Our Friday 13th started on a high with a morning spent in the company of a large group of dolphins just off New Quay pier. In the afternoon, we had the pleasure of meeting Rod Penrose, the Welsh strandings coordinator from the Marine Environmental Monitoring. Rod gave us a talk on his work and marine mammal/turtle/shark strandings around the UK. It was very instructive, allowing us to gain a good insight on anatomy, how to diagnose the cause of death of animals. Rod mentioned a particularly interesting case of “corkscrew seals” which remains a mystery to this day –for about three years, number of seals have been found stranded with very strange looking wounds, resembling the spiral movement of a corkscrew-hence the name- from nostril to tail – if you come across anything like it let us know! For more information on cases like this and on marine mammal strandings in general, have a look on www.strandings.com.
Coincidentally there were 3 strandings reported in the New Quay area on 13th and 14th. First on the 13th, a female harbour porpoise, probably pregnant, was found on Barmouth beach. The following day, Saturday 14th, a juvenile harbour porpoise and a fresh adult female bottlenose dolphin were found respectively in New Quay and Aberaeron. Putting theory into practice, the Sea Watch volunteers and staff were able to inspect the bodies of the stranded animals and were given a run through of basic things to look for (blubber thickness, external injuries etc.).
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