Strumble Diary 22/03/2026

 A cloudier day today and still chilled with a NE'ly wind. Cetacean wise it was very quiet today. I saw five porpoise in total but only managed to capture two. The session was livened up somewhat by a half dozen or so Commons moving through East to West, turning by the lighthouse and coming a short way back up against the tide before moving on. We always think of Cormorants as black in colour but when you see them close up in good light they are anything but. A few pics at the end shows the array of colours that reflect off their feathers.

Mating? I think so.

 

Strumble Diary 21/03/2026

 A short session in a busy day for me yesterday and as the weather was so good I didn't want to miss a chance of a possible productive session. I'm so glad I did get out as although it wasn't as productive as I had hoped for it did produce two returning marked animals. "Boost" turned up again and recently has been our most resighted animal showing up every few days or so but may be even more often than that on the days/times were not there. She's the one with the little flick on the top of the fin. During processing of the images I was delighted to see I had captured images of "Chopper" with it's distinct deep "V" propeller cuts close to it's tail and a scar line to the right of the dorsal fin. It's been a few years since I last saw this one. Other than that it was realatively quiet and what action there was soon moved West beyond the lighthouse.

 

Link to recent Photo ID Matches.

 https://mailchi.mp/seatrust/porpoise_newsletter-february-2026

Strumble Diary 19/03/2026

 A beautiful sunny morning at Strumble today. A light Easterly wind just taking the edge off the warmth of the sun though. A very strong spring tide flow, even before the tide race formed, meant I wasn't confident of seeing many porpoise as they don't like either too fast or slow of a flow. Speaking to a couple in a camper van at the car park and they told of a hundred or more Commons around 8am feeding well before moving swiftly westward with the dropping tide. I stayed for an hour and a half before it became evident I wasn't going to see any more action off the lookout as what porpoise were there had moved West of the lighthouse. A few commons did show but again west of the lighthouse and I had a half dozen or so Porpoise during the session. The first image is of a marked animal, the only porpoise seen during a very short session yesterday the 18th so I added it into today's blog entry. To match Cliff's first sighting of a Manxie on the 14th I had my first Wheatear (pair) of spring today, which is always a lovely sight and a sure sign that spring is well and truly here.

 

Strumble Diary: 18/3/26. 16:10-17:10

 Bright with hazy cloud, big tide ENE wind. 

Rising tide was against the wind making for a confused sea. 

A brief porpoise sighting quite distant off the lookout at start of the watch, but the main action was towards Mackerel Rock with  a swarm of Gannets diving in over feeding Common Dolphins. They slowly moved against the flow getting closer.The dolphins were obviously in a feeding frenzy with the Gannets almost feeding off the tips of the dolphins beaks! In the messy sea it was not easy to count the dolphins but a guestimate would be circa 30/40 animalsincluding several small calves, with a similar number of Gannets. 

Strumble diary 14/3/26 Its spring!

A visit this afternoon to Strumble was cut short by a cold NW breeze. Half a dozen Porpoises and a pod of circa 12-15 Common Dolphins seen no sign of agression on the part of the dolphins and if not actually associating,.they were feeding close by for a while until the Dolphins moved off to the East. A Porpoise with a small calf was nice but best of all was my first Manxie this year, Its spring!

Strumble diary 9th of March 2026 continued..."Surfy Porp Dudes!"

So as i arrived at Strumble, Greg Ellis was just leaving. He told be it had been quite quiet with just a few porp's...

 As i parked on the bus stop (seasonal no buses) and raised my bins, i was straight on a couple of small cetaceans. They were  just around from the lighthouse but it was a brief view and i was not sure whether they were Porp's or Dolphins There was another chap in a car a few yards away  looking with bins in a different direction and i almost shouted over to him but decided to make sure they were going to oblige if i told him. As it happened, as is often the case, they dissappeared and i left it at that!

Soon after he left  and i continued watching in the genersl area where i had first seen them and after a few more minutes i caught another glimpse of several within and among some choppy large waves but i still was not sure, There seemed to be quite a lot of them, at least around a dozen (12) maybe more, briefly showing in the chop. As the tide began to slow, the waves became longer and more defined and i soon saw they were Porpoises. 

They were then in "surfy porp dude" mode, which is always my favourite as you see them just beneath the wave before they surface riding the wave. At one point a mother with a small calf appeared, the small calf did an exhuberant full breach next to its  mum, don't tell me they were not actually having fun!This show went on for about another half hour, also attracting some spectator Gannets although the porpoises did not appear to be feeding and none of the gannets dived in as they would if that had been the case. 

I watched captivated, thinking i should have had a camera, snd that Ken would have been in his element. I see he did have some nice shots earlier but this was a bit special! As the sea state state changed, dying away with the low tide, the surfy porp action slowed down then stopped and the gannets flew off no doubt hungry and dissappointed! I was feeling a bit peckish but far from dissapointed and drove off home feeling rather lucky!

Strumble Diary 09/03/2026

 The morning started off a bit dreary but thankfully it brightened up early afternoon as I went out for my survey. On the road to Strumble I met Fran and Chris who had been doing the Monday volunteer survey 11am-1pm. There's was a quiet session really over the top of the tide mostly with just a few Porpoise seen and no Commons. By the time I set up it was getting on for 1.30pm just as the tide race was forming on the ebb tide. There were two or three porps off the point to start with and over the next hour and a half I sighted twelve or so animals in the tide race and off the point. I ended my session at 14.45 having not seen any action for the previous twenty minutes or so with the Porpoise having dropped back beyond the lighthouse.