Strumble Diary 16/02/2026

 First trip out for a while arriving at 09.30 and not the best of days weather wise. A strong nearly gale force WSW wind was pushing hard against the dropping tide raising some very lumpy swells in the tide race. So lumpy in fact the commons were more like downhill skiiers than surfers. So yes, there were a large number of commons feeding off the lookout and indeed all over the tide race from off the point to a good half mile NW out in the tide race. 

The Monday survey team arrived at 11.am by which time I must have seen well over 160+ Common Dolphins. We watched a couple of large groups moving through the tide race West to East occasionally slowing to catch fish before resuming their course. Around 12pm they turned and started running back West with the tide and eventually out of sight. Things were quiet then for a while before a single Porpoise was sighted followed a few minutes later by a couple more. Having been there for three very cold hours I decided to call it a day and leave the team to continue their watch.

 

Ian Hotchin sails again, Dolphins in the Bay!

We had a call from master mariner Ian Hotchin, out on his yacht in Fishguard Bay this afternoon.Ian told us there were around 25 Common Dolphins around his vessel.seemingly feeding.

 I went out on the green breakwater a bit later. I could see Ian a mile or so in his junk rigged yacht, out to the north. Also a lot of gannets just off Pen Anglas to the west, The water was quite choppy outside the shelter of the bay and I was unable to make out any Dolphins, but presumed they were beneath the Gannets, so went back to the Ocean Lab.

A little while later, a chap came up to the desk and told me he had seen some dolphins in the harbour from the central breakwater! maybe the pod had split and i missed the ones in the harbour!

Sea Trust Strumbling sightings

 Sea Trust photo ID volunteers have done pretty good considering it has rained every day this year so far !

The times they are a changeing! Winter Bluefins feeding with Common Dolphins in Fishguard Bay!

 About twenty years ago i heard Bluefin Tuna were being seen of the west coast of Ireland. around twn years ago we started encountering them out in the Celtic Deep. Four years ago we saw them off strumble feeding just off the lighthouse. This last weekend Chris Pierpoint had them feeding with common Dolphins 

At 0915 fron Chris on Sea Trust Supporters watsup..." Pen Anglas on fire! Lots of Commons and Tuna jumping with lots of birdsfeeding off the Pen Anglas foghorn!" Thanks Chris!

All of our previous Bluefin sightings have been during the late summer autumn this is the first winter report.It kind of parallels early Common Dolphin sightings where we first recorded them offshore and then a few summer sightings off Strumble around the millenium. Sightings increased inshore during the Summer and autumn and then maybe ten or twelve years ago they were increasingly present off Strumble and into Fishguard Bay during the winter months!

Obviously they are finding plenty of prey but what has brought tem inshore? Porpoises were the only regularly seen cetaceans year round but although still present  they are now outnumbered by Common Dolphins throughout the year .

Sadly as the Common Dolphins have increased and now Bluefin Tuna, Sightings of the Risso's Dolphins that we used to see frequently, mainly late Autumn and into the New year have rapidly declined over the past three or four years.

So locally, the dynamics of potentially competing marine apex predators  seem to be evolving, Something that were it not for our year round observations over almost three decades, might otherwise not have been witnessed and recorded!The question remains what has triggered this evolved dynamic?

Pembrokeshire Humpback Sighting

 

 

Over the weekend the team recieved a call from Mrs Rebecca Kieft who had been staying in a cottage not far from Pwll Deri on the west side of the Strumble peninsula. She reported seeing a whale off the coast there. I don't have a lot of detail but I think it was possibly last Wednesday. We're very grateful for the report and video Rebecca and it just goes to show and confirm the abundance of marine wildlife off the Pembrokeshire coast. This was a large animal and my opinion is that it was much larger than Humpy who visisted us in January 2024.

Strumble diary from Rhi Till

 Common Dolphin - Fishguard Bay

Rhi Till	22:40 (19 minutes ago)
to me

Hi Cliff

So lovely to see you and catch up today.

Strumble delivered once again,with bells and whistles. Upon arrival, saw a fair few porps, beyond buoy to right of look out. Great stuff!

However, as I scanned left towards the lighthouse ,boy did I get treated to a display. I initially thought the surfers were Bottles, but realised they were common dolphins. They were leaping and frolicking  in direct line of lighthouse. I counted upwards of 80 to 100 of them for a good half hour. They moved farther away and beyond my range. I couldn't pull them in enough for a good picture. Am attaching the best  of many attempts of my visit there! No prizes for my efforts ,but proof all the same

What a fabulous way to spend the afternoon.

Take care

Rhi.

Common Dolphin - Fishguard Bay from Andrew!

 

Inbox

A Crowder	16:55 (5 hours ago)
to me

Hi Cliff,

This afternoon at 15:00 we were viewing a group of Common Dolphin from Pwllgwaelod, spread out 

of along a line from cliffs below Fishguard Bay Holiday Park to the small tanker anchored in the mouth of

Fishguard Bay. They were very active, particularly close to the cliffs where a sub group appear to have drive

in its prey (I remember Bottlenose Dolphin a few years back doing exactly the same thing!). 

Lots of splashing and some breaching, they were still there when we left about 4.30. 

Difficult to count because of the spread and distance but we estimated 25-30.

Regards

Andrew

Strumble Diary 28/01/2026

 For a change we had a beautiful clear sky and light winds so I was hopeful of some good shots. I joined the Wednesday survey team (Nadia, Steve, Gon and Maddie) around 11.30am who were already spotting porpoise out in the survey area. Later we were joined by new volunteer Zoe from Broadhaven, so welcome Zoe and I hope you enjoy your time with Sea Trust. 

As the time moved on and the tide race formed we were spotting more Porpoise and while not as many as yesterday the numbers were quite good.  Some distant, but mostly closer allowing for some decent shots in camera. Soon we were spotting Commons coming in from the West and the numbers gradually increased with upward of 120 commons displacing the Porpoise although Gon and Nadia did spot one Porpoise which seemed caught up in a feeding charge by a small group of Commons. The bonus today were two quite distinctly marked Porpoise which I've highlighted below. We concluded the survey at 13.20 approx.