Possible Cartlett Lady survey trip on Saturday 8th August.

The weather looks good for an 8+ hour survey trip on Saturday. We have some spaces available, at £110 per person, fantastic value thanks to a fuel donation from Valero. If interested and for more info etc, email me at :seatrustwales@gmail.com. On our last trip we had three Minke whales circling the boat for 20 minutes as well as over 100 common Dolphins etc. (see previous posts and Rich Crossens video!)

At last, we got out on the Cartlett Lady!

After some maintenence issues and unreliable and conflicting weather forecasts, I plumped for a Sunday trip (yesterday) and so our crew and passengers arrived at Neyland Marina with high hopes!It was dead calm as we set off but a small breeze sprang up as we headed out of the Haven. It was the top of a big tide and as we passed out of the "Heads" into the open sea, there was some small waves (SS2) not exactly the flat calm I had hoped for, and the sun had disappeared behind some high cloud. We motored out heading west, wondering where the dolphins were until almost an hour into the trip a small pod came to join us, breakingthe duck. It’s always a relief to get some dolphins under your belt when you have clients with expectations. About a mile off the "Smalls Light" we detoured to have a look. It began to drizzle and the sea was geting a little lumpy and i began to wonder if i had made a wrong call. "WHALE!" sevearal of us shouted in unison, as a Minke Whale surfaced about a hundred metres off our bow. And then another, quite close and so it went on for about twenty minutes with whales circling around us; sometimes very close and sometimes further off. It was hard to know which way to look, particularly for the photographers! After that encounter the smiles on everybodys faces took away any doubts i had about a wrong call! It got a bit more gnarly as we moved into and along the Celtic Deep for several miles, until some time after, We came across a nice big pod of around sixty mainly mothers and calves. another highlight for our paying guests. The sea conditions were becoming uncomfortable and so we decided to head back, eventually arriving off the Grasholm gannet colony after picking up a couple of small dolphin pods, on the way. The sadly depleted Gannet colony is still a splendid wildlife spectacle, well worth stopping off for, and a great end of day finale! All in all a good trip, good data collected, and contented paying guests...result!  See here for Rich Crossen’s video of the day.

Yesterday’s Pelagic

 A day with mixed weather and sea state but nonetheless a great trip out with some excellent sightings of cetaceans and sea birds. A visit to Grassholm on the way back to see the spectacular Gannet colony was a real bonus and we ended off with a cruise past Skokholm looking glorious in the late afternoon sunshine.

No doubt Cliff will post a report of the trip but meanwhile click on the Minke Whale for a video compilation of my shots. A big thanks to Cliff Benson and Sea Trust for the organisation and to Skipper Andy Rickard for a safe trip.

Strumble and Breakwater 21/07/2026

 An overcast day today in contrast to the sunny days of late. With the moderate N'ly wind at Strumble it felt more like March than July. I arrived at 10.15 and started my survey at 10.20. The tide race was just starting to form on the rising tide off the lighthouse, streaming up to the NE. It was very quiet cetacean wise with not a single fin sighted in the first 30 minutes or so. I was joined by diver, drone pilot and Celtic Deep dive guide, Dan Abbot "AKA"  Shark Man Dan. Sadly the porpoise never materialised, not even for the Tuesday survey team that had now arrived. I ended my survey effort at 12.05 as I had some work to do at home but thought I might try the breakwater with Dan later if any Bottlenose turned up. I met Dan at Harbour Village and scanning over the bay soon spotted two Bottlenose well inside the breakwater.

We went to the breakwater and I set up my camera while Dan set up the drone. Only the two Bottlenose today but I had hoped that the others would come in and give Dan a better show. The other attraction was a delightful small/young male Grey Seal, who was quite taken by these two humans on the breakwater above and it stayed watching us for several minutes before moving on. Three resting Turnstones completed the photos from today looking lovely in their summer plumage.

 

Bottlenose sightings from the past few days.

 Whilst things at Strumble have been quiet for me of late, the North Breakwater in contrast has been delivering good Bottlenose sightings almost daily. The group of five animals that have seemingly adopted Fishguard Bay as their summer residence are favouring the dropping tide for their foraging efforts off the harbour entrance. Today again there were just four of the group when I arrived and I am still concerned about the one with the facial growth as mentioned in my previous posting. Still a bit soon to assume it won't return to the group but fingers crossed it will soon. The following images are a selection from the past couple of days.

 

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.