Welsh Wonders

It’s the beginning of the second volunteer period for SWF staff members, and with several line-transect surveys and dolphin sightings under our belt the 2012 season has been a success so far!

This week saw the arrival of two new volunteers; Marta a general volunteer has joined us from Spain, and Heidi, a master’s student from University College London is working with SWF studying how recreational boat disturbance affects social cohesion in bottlenose dolphin groups.

On Thursday SWF volunteers and staff were treated to an amazing display of bottlenose dolphin behaviour on a line-transect survey from Aberystwyth, heading north towards Pwllheli. A group of 18 bottlenose dolphins was sighted near Llanystumdwy; as we travelled towards them they started to socialise and play around our research boat, the Ma Chipe. A wide variety of behaviour was seen including tail-slapping (shown in the photograph), leaping, bow riding, chin-slapping and some percussive behaviour. Whilst the dolphins were swimming and diving alongside us we heard whistling coming from some adult individuals. Out of the 18 dolphins sighted, we had a total of 4 calves and 2 juveniles.

During the survey we also saw 4 harbour porpoises and 4 grey seals that were bobbing around in open water. At one point we crossed a cold water reef, where we saw several types of jellyfish through the water, including moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) and the barrel or root mouth jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus). Needless to say all the SWF team were extremely happy with the day’s survey, particularly after the incredible encounter with the bottlenose dolphins and the variety of marine life seen- who knew Welsh waters were so diverse!

Sea Watch Team