A Porpoise Sandwich 04/12/2025

 A tale of Commons then Porps then Commons.

I started at Strumble today at 08.45ish and with the big tides I wasn't expecting big numbers or a long period of action. Almost as soon as I got the lens trained on the water I spotted a few Commons moving West with the tide. Within five minutes they were gone through. I waited and watched until the tide race was running at it's fastest and as expected didn't see any further action. 

Yesterday, Sea Trust supporter Chris Pierpoint had some good action at Pen Anglas so I upped sticks, drove to Harbour Village and had a look there myself. I settled for a spot between Pen Anglas and Crincoed Point and sure enough a few Porpoise visited over the hour and a half I was there. As with Chris two of them were very active with tail thrashing and strong surges. This didn't seem like the normal mating behaviour where the male approaches from the left underneath and forces himself on the female but rather a chase and play sort of behaviour. But who knows, as we can only guess at what they're up to. As the tide dropped away the Porpoise moved off and all was quiet. I was just about to put the kit away and leave when a pod of twenty or so Commons dashed past East to West heading toward Strumble. With the ground weing waterlogged from all the recent rain the uphill trudge going back was heavy underfoot and by the time I got back to the car I was ready for a good rest (knackered) :-), but it was worth the effort to spend time watching these lovely creatures.