Great to have some more bottlenose dolphin sightings today!  This time it was our larger pod of nine dolphins which includes six adults and three juveniles.  We were lucky enough to find them on our first trip this morning (we knew they were on their way round from Land’s End). As they were feeding against the tide today, we were able to predict their movements up the coast and back again so passengers on all three trips had a great look at them. One of the main pleasures of our job is to use the knowledge we have built up of our area to show people the wonderful local wildlife and today it all came together well. 

Some other news - we have been checking the fin shots we got of the new dolphin we’ve been seeing with our regular pair, and are reasonably sure it is a new dolphin to this area.  It could have possibly come down from the Cardigan Bay area; at the moment this is just speculation.  It has a couple of distinguishing features so we may be able to find its origin.  A report in a local paper has given the poor dolphin the name of Weenie due to its small size.  I wonder if it will be changed to Largie when it grows to its full size of three metres plus!  The pod of nine coming through might signal the end of our run of sightings of these three until they return to our area again.  Or perhaps they are still around and were just keeping a low profile today.  Only tomorrow will tell.

Harbour Porpoise sightings have been down the last few days possibly due to the dolphin presence as the bottlenoses tend to bully them, even butting them to death over competition for fish.  We did see one today which was good news, though it was well away from the dolphins.

Well, it’s been a very long time since the last update. Hopefully those of you who follow the site regularly have been watching the daily sightings updates, as they have been quite exciting. Again the summer’s weather this year is not proving to be classic, but at least it’s not as dreadful as last year and we have been able to get out on the boat almost daily.

Firstly though, a word about the terrible incident in the Carrick Roads last month when as you know, over twenty common dolphins died after swimming into shallow water and being stranded. Common dolphins, even though we see them reasonably frequently over the summer and autumn (see our 2007 Sightings link) are a deep water species, venturing inshore only occasionally. So whatever it was which made them come up the creek, frightened them enough to make them strand in three different areas, so it wouldn’t have been because the dolphins come in to help a single companion in distress, which sometimes happens. The thinking seems to be that it was sonar. There was certainly navy activity in the area that day, and there are many reports of big ships and loud noises. Imagine how much louder that would have sounded under the water, especially to the highly developed hearing of a cetacean. A very distressing incident, which sadly will be repeated until something is done to stop such activity.

We haven’t had the basking shark bonanza which we have had over the last two years but regular sightings of ones and twos. This is a bit more normal than hundreds in one day! But we have seen a really good variety of species, from regular encounters with three bottlenose dolphins (see the Sightings page), to ocean sunfish, harbour porpoises, lots of grey seals in several different areas, seabirds and even a Portuguese man-o-war (shudder!). A pair of peregrine falcons has also raised a chick above one of the caves; yesterday for the first time we saw the fledged offspring with its parents. The male flew above us screeching angrily, so we left them to it.

The summer holidays start this week, start of the mad season! And they’re telling us the weather is going to get better too. So if you’ve booked a trip, or are thinking about it, we’ll see you soon.

Despite the foggy conditions we managed to have a great trip today.  We tracked the coast on the way out to look at some of the sights and then headed offshore to visit a few of our produtive wildlife spots. One of which produced six harbour porpoises giving us our own private viewing in a fog bubble.  The picture above is one of the porpoises from today.

Cookies new companion

Spring seems to be finally here after several false dawns (there was a trip in April when I remember wearing seven layers and it feeling colder than it did in January!) Spring and early summer are when West Cornwall is at its most beautiful when the flowers blooming on the cliffs and many passengers exclaim about the water in Porthcurno and Pendower looking bluer than the Caribbean. Makes a highly refeshing change from the greys and browns of winter.

This time of year is when the birds and sea-life seem to be on hyper-drive. After a fairly lean patch (bless the seals for their continuing presence!) the last few trips have seen astounding numbers of seabirds gliding, flapping and swooping past the boat and we've passed huge rafts of them on the water, Manx shearwaters, guillemots and razorbills in particular. The fulmars have teamed up with their mates again (these birds mate for life) and are sitting on their usual ledges. However we have seen quite a few less gannets tnan usual; perhaps this is because trawlers have been fishing further inshore than usual because of stormy seas, thereby leaving less fish for the birds. Mere speculation however.

As you can see from the Sightings, unusually at this time of year we have been seeing several very young seal pups at one of our customary seal haul out sites. Unusual but not unheard of. During late summer and early autumn when they're usually born, often the mother seals lose a pup early or have a stillbirth. When this happens they can mate again during the spring at moulting time, and gestation lasts about a year altogether. So the pups we're seeing now could be the result of the very stormy autumn and start of the winter in 2006. Again, just a theory.

And finally, we had heard from several sources that a pair of bottlenose dolphins had been seen together and so we hoped it was Cookie and Sleekie, the pair we encountered so often this time last year. And yesterday there they were at the end of the trip outside the harbour! Or so we thought. One of them was Cookie definitely (he has a very distinctive fin) but his companion...? Having studied closely the photos we took of them last year and the ones from yesterday, I'm now absolutely sure that the original Sleekie has moved onto pastures new and Cookie has take up with another. That's what we hope anyway - there was a period last year when we saw Cookie alone a few times so no one knows where Sleekie has ended up. Let's hope he wasn't drowned in a fishing net. We hope to see you here in Penzance soon.

Spring seems to be finally here after several false dawns (there was a trip in April when I remember wearing seven layers and it feeling colder than it did in January!) Spring and early summer are when West Cornwall is at its most beautiful when the flowers blooming on the cliffs and many passengers exclaim about the water in Porthcurno and Pendower looking bluer than the Caribbean. Makes a highly refeshing change from the greys and browns of winter.

This time of year is when the birds and sea-life seem to be on hyper-drive. After a fairly lean patch (bless the seals for their continuing presence!) the last few trips have seen astounding numbers of seabirds gliding, flapping and swooping past the boat and we've passed huge rafts of them on the water, Manx shearwaters, guillemots and razorbills in particular. The fulmars have teamed up with their mates again (these birds mate for life) and are sitting on their usual ledges. However we have seen quite a few less gannets tnan usual; perhaps this is because trawlers have been fishing further inshore than usual because of stormy seas, thereby leaving less fish for the birds. Mere speculation however.

As you can see from the Sightings, unusually at this time of year we have been seeing several very young seal pups at one of our customary seal haul out sites. Unusual but not unheard of. During late summer and early autumn when they're usually born, often the mother seals lose a pup early or have a stillbirth. When this happens they can mate again during the spring at moulting time, and gestation lasts about a year altogether. So the pups we're seeing now could be the result of the very stormy autumn and start of the winter in 2006. Again, just a theory.

And finally, we had heard from several sources that a pair of bottlenose dolphins had been seen together and so we hoped it was Cookie and Sleekie, the pair we encountered so often this time last year. And yesterday there they were at the end of the trip outside the harbour! Or so we thought. One of them was Cookie definitely (he has a very distinctive fin) but his companion...? Having studied closely the photos we took of them last year and the ones from yesterday, I'm now absolutely sure that the original Sleekie has moved onto pastures new and Cookie has take up with another. That's what we hope anyway - there was a period last year when we saw Cookie alone a few times so no one knows where Sleekie has ended up. Let's hope he wasn't drowned in a fishing net. We hope to see you here in Penzance soon.

The season has officially begun for us now. After a bit of winter maintenance, a wash and brush up, Shearwater is now back in the water and doing trips again, and bookings for the spring and summer are now coming in thick and fast. Let's hope the weather gods are kinder to us this year than last year, and even more, that the quantity and variety of the wildlife is equally impressive as it was last year! (Have a look at 2007's Sightings page)

Things are looking good on that score. We have had close contact over the winter with a marine wildlife researcher who was conducting surveys from the Isles of Scilly supply vessel the Gry Maritha . She had many memorable encounters on her trips from Penzance to the Scillies, including common and Risso's dolphins, harbour porpoises, seals, minke whales and several times fin whales. All very exciting, and it bodes well for a good season's wildlife spotting. On the trips we have undertaken at this very early stage of the season, we've met lots of grey seals, spectacular numbers of seabirds and a few very shy harbour porpoises!

On a more sombre note, there have been several well-documented instances this winter of cetacean strandings, including common dolphins, porpoises, minke whales and a young fin whale. There was even a stranding of a striped dolphin, rare in these waters, on the Lizard peninsular, which initially looked in good health. On closer inspection though, it was found to have a terrible wound to its lower jaw, which sadly meant it had to be euthanised. On a happier occasion though, a common dolphin was successfully re-floated and made its way back out to sea. Obviously there are several very sobering things here; for me, the worst part is the knowledge that even though so many dead and dying cetaceans are washed up on our shores mainly as a result of encounters with trawlers, there must be so very many more that we don't see: animals which are killed at sea and sink to the bottom. All of this is known about by the government and the EU, yet nothing effective is done to combat it. So what I would say to those in the corridors of power is that you either want cetaceans to survive, or you want them to be wiped out. Which is it? But that's just me; doubtless, many would vehemently disagree.

There are many things you can do to make your views known: donating money to good causes, joining a pressure group, volunteering, and don't forget consumer power. The type of fish and food in general you choose to buy can make a difference too.

To find out more about these issues and see for yourself some of Cornwall 's wonderful marine wildlife, book a trip aboard Shearwater for a really memorable experience. We hope to see you here in Penzance soon.