I met Cliff Benson some
14 years or more ago when I joined a Sea Trust Dolphinathon on the
Fishguard Rosslare Ferry. I have been a keen birder all my life and
had been quite interested in cetaceans but that trip, on which we saw
Common and Rissos Dolphins, really got me hooked. I subsequently
joined Cliff on several pelagics on the Cartlett Lady and the Celtic
Wildcat and found that here was an opportunity to see sea
birds close up and get amazingly close to the numerous Dolphins and
Whales which abound in Pembrokeshire's rich waters.
Within a year or two I
found myself helping Cliff with the accounts for Sea Trust and
organising the Pelagic trips. The organisation could be frustrating
with so many fully booked trips cancelled due to bad weather. Many
did go ahead, however, and over the years I was fortunate enough to
join Cliff and Sea Trust on many pelagics. As nature is totally
unpredictable some trips were better than others but I can't recall a
trip where we didn't see at least a few Common Dolphins though usually
several hundred would be seen in the course of a long day out.
There were many
outstanding trips with great views of large pods of Common Dolphins,
Rissos Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins, Minke Whales and Fin Whales and
even a Thresher Shark as well as thousands of Manx Shearwaters,
diving Gannets next to the boat and more unusual birds such Sooty
and Great Shearwaters, Storm Petrels, Grey Phalarope, Skuas and of
course the spectacle of over 30,000 pairs of Gannets on Grassholm –
a sight and smell never to be forgotten!
I have been a keen
photographer for many years so as well as seeing all these amazing
creatures I have amassed quite a library of Cetacean and Sea Bird
photos. I stopped organising the trips some years ago but still
manage to get out on one or two trips most years and try to keep my
hand in at the challenging art of photographing rapidly moving
creatures from a moving boat that's bouncing up and down! A few
favourite photos follow and my collection of Pelagic photos can be seen at https://www.richardcrossenphotography.co.uk/pelagics
Thanks Cliff for all
those great trips and the inspiration you have given me and many
other people!
Rich Crossen
Rich Crossen
