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.

 

Bottlenose sightings from the past few days.

 Whilst things at Strumble have been quiet for me of late, the North Breakwater in contrast has been delivering good Bottlenose sightings almost daily. The group of five animals that have seemingly adopted Fishguard Bay as their summer residence are favouring the dropping tide for their foraging efforts off the harbour entrance. Today again there were just four of the group when I arrived and I am still concerned about the one with the facial growth as mentioned in my previous posting. Still a bit soon to assume it won't return to the group but fingers crossed it will soon. The following images are a selection from the past couple of days.

 

Strumble Disappoints but Breakwater Scores 16/07/2026

 A trip out to the breakwater at 10.30 am on the dropping tide didn't produce the Bottlenose I was hoping for so at 11.40 I made my way to Strumble to join the Thursday survey team. The sightings were distant and poor with around 15 Porpoise sighted up to the end of the watch at 13.00, but sadly no images. Not happy with the day so far I headed back to the breakwater and this time scored with four Bottlenose foraging quite lazily off the outside end of the breakwater. There was some play action as well with two of them chasing each other rolling over and playing with a bunch of seaweed. One notable absentee was the one with the deformity on it's face. This was the same group but I wonder where it was. I hope it's not come to any harm.

My grandson Sonny who is on a weeks work experience with Sea Trust, joined me for an hour or so and brought one of the trusts cameras with him. I have to say (perhaps with a bit of bias) that he did a great job of catching some dolphin action having had very little time to get  used to the camera kit. The first few images are the results of his efforts.

Well done Sonny.

Now for my images.