The ‘Pier Watch’ on 16th June was a little unusual, in that the equipment was taken up the cliff above the Shellfish Factory here in New Quay. Here, Tess one of our visiting masters students from Bangor University was stationed to collect data for her project and managed to capture some fantastic images of bottlenose dolphins!
Assisted by Cateline, Tess spotted a group of three bottlenose dolphins, including one calf, with two individuals close by. These quickly joined the others, with the group periodically dispersing and coming back together. They displayed a range of spectacular behaviours including several breaches, flips, spy-hopping and suspected feeding behaviours. A very dramatic and exciting display!
Luckily one of the tourist boats from our friends Dolphin Spotting Trips happened to enter the scene during this incredible display. One of our Interns, Toby was onboard collecting data at the time. He also managed to get some fantastic shots of these spectacular behaviours which, combined with the digiscope images, allowed us to confirm identification of some of the individual dolphins. We can confirm that one of the dolphins was Bond, one of our adoptable dolphins, a very regular visitor to New Quay this season!
Bond’s Distinctive Dorsal Fin
It was fantastic to get such amazing pictures from our equipment, and great to have more evidence of some of our adoptable dolphins being active in the area. Once again we must thank the residents of New Quay for supporting us in making this project possible and Environment Wales for providing the majority of the funding.
Please adopt one of our magnificent dolphins to help us continue our work in protecting and monitoring these incredible animals. Visit www.adoptadolphin.org.uk to become an adoptee and to receive lots of goodies as a thank you!
Imogen Cavadino & Cateline Landry
Sea Watch Foundation Interns
Note: All photos (c) Sea Watch Foundation/Cateline Landry/Tess Hudson
