Thursday 20th June

It was a truly lovely day in Mount’s Bay today, with the sea as calm as it has been this year and a host of wonderful wildlife to find. On this morning’s Ocean Discovery we found a couple of seals resting on the island then were delighted to spot a harbour porpoise, just as we stopped to fish a big helium balloon out of the water. It has been a long while since we have seen porpoises and we got particularly fine views of this one. Soon after that we found the first of many common dolphins, who were evenly distributed around the bay in small groups, feeding, socialising and resting. Further out we also had an encounter with an ocean sunfish who swam alongside the boat, seemed to stop and have a think before turning round and swimming back. Double views! More dolphins on the way in. Seabirds including loads of Manx shearwaters, and the first Meditarranean gulls of the year, and also an adult puffin.

This afternoon the sea breeze came up a little so we were able to do a bit of sailing with the dolphins! They were in bigger groups this afternoon, with one pod numbering about forty. There was some small calves among them and also a melanistic individual. Tomorrow morning the forecast summary says rain, however all the models are showing that this won’t appear until the afternoon and we have several spaces remaining on the 9am Ocean Discovery trip.