Cartlet Lady survey 08/08/2026 (Continued)

 For the full synopsis please see the previous post from Cliff. 

I too would like to give personal thanks to Valero for their donation of fuel allowing our trips to go ahead this season, also giving us the chance to educate our guests and expand our/their knowledge of what goes on off our coast. 

 It was a strange day in a way cetacean wise and not at all what we are used to seeing. Instead of the pods of twenty and upward, we were hitting much smaller numbers with lots of single animals and the occasional mother and calf pairings. On top of that they were very quiet with only a few being lively around the boat, and some ignoring us completely. On the plus side though the sightings were frequent allowing our guests plenty of opportunity for some close encounters. As the weather eased to glass like conditions Andy allowed people onto the foredeck and with the rest up on the flying bridge it left me with plenty of room on the lower deck to try for that perfect shot I always hope to get. But they are like a mirage and you can see them in your minds eye but never seem to reach them. I try my best though. 

There were a few more active ones though, but only one real flyer which I was delighted to capture,  I was though happy enough at the end of the trip to have come away with some decent images under the challenging circumstances.

Our grateful thanks as always to skipper Andy and crew Rob for another excellent day on the water aboard the lovely Cartlet Lady and for our safe return to port. 

 

Some of the other sightings we had.

 

8th Aug' 2026 Cartlett Lady Survey Trip, around the corner...

After quite a lot of consulting forecasts in the preceeding days, I identified a possible weather window for Saturday (8th August) The best looking area for for a survey with very light winds throughout the day was around the corner into the outer Bristol Channel, heading out towards Lundy Island. The forecast for once held true and our paying guests, along with the Sea Trust team (Ken, Arwen, and the walrus) met up at the Marina Cafe Neyland, ready to embark on the Cartlett Lady. There was little or no wind some hazy cloud all looked perfect. Skipper Andy, and crew Rob, were ready and waiting for us and we were soon underway out through the Haven. I explained the recording process to intern Arwen and as we left the Haven we commenced the effort survey. It was a bit of a shock as we steered southwest to find the sea state building to a choppy SS3 banging into us, not the scenario i was expecting or hoping for. Eventually we passed by Linney Head into the outer Bristol Channel. The choppy sea and glare were making viewing conditions testing, I was at the wheel and i almost ran over a minke whale that swirled into the depths befor i could get any of the others on it. We hung around for a while uncomfortably bobbing around hoping it would show, but to no avail so we recorded our first sighing and moved on. Bit by bit, the sea eased off as Lundy became a distant smudge on the horizon and Arwen noticed feeding birds and a couple of fins. Our second sighting, a couple of Common Dolphins with a calf. As Lundy became clearer the sea eased off to glass, and spotting conditions greatly improved. We collected more common dolphins and then among a feeding group of Shearwaters and Gannets another brief Minke sighting which a couple of the passengers on the flying bridge with us saw, but frustratingly, did not show again. As the day progressed, we continued picking up a couple of dolphins here, five there, some with calves but none of the bigger pods that we were expecting. Some of the dolphins we spotted wede uncharacteristically evasive, including the only largish pod so we guestimated their numbers at circa 15-20 and let them go. We could only wonder as to why there were so many dislocated small groups. Having arrived within a few miles of Lundy we began to back loop back towards the point where the channel meets the Celtic/Irish Sea. Arwen was kept busy recording sightings as glassy sea produced more small pods, although she was not complaining! Nobody was complaining because the gin clear water allowed for stunning underwater views of the dolphins that came into us filling thier phones with video that would have not been out of place on an Attenboro' film. I am sure Ken will have some nice shots to add! It had turned into a grand day out with a backdrop of the stunning Pembrokeshire coast providing memories to mull over and images to show friends and family. From a Sea Trust point of view it had been an opportunity to record more data to add to the huge data log we have compiled over the past twenty odd years,This is all shared with The West Wales Biodiversity Recording Centre, to be made available to local and national governmentsbiodiverity plans.None of this would have been possible this year, without a generous fuel donation from Valero Refinery, J.E. Lawrence for transporting it, and Dale Sailing for holding and maaking the fuel available for us at the marina. Special thanks to our paying guests that also contribute to funding the trip, and of course our skipper/crew Andy and Rob!

Fiona's magic Strumble Diary!

Fiona Day Amazing watching conditions at strumble this evening... 2 distant minke whales, a breaching sunfish, hundreds of common dolphins (scattered in lots of groups) and distant tuna between 5 and 9pm. Also, arctic and great skua.

Risso's return?

Some birdwatchers yesterday (Thursday) reported seeing a small pod of Risso's at Strumbleto the Sea Trust photo ID team. They have been absent since October. We expect to see them at least weekly in decent conditions, through the autumn into the New Year. More sporadically through spring and summer, but quite often. Let's hope they are back for good and don't get chased around by morons in RHIBs like we witnessed last year and reported to Dyfed-Powys Police, with plenty of evidence, photos, car numbers, etc who did nothing! See less

Bottlenose catch up 06/08/2026

 A trip out to the Northern breakwater this afternoon and a chance to catch up with our summer resident group of Bottlenose Dolphins. They were mostly quiet just mooching around and occasionally they would come together and show signs of social interaction, mostly rolling, bumping together and playing with strands of seaweed. What I was happier to see was the return to the group of the one with the facial growth that has been absent for well over a week. I was very concerned as to it's condition and feared the worst at one stage, but very glad to see it back and interacting with the rest of them. I was away for the boat trip covered in Cliff's previous blog entry but looking forward (weather permitting) to our next trip this coming Saturday which I hope will be as good as the last. Watch this space!!

 

                                                         Some passing Oyster Catchers.

 

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.