The humpback came back.
Hundreds of people took advantage of the break in the weather on Monday (January 22) to try to get a glimpse of an incredibly rare visitor to Fishguard Bay.
The humpback whale, thought to be a young adult male, was first spotted on Friday morning.
Humpy, as he has been nicknamed by locals, seems to be following a circuit between the inner breakwater, Old Fort and the outer breakwater.
Although, on Friday and Saturday he came right into the harbour and then followed the inner breakwater out to sea again, much to the delight of locals nearby.
Sea Trust believes that Humpy is following the herring that have been coming into the bay. Possibly because krill, a humpback’s usual fayre, have been extensively fished in the Arctic recently.
Humpy remained around Fishguard over the weekend and Storm Isha and was spotted frequently on Monday between Pen Anglas, the Old Fort and the inner and outer breakwaters.
According to Sea Trust Humpy is undersized for an adult humpback but seems to be in good health. The scarring on his body seems to be consistent with an animal that has been around for a while.
That scarring has enabled experts to confirm that Humpy has travelled to Pembrokeshire from the Isle of Man where he was spotted on January 13.
Yesterday he put on a spectacular show in the bay, captured by local photographer, and Sea Trust volunteer, Ken Barnett.
Ken was stationed on the outer breakwater looking toward the rocks at the far side of the bay. Sea Trust thanked Stena and Carl Milne for allowing volunteers and staff access to the outer breakwater.
“I had missed all the activity over the weekend as I was away in Wiltshire, as you can imagine gutted I was missing it all,” said Ken.
Ken waited on the outer breakwater from 8.45 yesterday morning, it was worth the wait as he got a sighting of the whale as it came into the inner bay from Pen Anglas.
“It was such a humbling and exciting experience to see and photograph an animal that many will never see in the wild and that many would pay and go whale watching in far away places to see. Amazing,” said Ken.
“It would appear to me, given its activity, breaches and feeding that it is quite a healthy animal and shows no sign of distress at all. It was observed feeding well today with many fish, possibly herring, jumping out of its way.
Many people were also having a great show from the Old Fort as well as the inner breakwater this afternoon.
There have been sightings of the whale today off off the inner breakwater and Old Fort at 1pm. Check the Pembrokeshire Porpoise, Whale and Dolphin Sightings Facebook group for updates.
More of Ken’s and Sea Trust’s images and information about the amazing wildlife off our coast can be found on www.Whaleswales.blogspot.com.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here