Risso Lucky!

It has been a busy fortnight here in New Quay. The August Bank holiday saw the Sea Watch team saying good bye to a couple of volunteers and welcoming two new recruits. The next 6 weeks will be exciting and educational for new volunteers. They will learn skills and techniques that will assist in the monitoring of the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation. We hope that they settle well into life here by the sea and look forward to team bonding at the local pub!

Last week with the return of the glorious Welsh weather the Sea Watch team made the most of it. Dedicated surveys were conducted most days and not only in the south of the Bay. In fact, some of the Sea Watch team ventured up to the Lleyn Peninsula in the north of Cardigan Bay. Here we collaborated with the Countryside Council for Wales.

The two organisations surveyed from Bardsey Island and out east towards Harlech. A number of different marine mammals were seen during the surveys, grey seals, harbour porpoise, and bottlenose dolphin. On one lucky day ten Risso dolphins were seen. For many of the survey team it was the first time seeing this species. Risso dolphins are an occasional visitor to the north of Cardigan Bay and can be very active. They enjoy splashing , slapping and breaching, which is a great way to identify their location offshore.