SeaWatch 2025
Now you see it, Now you don’t! by Lorna Swan
Wildlife watching can be a fickle experience: you wait patiently for hours and never see the anticipated species of choice, yet other delights do catch the eye, and this has been the case with HNS SeaWatch 2025 – we saw gannets, oystercatchers, herons, red kites… but no cetaceans.
The HNS SeaWatch group that was set up last year has for various reasons been unable to reconvene this year, but still several of us settled into our perches atop various cliffs, monoculars in hand to scour the seascape for sightings. And despite weeks of calm waters and endless horizons, nothing of note breached the surface. However, this information – nothing to report – is as useful to SeaWatch as a sighting of a pod of dolphins heading north-easterly up the Bristol Channel; because it allows them to create a map of what is seen and not seen, where and when. Not seeing any porpoises at Hartland Quay might be because they’re having a feeding frenzy at Spekes Mill Mouth.
At long last, we had one exciting sighting this summer, on 29th September at Eldern Point near Shipload Bay. We’d walked up there to see the fascinating work The National Trust are doing to recreate wetland and meadow habitats – a recommended walk for anyone who has not yet seen what is taking place there. The moment we reached the bench at Eldern Point, we saw a grey seal bobbing around very near to the shore. Result! Then, off in the distance towards Hartland Point we saw a fin breach the surface followed by a shiny black body, and next to it another fin came into view. By the way these creatures swam – not leaping out of the water like a dolphin, but just breaching the surface enough to show their lighter-coloured bellies, we deduced that they were harbour porpoises heading south-westerly.
As we made notes of our sightings, three more fins variously popped out of the water heading north-easterly past Eldern Point towards Beckland Bay, and in their wake, gannets – at least a dozen – diving and wheeling, their black wingtips making them unmistakable. It felt like a blessing to see these creatures.
When we got home, we filled in a form to register our sightings. It’s really easy to do and quite interesting too, as you’re asked various questions such as the sea state, the wind direction, whether there are shipping vessels in the vicinity, whether there’s a glare on the water – and they give plenty of guidance about how to deduce this information. And then you email or post your findings to The SeaWatch Foundation. It’s great to participate in a bit of citizen science and what’s better than sitting on a cliff scanning the sea and hoping it will reveal its mysteries?
To request blank forms, or to send in completed forms, email: formsswf@gmail.com
HNS Cetacean Group
HNS has close links with the Hartland Marine Mammal-watch Group which is co-ordinated by Laura Carolan who is the Communications Officer for North Devon Coastal Landscape. The Marine Mammal-watch Group collects data on an ad hoc basis which is then fed into the national SeaWatch database, which is working to monitor the health and biodiversity of the UK’s marine ecosystems.
Many HNS members are already part of the Marine Mammal-watch Group, but if you’d like to join, you’d be very welcome. All you need to do is grab a pair of binoculars (and lunch, perhaps), and find a good viewpoint on the coast anywhere between Clovelly and Welcombe. It is almost impossible to view marine mammals in rough seas, so calm weather and a gentle swell is preferable. The objective is to scan the waters for 30 minutes up to an hour if possible, and record any marine mammal sightings. Even if you don’t see anything, this is still important data and worth recording. The best time for marine mammal watching is between late spring and late autumn, though sightings can be made at any time of the year, so keep your eyes peeled when you’re on a coastal walk. After a session of marine mammal watching, we then fill in a form (see example below) and forward them to Laura for collation.
Lorna Swan has offered to keep HNS updated with any interesting sightings or news from SeaWatch, so that over time, we will have a clearer picture of the health of the ocean surrounding our beloved Hartland peninsular. If you would like to join the HMMG, please email louswan64@gmail.com so that she can ask Laura to add you to the WhatsApp group, which is how we communicate our sightings, share data, forms and dates for group gatherings.