National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part IX

Some pictures from Bispham on Saturday with the stricken Riverdance in the distance. The top one is my best shot of one of the Herring Gulls as it was gliding overhead. I really wanted an eye-level shot but they wouldn't let me.

The penultimate watch. I was joined by 3 hopeful watchers on a warm and sunny lunchtime. The wind had died right down and conditions were improving. Absolutely nothing about for the whole hour. The usual gulls on the beach and a couple of Oystercatchers. Nothing out at sea at all.

Last chance tomorrow lunchtime.....here's hoping!!!!!!

All was not lost safariwise though. A school group was having a rare old time pond dipping at the Solaris Centre and managed to haul out a great many Sticklebacks including the mother and father of them all, some of the biggest Sticklebacks you'll ever see.






And, once home more House Sparrow treats in store; a fledgling was been fed freshly mashed sunflower hearts by its mother in the Silver Birch tree my brother-in-law kindly rescued from being blown over in last weeks storm - - well done to him.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part VIII

Another four hours watching a turbulent sea! Again not much about but at least the sun shone and there was a hint of warmth about after a very threatening start. Today I was joined by several fellow whale watchers, one had travelled from Skipton in Yorkshire, and I thought I was dedicated!

So what did we see? - - several Sandwich Terns milling about trying to fish, a couple of distant Gannets, a pair of Common Scoters flew south quite close in and two or three very distant Manx Shearwaters, a new species for the week.

The best thing about wildlife not the rare or exotic but the unexpected. When I got home there was a family of House Sparrows

These have become rarer than hen's teeth in the garden in recent years. A very welcome visitor to the feeders.

Penultimate watch tomorrow...12 noon to 1.00pm.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part VII

A change of scenery for today's watch. A couple of mile up the coast at Bispham. But the weather is still unfavourable. The wind dropped a bit and the sun even shone for a few minutes in a blue sky. It was still too windy for any chance of seeing the Porpoises and not windy enough to bring sea birds close in shore. The four hour watch produced the grand total of 2 Gannets, both distant, 2 Curlews, and either a Guillemot or a Razorbill whizzed past going north. Not a brilliant afternoons wildlife watching! The Gulls were the best - gliding past slowly at eye level on the updraught from the cliff. So close you could see the 'whites' of their eyes....better than that their coloured eye rings; red in the Lesser Black Backs, yellow in the Herring Gulls...check them out next time you get a close view of a gull.

Back to the Mirror Ball 3pm to 7pm tomorrow...weather report is not good again! Doh.....

National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part VI

I must be bonkers. Back out for an other hour in the cold, wet and windy - - well at least today wasn't so windy. But still too choppy to be able to see our Porpoises. I did manage a very distant Gannet in the murk and a couple of closer Sandwich Terns. 3 Curlews passed by going south. There weren't so many Gulls on the beach this afternoon but they were joined by a few Oystercatchers. The gloom lifted briefly - long enough to be able to see Wales, but no Whales!


The pic above is my gleanings from the beach yesterday. They are (clockwise from the bottom right) Pod Razor, Rayed Trough Shell, Sea Heart, Common Otter Shell, Common Cockle, Edible Whelk (wrongly ID'd as Dog Whelk yesterday).

Onlt 10 hours left to suffer....starting at 3pm tomorrow 'til 7pm at Bispham Tram station...see you there!

National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part V

Ah the loneliness of a dedicated Whale and Dolphin watcher. Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiiian shirt? No...waterproof trousers and a winter hat were order of the day.

The tide was much further out than yesterday and gave me the opportunity to have a look on the beach before starting the hour's watch. There was a huge wreck of Razor Shells and a fair amount of other sea life including large Dog Whelks, Cockles and Sea Urchin skeletons. There was also quite a lot of coal lying off the beach. This has been broken off the underwater coal seam which reaches the sea bed about a mile or so out to sea.
If I had my camera I could show you some pics.
Herring, Lesser Black Backed, and a few Black Headed Gulls were happily gleaning the tastiest morsels from this shellfish smorgesbord. The remains of a Swimming Crab was found on the slade (slipway) a victim of the gull's sharp eyes and sharper beak.

Any Porpoises today...no...any Storm Petrels today...no...any anything today...no

Better luck tomorrow? I doubt it as the weatherman says its still going to be a raging south westerly with rain...I'll give it a go all the same.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part IV

Nowt doin'.

Another hour spent watching a cruel sea. A strong south westerly again today. So the sea was too rough to have any chance of seeing our Porpoises.

Not even many birds today just a flock of 17 Black Tailed Godwits going south and two Curlews also going south. That's all! Still no Storm Petrels.

Better luck tomorrow?

National Whale and Dolphin Watch Part III

I don't bl**dy beleeeeve it! Yesterday there was a Storm Petrel at Fleetwood, only 5 miles up the road.

Great conditions today; flat sea so no ripples, grey sky so no shadows - no Porpoises either though. Which begs the question; if they aren't in my patch of sea where are they?

So what did the intrepid watchers see? A very distant Grey Seal, 2 Sandwich Terns, a Gannet, a Great Crested Grebe which dived and came up with a fish right in front of us, 10 Common Scoters going north, probably the same 10 as yesterday, and 4 Curlews - - not a lot in the hour's watch!

Better luck tomorrow? The weather is supposed to deteriorate....oh no....


Below is a photo of just about all you get to see of a Porpoise. I took this photo from a moving boat out of St David's in Pembrokeshire.


Bottle-nosed Dolphin taken by Phil Ashman 9th May 2006 at South Prom.