Weather Conditions: Overcast/Fair, Wind Direction: SW/N/NW, Sea state 0-3
Bottlenose dolphins were in the bay in the morning and in the afternoon, with groups seen towards the edges of the bay leaping, foraging and milling. A number of mother and calf pairs were amongst the groups. Atlantic grey seals were seen close to the harbour wall foraging and scanning for long periods of time, with one individual observed staying near the wall for around an hour and a half. Notable bird sightings include a group of migrating skylarks, turnstones, gannets and a guillemot.
Weather conditions: overcast, light rain, sea state 2, wind direction SW
Despite the drops of rain yesterday evening our SeaSeal volunteer headed up to Birds Rock to carry out a seal survey. 4 Atlantic grey seals were seen in the water, throughout the two hour survey, bottling and diving. There were plenty of fish around and bottlenose dolphins were observed feeding – a mother and calf could be seen chasing fish just below the surface!! There was a lot of bird activity too: gannets and gulls were spotted feeding on bait balls close to Birds Rock and a kestrel flew past carrying a mouse!
Weather conditions: sunny, sea state 1, wind direction N-NE
It was a glorious day at Birds Rock and our SeaSeal volunteer was out spotting both marine and terrestrial wildlife from the cliff top! Three Atlantic grey seals were seen, during the two hour survey, in the water and hauled out on the rocks. A group of 15 bottlenose dolphins were feeding on fish seen just below the water. Large groups of seabirds were also observed feeding. Gannets were diving amongst large groups of gulls and many guillemots and razorbills were seen below the waves. A red kite flew past Birds Rock and a young fox was seen lying in the sun next to the coastal path! Several species of butterfly were flying around the wildflowers at the top of the cliff.
Weather conditions: overcast/fair, sea state 1-3, wind direction SW/S
Two out of three surveys conducted today had sightings of harbour porpoise; this included the 9am survey and 11am survey. For around one hour during the first survey a porpoise was recorded travelling and foraging close to the sea wall. During the 11am survey a lone porpoise was sighted foraging for around 30 minutes during the middle of the survey.
