As the season comes to a close Sea Watch made the most of a rare sunny day and took to the sea for our last survey of the year in Cardigan Bay. Setting off bright and early as the sun was still rising we encountered a group of seven dolphins right outside New Quay harbour. When we got closer we saw that there were five adults and two calves and we managed to take photos of their fins in order to idenitfy the individuals. They then started to move back in towards the harbour so we left them and travelled to the start of our line transect.
As we were travelling along the transect we had several sightings of harbour porpoises and grey seals until we encountered another group of bottlenose dolphins. There were ten dolphins in total, including a tiny newborn calf who was throwing itself out of the water to leap. As well as the newborn there was also another calf and two juveniles who were very energetic and busy socialising.
As we continued on the journey we saw many atlantic grey seals, popping up right next to the boat to see what was going on. It was not until the end of the day as we approached New Quay that we found our last group of dolphins. Three large bottlenose dolphins were in a playful mood and loved bow riding. We could see them through the water and even hear their whistling from the boat. They swam with us until we had captured the necessary photos and finisehd recroding their behaviour and we turned back to New Quay.
All in all it was a great end to the season so thanks to all the staff and interns who took part!
Click here to watch a video of the highlights from the survey.
