"The last fortnight has been quite eventful in New Quay with sights of dolphins foraging and leaping among the sailing boats racing around the bay. The summer sunshine brings lots of visitors every year to New Quay and the chance to see large marine mammals up close.
'Dolphin Watch' off New Quay pier resulted in 24 Bottlenose dolphin, 1 Harbour porpoise and 5 Atlantic grey seal sightings.
A mother and calf have been seen regularly feeding near the reef buoy in the bay. There was also a surprise sighting of five Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) roughly 600 meters from the pier. The pod was fast travelling North West past the headland. Common dolphins prefer deeper waters and are often found offshore the West coast of Wales, but rarely inshore.
In 2005 there was a super- pod of common dolphins seen from the Pembrokeshire coast. The pod was estimated to be made up of more than 500 individuals and the event even made national news.
They are smaller in size to Bottlenose dolphins growing up to 2.4 meters, with 'hour glass' pale cream and grey markings on their flanks. A pod of Killer whales (Orcinus orca) were also seen off the Pembrokeshire coast during the last few weeks.
Back to New Quay and the boat surveys have been happening regularly on the stretch between New Quay headland and Ynys Lochtyn. Pods of Bottlenose dolphins have been seen at both feeding grounds, the Headland (New Quay) and Ynys Lochtyn; totalling 59 for the fortnight.
Also 61 Atlantic grey seals have been recorded 'bottling' in the water and hauled out along the rocky coast line. Four hour boat surveys have thrown up some great encounters offshore.
On Sunday the 20th June, there was a bird feeding frenzy offshore, with more than seven Gannets, tens of Auks, Seagulls and even a couple of Peregrine Falcons. Not far from the noise where four bottlenose dolphins feeding on a shoal of mackerel, chasing the fish at the surface and tossing them in the air before devouring them whole.
Aside from the bigger sea creatures, many smaller ones have been seen in large numbers of the last few days- Jelly fish! There have been numerous species of jelly fish recorded on our survey routes including Barrel Jellyfish (the UK's largest Cnidarian or jellyfish, growing up to 1 meter in diameter) and Moon jellyfish. Moon jelly (Aurelia aurita) grown up to 40 cm in diameter and are clear with vivid violet rings in the bells centre. They have a very mild sting and can been seen floating about near the surface or washed up on the beach.
To end the week a welcome visitor to the Welsh coast was seen from the Pier at midday, and Oceanic Sunfish (Mola mola). Sunfish are very unusual looking animals that are dorsoventrally flattened with elongated fins.
The largest Sunfish found was 4.2 meters (14 feet) long from dorsal fin tip to anal fin tip and 3 meters (10 feet) in horizontal length! "
Report by Charlotte Daly.
