gear behind my car at the carpark, within a minute I had spied; a single porpoise a small pod of 3-5 Common Dolphins, and a glimpse of 2 large fins , that I was pretty sure were Risso's. Harry had just joined me and so i was happy to think he would get them as well but they just dissappeared. Twenty minutes later we were still looking and then another sighting, probably not the same two animals and thankfully Harry was also on them.In the end we had several decent sightings including one very recognisable animal with a pale patch onthe upper leading edge of its fin. Ken arrivedjust as i was packing up so ilive in hope he got some shots!

As good as it gets!

Fran took our Summer interns, Arwen, Dan, Daf and Keira, and her Thursday Photo ID volunteers Dawn and Chris, down to Ramsey Sound(Copper Mine) this afternoon.

The porpoises showed well (minimum 9) and 4 sunfish (Mola mola) also seen well by everyone, a first for Dan! Its the Interns last survey before they head off in their seperate paths, they have been great and deserved a special final survey to remember us at Sea Trust by!

Strumble Diary 28/08/26

Just a short session with Stevo this afternoon on almost low tide. circa 4-6 porpoises showing off the lighthouse.

from John O'Sullivan

Hi Cliff, currently on Bardsey, yesterday in flat calm conditions there were Risso's in numbers. There were a minimum of 12 animals but it seemed likely there were more. They included three mothers with small calves, one was tiny and the mother kept leaving it on the surface when it dived. It looked bizarre lolling about on the surface with its tiny dorsal fin. Regular Commons offshore too and 3 Porpoises. Sadly sightings of Risso's still few and far between, here at Strumble John Haha just seen Kens post below , maybe our Risso's are returning!

Strumble Diary 28/08/2026 (One Watch 3 Different Cetaceans)

 A superb watch this morning. When I arrived 09.30ish Harry + a birder were there and informed me of 9 Rissos sighted, four close in and five further out, earlier. I managed to catch three closer in but didn't see the more distant ones that they had seen. Lovely mother and calf sightings for at least and hour off and on before they moved off. What followed was almost continual sightings of commons and Porpoise feeding very close together at times. Caught two marked and returning Porpoise in the same shot which was a bonus as it doesn't happen that often. Hopefully more Rissos tomorrow.

 

 

Unusual markings on this Rissos calf

 

Big blubber and pelagic Bottles from Carrie Haughton.

Carrie is a Sea Trust volunteer, and also works with "Celtic Deep" boat trips... Hey Cliff, We had 2 fin whales yesterday on the way out to the deep, and a pod of huge pelagic bottlenose dolphins on the way back in! They were massive! I've never seen anything but commons out there!

Interestingly four years ago, almost to the day, we also ran into a pod of pelagic Bottlenose Dolphins on an August Bank Holiday trip, the only Bottles I have seen out there in over 20 years of survey trips!

Strumble Diary: from Andrew Crowder

A Crowder 09:31 (7 hours ago) to me Spent a couple of hours at Strumble from 13:00 yesterday. An unobtrusive group of 7-8 Common Dolphin early were the only cetaceans seen. A few Med. Gulls were the best birds. Scanning the gulls dip feeding immediately below the cliff, I could see a shoal of large fish which must have been driving smaller prey to the surface. Regards Likely the same pod i saw earlier, thanks Andrew!

Strumble Diary 23/8/26

Sunny,Wind NE2. Sea State 3. Low tide 11.09. An hour spent at Strumble, 11.15-12.15 so more or less at the bottom of the tide so not surprisingly no Porpoises seen. Birdwise, nothing out of the ordinary but luckily the gannets put me onto a quite distant pod of circa 12-15 Common Dolphins which included at least two calves. They were in sight for about twenty minutes as they traversed left to right travelling at a steady pace. Maybe nothing to shout about by Strumble standards, but there are not too many places that only an hours watch would produce such a sighting!

Strumble Diary 17-18th August 2026

 Two for one in this entry combining two surveys from this week. Firstly Tuesday 18th. The morning brought the rising tide and a reasonably overcast sky. The wind was light from the NW giving a moderate swell. It was a relatively quiet session with not a single fin spotted in the first hour or so. Almost at the top of the tide a small pod of Common Dolphin crossed East to West quickly heading out to the open water of the channel. Shortly after a single Porpoise moved up the tide showing twice before that too moved on. I ended the session shortly after.

 Afternoon Wednesday 19th August

This was a much better day weatherwise with mostly blue skys and a strong Westerly breeze. I was on the dropping tide and looking forward to some decent action in the swells. My first sighting was a single Common Dolphin way out to the NW in the outer tide race. My eye was taken by a Sunfish with gulls in attendance some 300Mtrs or so out from the lookout which slowly drifted away on the tide. Then the Porpoise started coming in and although mostly distant at this stage of the tide were active and showing well. More came in as the tide dropped away over which I had a good hour and fifteen minutes of almost continuous action. There was a break then as the porpoise moved off until just before leaving a pod of several Commons came from the North and quickly rounded the Lighthouse and out of sight.