Fiona had an epic stsrt to the New Year at Strumble despite the rather dissapointing lack of animals on our annual NYD watch. On a dfallng tide in the morning she had lots of Common Dolphins but star creature was an otter (Lutra lutra) close in by the nearest bouys definately the reward of an early bird!
New Years Day Porpoise watch 1/1/26.
Having what seems to have been a trapped Sciatic nere causing a lot of pain over the holiday, and also a less than encouraging weather forcast i was wondering if i could do the porp-watch today . Thankfully Thursday is usually the day for Frans team of Porpoise ID vols and she retimed their watch to coincide with the NYD watch.
It wass not an easy drive to Strumble with the pain in my leg and i arrived 5 minutes late but was gratified to find around forty people there along with Frans team! Many indeed most, were old friends which was anige way to start the new year. A bitterly cold Nor Westerly was rolling up the waves making spotting very difficult but everyone seemed in good spirits enjoying the fresh air as I gave my talk describing all the things nobody could see! Andy Wise did gett a couple of brief glimpses of Common Dolpin and Porpoise, so technically not a total blank!
Strumble dairy 12/9/23...
Weather: WSW2 sunny spells sea state 2 good visibility 14.00-16.00.
I copped onto a couple of Risso’s as soon as I looked through my bins. The sea was calm the viz’ great and they then disappeared without trace.
A big feeding mob of mainly gulls along with auks was drifting slowly east on the tide. I focused the scope on them getting the briefest view of what looked like a small shearwater, which disappeared within the mob of feeding gulls without a trace.
A distant arctic-type Skua passed at about five miles, did not disappear, but might as well have as it was not much more than a speck.
And then a pod of at least three Risso’s turned up near where I lost the first two, about an hour later, they were distant and not giving great views but at least they sporadically surfaced as the progressed, west to east.
As I tracked them A shearwater passed by in the opposite direction, a Manxie, but welcome. As the Risso’s went out of view I got a distant group of 30’ish commons in the scope which followed the same path, which then put me onto a very dark Balearic Shearwater heading west!
An interesting and intriguing couple of hours!
Sorry no pic's
Strumble diary 10/3/22
The porpoises were showing off today for the Thursday group L-R Rose, Dawn, Carol, Ben and Fran.
The icing on the cake was a brief sighting of a Risso's Dolphin. Another observer Steve who had been watching around the corner also saw a pod od C 10 Common Dolphins with a Risso's. I would put a very large bet on that we were the only ones to see three different species of Cetacean within an hour, anywhere around the UK coast!
Strumble Diary 7/11/21
Speaking to George Mee last evening, he told me he and others had seen two pods 2+6 Risso's at Strumble in the morniong.
Risso's Magic from Lorna Richter
Dear Ken via Seatrust Wales,
I hope these pictures reach you - we've spoken to you a few times up at Strumble, and finally have some pictures to share! We took these today off the headland between Porthllysgi beach and Porthclais. I'm not sure how many we saw - probably at least 5 swimming in that stretch. We have other pics of dorsal fins too, but this chap was out to impress with a string of about 8 leaps one after the other in a straight line. We have four very delighted children who will now probably expect this on all coast path walks!
We love seeing the updates on your blog and will say hi again next time we're at Strumble
