A Challenge Completed? Maybe!

This year we've been very fortunate to have a small group of five Bottlenose dolphins that seem to have taken up residence in Fishguard Bay. This allows us to frequently record their actions on an almost daily basis.  It became apparent early on that one in particular had a strange growth on the right side of it's head close to the jaw line. 

 

 Naturally, it made it very easy to identify and pick it out amongst the other dolphins. It also sparked my curiosity and made me want to study it a bit closer, so I set myself a challenge of getting closer more detailed shots of the growth. This has taken many attempts and hundreds of images to try and catch the animal on the right side and close enough to get the detail I wanted. Being that it's the most active and playful of all five it was not an easy task. However, I have managed to build up a better picture (excuse the pun) of what's going on. The following images are the best I've been able to capture to date.

First of all I thought it was just a growth, somewhat like a skin tag gone wild so to speak, but there's more there than I thought. An image from a few weeks ago made me think I saw a tooth in the growth and that's what set the challenge off in my mind. 

 It would seem that this is the case. It has indeed got teeth in the growth which came as a surprise as I got better images. So I feel that this is not so much a growth but rather a birth defect which occurred in the womb. 

 

Another surprising fact that came to light with better images is that the upper right jaw to which the growth is attached does not have any teeth at all. See images directly above and below.

 It had vanished from the group for a week or so and I was quite worried about that but a few days ago it returned, to my relief. 

Having watched it closely over the past weeks it does not seem to affect it to any great extent. It obviously still feeds well and looks really healthy despite the growth. It's very active and is usually the one to instigate social/play activity and frequently breaches. Playing with seaweed seems to be a favourite thing along with close touch, eg, rolling and bumping with the others which they will often do for prolonged periods between foraging.

 

 

 

I'll continue to follow it for the remainder of the summer and bring updates on any changes that may occur. My hope is that you all find this as interesting as I have. Ken B.

Breakwater Bottles Give Stunning Show. 16/08/2026

 With time to spare in the afternoon I decided to take a gamble on the Bottlenose being at the northern breakwater. All quiet when I arrived so I set up my tripod and chair and started scanning the sea for any sight of them. lloyd's family arrived by sea with Lloyd and Aled in a kayak and Dawn and Andrew in a rowing boat. (Lloyd is sea Trust staff and Dawn a volunteer) Just after they arrived I spotted two or three Bottlenose out to the North heading toward Pen Anglas. It wasn't long before they started heading our way and initially I counted seven scattered around at varying distances. They were quiet at first and then three broke away and started some socialising/play. Over the past few weeks I've noted that the dolphin with the facial growth was most often the one to instigate this activity, so today was no exception. He/she was right in the thick of it and the others seemed more than happy to join in.

I was in my element with dashes and splashes leaps and rolls happening almost continually. The Nelms family down at sea level  were having some great views as the dolphins moved all around them. After I'd got a good number of shots covering as many of them as I could I turned my attention more on the one with the deformity, as I'd set myself a challenge a few weeks back of trying to get more detailed shots of it. I'll collate all the images and post a more detailed blog entry concentrating on that animal later. 

 

 

Strumble diary 16/8/26: Hail, The Caeser's join the leaping sunfish club!

Not everybody is lucky enough to see a sunfish at Strumble, but to see a leaping sunfish (Mola mola) is to join a very exclusive club. Luckily for Di' and Jerry, their luck was in when I located a sunfish at Strumble, and as we were watching it, it started flipping out of the water! It was a first for Fran as well! Many years ago a mate known as "Sid" (Paul Parsons) told me he had just seen a sunfish leaping out of the water, and to my eternal shame, I explained learnedly, that this of course, was impossible as Sunfish have no real tail. Moments later, I was watching one and blam!!! It flipped out of the water several times, like a dimented Tiddlywink! Sid was kind enough to forgive me for my dismissing his sighting, and such is the calibre of the man, fails to remind me of my doltish behaviour whenever we meet up! Interestingly, some years ago a sunfish jumped into a local family's boat which i reported to the local newspaper and was quoted on this odd phenomenon. Somehow, Wikipedia caught on to the article and quoted me saying that a sunfish had lept int a boat. Someone read this, and told me i was on Wickpedias "Ocean Sunfish" page and my head swelled only slightly... Fame at last! Imagine my chagrin some time later, when several experts ganged together and had me dumped off the page because, as i had told "Sid" such a thing was "impossible!" Imagine the chgrin of the "experts" when they were proved wrong, and I was restored!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish#cite_note-BBC2005-58 Porpoises and Common Dolphins added to the Strumble magic, and the evening was topped off by an invite to Di and Jerry's? campervan for a G and T, nice people, nice conclusion to a really nice shared experience!

from John O' Sullivan 15/8/26

Single Porpoise full breach from Trewent Head this evening. Only seen once a long way out.

Strumble Diary 14/08/2026

 A very misty start to the day with a forecast for it to last till evening. Cliff and I decided to give Strumble a go as sometimes the mist does move in and out somewhat. When I arrived, thankfully the mist was in a moving out phase and visibility was improving all the time. Volunteer Andy Wise and interns Dan and Keira were already there but hadn't seen anything to that point due to the mist. Cliff arrived and we set to watching over the forming tide race for any cetaceans. A couple of distant Porpoise were the first to show, but just a bit too far for meaningful images. Over the next hour or so a mix of distant and closer sightings followed with the best being a group of six feeding together off to the NW. Things went very quiet as the tide dropped away but as we were talking to Wayne, a birder from Swindon Cliff spotted a Minke Whale which surfaced briefly beyond the tide race but wherever it rose again was out of our vision. 

One marked Porpoise of note and it's the same one I have seen over the past few days and already in the catalogue so will be noted as a returner. Highlighted below.

 A close swimming Grey seal just below the lookout.

 

Strumble Diary 12-13th August 2026

Things have been quiet so I've put two days into one blog entry. 

Both were very similar really with almost identical weather except for mist spoiling things today the 13th. A few more Porpoise today (5 until mist came in) than the single one I had yesterday. Nadia and the Wednesday survey team had a lovely view of a Sunfish after I left and I too had a good view of one today. The one Porpoise I had yesterday was a marked animal we've seen before, so that was a bonus. The Sunfish from today was floating on the surface trying to attract gulls to pick off parasites, without much success I might add, but then did a "Spy Hop" which I've not seen them do before. It poked it's head out of the water and was looking around. Good to see but looked strange. 

Images: My single Porpoise and Nadia's Sunfish from yesterday, then today's Porpoise and Sunfish.