Strumble Disappoints but Breakwater Scores 16/07/2026

 A trip out to the breakwater at 10.30 am on the dropping tide didn't produce the Bottlenose I was hoping for so at 11.40 I made my way to Strumble to join the Thursday survey team. The sightings were distant and poor with around 15 Porpoise sighted up to the end of the watch at 13.00, but sadly no images. Not happy with the day so far I headed back to the breakwater and this time scored with four Bottlenose foraging quite lazily off the outside end of the breakwater. There was some play action as well with two of them chasing each other rolling over and playing with a bunch of seaweed. One notable absentee was the one with the deformity on it's face. This was the same group but I wonder where it was. I hope it's not come to any harm.

My grandson Sonny who is on a weeks work experience with Sea Trust, joined me for an hour or so and brought one of the trusts cameras with him. I have to say (perhaps with a bit of bias) that he did a great job of catching some dolphin action having had very little time to get  used to the camera kit. The first few images are the results of his efforts.

Well done Sonny.

Now for my images.

 

Strumble & Bottlenose 10-11/07/2026

So yesterday the 10th I connected with the Bottlenose briefly off the breakwater  and had ten minutes or so before they made their way off to the NW and out of sight. Today I headed to Strumble for 07.00 to catch the dropping tide. Much as Cliff experienced previously it was mostly dash and splash well out in the outer tide race. I had several sightings but in the choppy conditions it was impossible to get any images so just after 08.45 I decided to give the breakwater a go in hopes of catching the Bottlenose again. To harbour Village first to look over the bay and sure enough there were a few fins showing half way between the breakwater and the far side of the bay. 

When I arrived at the breakwater they had come closer so I spent a good hour or so getting as many shots as i could of the different dolphins. The salvage barge was leaving the inner harbour and the Bottles sped off to have some fun with it. The crew on the barge were getting some lovely close up views as they stayed along side it for several minutes before heading back to the breakwater. I saw them for another few minutes before they did  their vanishing trick of diving together and seemingly moving off unseen.

The animal with the deformity on its face is present again this year and it seems the deformity has grown. I also observed that it has changed in character somewhat and now has teeth showing on it's front view. A challenge I have set myself is to get some close up high res' images of it in order to study it better. Fingers crossed. 

 

Strumble Diary 7-9th July. catch up.

Although my main preoccupation has been my new Gannet surveys but i have also been recording Porpoises and Dolphins.Not many though. Depite sunshine elsewhere Strumble has been subject to varying degrees of cloud and fog. So on Tuesday (7th) instead of seeing underwater surfy Porp dudes they were just hard to see, splash and dash or very distant porpoises I also had a distant pod of circa 15-20 Common Dolphins moving out to the west. On the eighth it was just fogged out. Today very little action just some feeding porpoises circa 6-10 way out to the east.

From Andrew Crowder...

A Crowder Thu 2 Jul, 17:07 (3 days ago) Hi Cliff, Mid afternoon we watched two BND from Pwllgwaelod beach swimming out of the bay. Two large individuals mostly surfacing in synchrony Thanks Andrew!

Even better surfy Porp dudes 3/7/26

a stronger WNW wind against tide with bright sunshine made for bigger waves and better underwater views of our Porpoises as they shot through the surf, riding below the developing waves and briefly beaking surface in twos and threes sometimes four or five at a timeas the waves crested, before diving down again out of sight. They were attracting a gathering of mainly gulls but also passing gannets so were presumably feeding in the surf although what on , i could not say. It would be a brave person to actually swear to a figure but i am pretty sure there was at least twenty + although if you could not see them underwater it would havebeen a much smaller estimate. Interestingly no Common Dolphin sightings recently although Bottlenose Dolphins seem to have been around Newport and Fishguard over the past couple of weeks. Still no Risso's since 30/10/25 seen by Ken and reported on WinW, Some seen off Stackpole apparently a few days ago, I am really missing them.

Underwater wave surfing Porp dudes at Strumble...

Glorious sunshine and a slight NW breeze made for comfortable porp watching and Gannet surveying today. High tide was around 0930 so when i arrived at 13.15, the tide was running west pretty fast. The tide race had some impressive waves despite the small amount of wind. There was a lot of Gulls concentrated just in front of me so i scanned below them. They hardly showed above the surface but the views of them surfing just below breaking waves was a joy! I had set up with my big 20x80 bins in front of my car and a comfy seat, at the car-park above the lookout which gave a better view being higher and giving a better angle to look down on them.sadly no pics but anyone with a drone would have had a ball! Being able to see beneath the waves gave a much better view of the porpoises and it was obvious there were more present than you would expect just from the small amount of visible surfacings I estimated 8-10. It was the Herring Gulls rather than the Gannets that betrayed the whereabouts of the porpoises, with around thirty gulls and only a handful of gannets although these included three adults also one second year, one third year, and a fourth year subadult which was interesting.As they moved down with the tide i watched them pass behind the lighthouse. I thought the porp fest was over but soon after a second group came by this time probably six or seven which followed the first group with the dropping tide until half an hour later they passed from view. A lovely couple of hoursspent. While I was watching I was joined by the son of an old friend Maurice North, with his wife abnd daughter. Maurivce joined us on several of our Celtic Deep surveys but sadly i was told he has passed on he was a nice bloke and i was sad to hear of his passing but it was nice to meet his younger relatives and his grandaughterat Strumble. If he was up ther in the ether he would have been smiling!

Terns and Puffins, not many Gannets But at least the porpoises turned up for the Photo ID group!

I arrived at Strumble at around 10.30 which at about two hours after high water, i reckoned should be OK for the porpoises with a few Gannet sightings to add to my survey. The Gannets were few and far between for the first half hour and a gnarly sea made finding Porpoises difficult. Just before the Photo ID team arrived, i started getting glimpses of Porpoises, but they were in or on the edge of the developing tide race which with wind against tide, made things extra gnarly. The team arrived and i ended up ignoring the odd Gannet and helping a new work experience youngster Abbie, to see her first porpoises. It took a while, but she kept at it and by the time i left she was spotting them well. Interesting birds included: Two Common Terns and three Puffins, all heading west.

You meet the nicest people...

Two sessions today, one this morning 11 00/ 12.00 and then again later, 15.00 -17.30. I was concentrating on my new Gannet survey, recording and comparing numbers of adults and subadults in the hope that in doing so for several years, it might shed some light on population recruitment. Its quite good fun and passes the time when the porpoises are hiding elswhere and hoping for something out of the ordinary to turn up. Of course Ken often enjoys explaining the wonders of Strumble to visitors and this afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting Nikki (apologies if spelt wrong!) and Kevin from Perth Australia.Not only was i able to give some insights intothe wonders of Strumble and help them to identify common species that were unfamiliar to people from the other side of the globe! Not only that but they had some wonderful stories of travels and wildlife from the arctic to the antarctic. Better still the porpoises started to show but hard to see, and Nikki was straight on them as was Kevin! These are the nicest moments and part of the strumble Magic!

Strumble Diary 28/06/2026

 Moving off the neap tides onto bigger tides as the moon phase changes, I was hopeful of some decent porpoise action at Strumble this morning. I was ahead of the formation of the inner tide race so set up and waited patiently. When the tide race did start running a group of 8-10 porpoise came in together from the NW and started moving up the tide. Still a half mile out they must have encountered a shoal of fish as they suddenly started darting here and there and seemed to be feeding well. Sadly (for me) they stuck with that shoal and as it moved west with the tide so did they. So they never made it up in front of the lookout and I only managed a few distant images. Better luck next time perhaps. I handed over to Cliff as I left so I wonder if he fared any better than I did.