With no work on offer thanks to a staff meeting, and the weather looking warm and calm but not especially conducive to any notable movement over Soil Hill, I decided to take the plunge and drive over to Anglesey for the day in order to catch up with Risso’s Dolphin. After seeing a post on Twitter, I conducted some research and discovered that the species is supposed to be reliable on the Llynas Peninsula, located on the northeast side of the island, between September and October. Having never seen Risso’s, and being on a bit of a cetacean hot streak, I decided to make the journey and get these dolphins seen.
The information I
had gleaned indicated that they were easiest to see about an hour
before high tide, which was at 11:30 today. Despite the ideal timing of high
tide, I decided to set off early to avoid Manchester rush hour and to avoid
any potential slip-ups with the dolphins coming a bit earlier or later than expected.
Thanks to Marc Hughes, I had the information on where to sit and where to park.
All I had to do was get there and hope for dolphins.
I arrived at 08:30
after a three-hour drive from Bradshaw. There was already a birder present but
he had not seen much in the morning before I arrived (Sabines Gull and Leach's
Petrel were seen the previous day), and he left shortly after. But while we were
there, we spotted the first group of Risso’s Dolphin, and then had the first
breaching of the day. Job done, in the first 10 minutes.
Over the next four
hours, well before and after high tide, there were at least 20 Risso’s Dolphins in three pods scattered around
the viewpoint. Only on a few occasions could I scan and not see some fins
protruding from the waves. Only one small group came quite close, and these did
not breach at all, but another group just before I left spent some time
jumping in the mid-distance. But animals were breaching distantly throughout
the morning, and through the scope, the views were amazing. One animal was
nearly completely white, almost like a Beluga! Fantastic animals to see and
well worth the effort getting over there!
In addition to the
Risso’s extravaganza, there were a few Grey Seals and a solitary Harbour
Porpoise which did come reasonably close, possibly the best views I’ve ever had
of Porpoise. On the bird front, it was a bit quieter, although seeing common
seabirds is a novelty and Razorbill, Guillemot, Gannet, Shag and Kittiwake were
all yearticks. A single Great Northern Diver was probably the highlight in
terms of rarity, but I appreciated the nearly 100 Common Scoter and two Eider
that I saw as well.
All in all an excellent
days birding and cetacean watching! Would absolutely recommend!
Well worth the trip then. Nice shots too.
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