Wow! Cetaceans galore.(Whales and Dolphins)

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Breaching Orca whale

Breaching Orca - image source : http://www.natuurinformatie.nl/ndb.wnf/natuurdatabase.nl

We’ve just had a visit from one of our local leading naturalist friends who came to report her sighting of a male Orca (killer whale) breaching off the South Coast this morning at about 9.30am. As one of Penwith’s most committed and experienced marine watchers she immediatly knew what she had seen.

Despite the glare from the morning sun; the size, shape, colouration and almost vertical dorsal fin made the whale quite distinct, despite it only being a fleeting view. Frustratingly, although she scanned for quite some time afterwards she didn’t see any signs of it above the surface after the breach. If anyone else out, there saw an Orca this morning – we’d love to hear about it.

Orca (Orcinus orca)

Interesting fact. An Orca, commonly known as a Killer Whale or Orca Whale is in fact a is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas.

We’ve had a ‘Whale’ of a time here in Cornwall over Easter.

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Exciting news!

Image source: see 'northatlantic...' link below.

A friend in the area has reported seeing a whale on Easter Sunday, cruising just off the cornish south coast

The animal, spotted first by a group of young lads fishing, who then alerted other onlookers, was cruising

Image source: http:// www.rightwhale.ca

fairly close to shore, about 50 feet from the cliffs , close enough to see what looked like callosites covering its head and that it didn’t apear to have a dorsal fin. When the animal sounded (dived)  those watching could see quite distinctly its forked tail, like the flights of an arrow. All these descriptions strongly suggest it may have been  a North Atlantic Right Whale, a very rare creature indeed! The rarest large whale in the world and unfortunately still critically endangered.

Our friend has been in touch with the SeaWatch Foundation who have asked him to liaise with the boys’ school to help them positively identify their sighting. Well done boys!! …and as we always say you just never know what will turn up in the waters around Cornwall. So get out there and keep your eyes peeled!

http://www.rightwhale.ca/

http://northatlanticrightwhale.tumblr.com

Hello world!

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What a beautiful day…again!

Wishing you all a Happy Easter weekend!

In our drive for sustainability, needs must,  we’ve decided not to run sea trips this Easter. Who could have predicted the weather, eh? Land and Education are our better ‘crop rotation’ options at this time of year 2012, so we are out there, but veiwing the sea from our coastal perspective, watching with interest from the cliffs. Hope you are too.

On that note, our old friend and crew mate, Tim Bain, spotted the first Basking Shark in Cornwall this year on the 19th March, off Porthmeor Beach, St Ives.

Unlike their unusually low numbers last year, let’s hope things will be back to nornal this year. Basking shark city here we come.. we say…waiting with anticipation!!

Sea Trips start this year in May so keep in touch to book your Atlanic Adventure R.I.B. trip this spring and summer

On the Land side of things, all this warm spring weather is bringing out the wildlife. Yesterday, on an Overland, we found slow worms, spotted a beautiful female adder and lizards basking in hedges, and watched choughs circling aerobatically around Botallack. Fantastic.

For  an Easter treat, why not grab some creative Cornish heritage, and take in what Miracle Theatre are offering at Botallack this holiday. See

http://www.miracletheatre.co.uk/current-show