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Sightings Blog

Tuesday 26th March

We had an ocean discovery in the spring sunshine this morning and were joined by eleven passengers. The sea was a bit chopped up in the south westerly wind but at least it was blue! There were lots of seals on the haul out site, both in the water and on the rocks including some…

Sunday 24th March

We had an Ocean Discovery trip this morning which was fully booked – always a bonus this early in the season! We decided to head east to see if we could pick up this humpback whale which has been hanging round Porthleven in the late afternoons. However we were too early in the day. We…

Thursday 21st March

We had a Bay Discovery trip this morning and found a good variety of wildlife. There were still several seals hauled out on the island despite the rising tide, including the male “Seaweed” who we have seen for the last few years. He was even on Countryfile! There were lots of seabirds feeding in the…

Wednesday 20th March

It was our first trip of the year today! The threatened mist and drizzle stayed away and by the end of the trip there was bright sunshine and blue sea. We found lots of grey seal hauled out on the island first of all, including several juveniles and adults we didn’t recognise. There were good…

The seals of St Clement’s Island

If you have been on our trips and follow this page, you’ll know that we spend a lot of time collecting records and photos of the seals we find hauled out. Photos are then prepared and submitted to the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust, and volunteers spend a long time finding matches with seals seen…

Important Marine Mammal Areas

  Recently, I posted about Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMA), but I took it down temporarily because a significant press release needed to precede it to avoid dilution of the information through social media posts. I’m creating this second post to provide more information. IMMAs are officially defined as discrete portions of habitat crucial for…

Sightings summary for 2023

I have been looking back over 2023 and made some images to represent our sightings of different species. We recorded cetaceans on 81% of our trips last year, which is an amazing sightings rate. 10252 dolphins, porpoises and whales! We also saw grey seals on most trips, bluefin tuna and ocean sunfish. Each image has…

Saturday 25th November

A chilly grey day today, and conditions weren’t nearly as still and glassy as we were promised! However we had a lovely end of season trip with some fun friendly people on board – thanks for coming guys! Even though it was high tide we saw some seals hauled out on rocks on the island…

Wednesday 22nd November

An unexpected trip at the end of the season, a whole four weeks after our last one during half term! A weather and swell window over the next few days allowed us to  head out with seven passengers to see what we have been missing over the last month. As ever  when you have been…

Wednesday 25th October

After today half term is going to get  pretty windy, so we were pleased to have two trips today. This morning’s Ocean Discovery passengers saw large groups of harbour porpoises feeding with gannets – they were even leaping and breaching like dolphins as they charged around after fish. We also had lovely views of seals…

Tuesday 24th October

It was very choppy today after the windy weather yesterday and overnight, so trips were just two hours long. This morning spotting conditions were very tricky – we saw bluefin tuna, seals in the water and some brief porpoises. We also had great views of a Portuguese Man of War. Seabird sightings included razorbills, guillemots,…

Sunday 22nd October

We had two great trips today, a Bay Discovery in the morning and a last minute Ocean Discovery in the afternoon. During the morning the inner part of the bay was alive with hunting porpoises and gannets tracking them, firing into the water like arrows. There were also bluefin tuna down there in the action,…