Underwater wave surfing Porp dudes at Strumble...

Glorious sunshine and a slight NW breeze made for comfortable porp watching and Gannet surveying today. High tide was around 0930 so when i arrived at 13.15, the tide was running west pretty fast. The tide race had some impressive waves despite the small amount of wind. There was a lot of Gulls concentrated just in front of me so i scanned below them. They hardly showed above the surface but the views of them surfing just below breaking waves was a joy! I had set up with my big 20x80 bins in front of my car and a comfy seat, at the car-park above the lookout which gave a better view being higher and giving a better angle to look down on them.sadly no pics but anyone with a drone would have had a ball! Being able to see beneath the waves gave a much better view of the porpoises and it was obvious there were more present than you would expect just from the small amount of visible surfacings I estimated 8-10. It was the Herring Gulls rather than the Gannets that betrayed the whereabouts of the porpoises, with around thirty gulls and only a handful of gannets although these included three adults also one second year, one third year, and a fourth year subadult which was interesting.As they moved down with the tide i watched them pass behind the lighthouse. I thought the porp fest was over but soon after a second group came by this time probably six or seven which followed the first group with the dropping tide until half an hour later they passed from view. A lovely couple of hoursspent. While I was watching I was joined by the son of an old friend Maurice North, with his wife abnd daughter. Maurivce joined us on several of our Celtic Deep surveys but sadly i was told he has passed on he was a nice bloke and i was sad to hear of his passing but it was nice to meet his younger relatives and his grandaughterat Strumble. If he was up ther in the ether he would have been smiling!

Terns and Puffins, not many Gannets But at least the porpoises turned up for the Photo ID group!

I arrived at Strumble at around 10.30 which at about two hours after high water, i reckoned should be OK for the porpoises with a few Gannet sightings to add to my survey. The Gannets were few and far between for the first half hour and a gnarly sea made finding Porpoises difficult. Just before the Photo ID team arrived, i started getting glimpses of Porpoises, but they were in or on the edge of the developing tide race which with wind against tide, made things extra gnarly. The team arrived and i ended up ignoring the odd Gannet and helping a new work experience youngster Abbie, to see her first porpoises. It took a while, but she kept at it and by the time i left she was spotting them well. Interesting birds included: Two Common Terns and three Puffins, all heading west.

You meet the nicest people...

Two sessions today, one this morning 11 00/ 12.00 and then again later, 15.00 -17.30. I was concentrating on my new Gannet survey, recording and comparing numbers of adults and subadults in the hope that in doing so for several years, it might shed some light on population recruitment. Its quite good fun and passes the time when the porpoises are hiding elswhere and hoping for something out of the ordinary to turn up. Of course Ken often enjoys explaining the wonders of Strumble to visitors and this afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting Nikki (apologies if spelt wrong!) and Kevin from Perth Australia.Not only was i able to give some insights intothe wonders of Strumble and help them to identify common species that were unfamiliar to people from the other side of the globe! Not only that but they had some wonderful stories of travels and wildlife from the arctic to the antarctic. Better still the porpoises started to show but hard to see, and Nikki was straight on them as was Kevin! These are the nicest moments and part of the strumble Magic!

Strumble Diary 28/06/2026

 Moving off the neap tides onto bigger tides as the moon phase changes, I was hopeful of some decent porpoise action at Strumble this morning. I was ahead of the formation of the inner tide race so set up and waited patiently. When the tide race did start running a group of 8-10 porpoise came in together from the NW and started moving up the tide. Still a half mile out they must have encountered a shoal of fish as they suddenly started darting here and there and seemed to be feeding well. Sadly (for me) they stuck with that shoal and as it moved west with the tide so did they. So they never made it up in front of the lookout and I only managed a few distant images. Better luck next time perhaps. I handed over to Cliff as I left so I wonder if he fared any better than I did.

 

Sun Fish in Newport Bay.

 A great photo from Hannah Harries of a Sun Fish taken today in Newport Bay. The Tuesday survey team had also been informed of a sighting off Strumble this morning. Things it seems are are hotting up in the sea as well.

 

Strumble Diary 23/06/2026

 Well, today could have been an almost copycat of two days ago, as it was almost identical to what Cliff reported. I arrived around 12.30 with the Tuesday survey team an hour into their two hour survey. Conditions were dead calm with a light variable breeze and a very weak tide race as we're on neap tides at present. They had seen a couple of porpoise but nothing out of the ordinary. After they departed I stayed on for a further hour and a half with sporadic distant porpoise sightings way too far out in the haze for any images. Something larger caught my eye and sure enough due north at about two miles a Minke whale surfaced twice before submerging again. About seven minutes later it rose again and after that was not seen again. No images I'm afraid but a very enjoyable session in the shade of the lookout on this stunning but very hot day.

Strumble Diary 21/06/2026

 Report from Cliff Benson: 

"Went to Strumble this afternoon 2.30 to 4.30. Good numbers of porpoises (15-20) quite active including mother and calf, but star of the show was a distant Minke Whale that showed 4 times in succession, and then disappeared off the face of the earth 

Strumble Diary 20/06/2026

 A beautiful morning at Strumble today as I joined Cliff for a couple of hours on the rising tide.I was doing my usual Porpoise/Dolphin survey whilst Cliff was conducting a very interesting Gannet survey. Between cetacean sightings I helped Cliff with sightings. The idea was to identify 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year/adult Gannets to see the numbers of juvenile/sub adult birds compared to mature adults. The results were quite interesting and could give an indication of their recovery after the bird flu epidemic. 

On the Cetacean front, there were several groups of Commons visible all through the survey with a count of 80-100 or so in total. Porpoise numbers were as expected with a total of ten sighted sporadically through the two hours of the survey. It's not often we see the Commons bow riding the in coming Ferry but today things fell into place and we got a good view of some real flyers enjoying the pressure wave on the bow as she passed Strumble. The Choughs are very active at the moment and a few dropped in below the lookout so I couldn't resist a shot or two.

 

17/06/26. Breakwater Bottles today!

The tide wasjust emptying out of Fishguard Harbour ,so Stevo and self decided to have a look to see if the bottles were around. A circling gannet gave the game away with what looked like 3/4 showing briefly off the campsite on the opposite side of the bay. The veteran Paddle steamer "The Waverly" decided to make its way into the harbour. Soon after the dolphins raced in to bow ride her for a moment before dissappearing in her wake. Not long after a single bottle'arrived just in front of us, about 100 metres away. It surfaced a few times getting closer before heading out towards the harbour enterence where i then spotted the first small group. . Sadly we had to go so not sure if it joined them or not. Later at Strumble we hung about for an hour but saw nothing cetacean wise although a couple of miles out tothe east there was several (20+) Gannets feeding although it was too far away a bit misty and gnarly to makeout if there wer porp'sor more likely Common Dolphins beneath them. Sadly no camera with us but heres a similar view of one i took some time ago...

Bit of a break but reports of Bottles in the bay!

Due to laptop problems for me and Ken tied up with house maintenence there has been a gap on the WinW reports , however Chris Pierpoint has been seeing Bottle s (5) off Penanglas and Ian Hotchin has been seeing them from his yacht in the bay!