Strumble Diary 07/03/2026

 Another excellent session today. The weather was bright this morning but clouded over toward lunchtime, but not so much as to affect the light. The wind was SE'ly 3-4 off the land so quite calm close in. I had a good mix of Commons and porps with the porps in first followed by about twenty or so Commons really dashing through at speed and passing within two minutes. A small break then before several more Porpoise came up the tide race. The Porpoise with the pointed tip on it's fin seems to have taken a shine to Strumble as it was there again today. That's three for three on sightings of it for me recently. An Oyster Catcher and a very colourfull Shag provided welcome distractions between cetacean sightings.

 

Strumble Diary 05/03/2026

 What a difference in two days. Bright and warm yesterday and today the dullest, greyest day I've had at strumble for a long while. The light was very flat and made focusing on the contrastless water very difficult indeed. I did manage to get some shots though, although some of the Porpoise were being very stealthy. With the strong flow the action soon moved downtide beyond the lighthouse so my session was shorter than usual. No Commons today sadly but that's the way it goes. We can't complain though as this winter has been the best for Commons in my experience. Bonus for me was the capture on camera of a few marked porps which I'm sure will please all back at the Ocean Lab.

 

Strumble Diary 4/3/26, Follow on from Kens report

 I spent an hour (3pm-4 pm)  about an hour after the low tide at around 2pm. A few porpoises maybe half a dozen, seemed to be feeding between the look out and the lighthouse, three or four hundred metres out with a similar number of Gannets giving away their presence. Given the strong spring tides, they may have been taking advantage of the intertidal period of  slack water. Towards the end of my watch activity slowed to nothing, with the gannets moving off as well. No Common Dolphins were seen.

Strumble Diary 04/03/2026

 Spring seems to be here at last. A beautiful sunny day at Strumble with birds singing in the coastal margins. Bumble bees active and even a Red Admiral and Tortoiseshell butterfly doing fly by's. Lots more hedgerow activity on the road down as well. The tide race was just starting to run when I arrived three hours into the dropping tide. The wind was SE 3-4, so off the land giving calm conditions out in front of me. The first sighting was of a pair of porps traveling together and they were the same pair I had seen previously on the 22nd of February as posted in my previous blog entry. A couple ot others during the session, one with distinct coloured spots on it's flank. A small group of around six Commons way off to the far side of Pen Caer point seemed to be headed for Fishguard Bay were the only Commons sighted during the session. I spotted several porpoise down beyond the lighthouse later in the session but none ventured up the very strong tide race in front of the lookout. Five Red Throated Divers and a three Grey seals filled the rest of the session and I came away at 12.45pm not having seen any action for the previous 45 mins or so.