Last week was National Whale and Dolphin Watch so I have been too busy to write a blog about what happened the week before! It was a very eventful week, full of strange animal incidents. There was a dead seal washed up on the beach that we went to take a look at. A cormorant that needed rescuing (read blog below). We also got to go and see a field necropsy of a juvenile bottlenose dolphin which was a few weeks old so it was quite stinky!

At around 4:00pm Monday afternoon, the Sea Watch volunteers in the New Quay office received a frantic call from volunteer Jess down on land watch at the pier. She had spotted a bird struggling in the water with something stuck on its bill! Not sure whether or not it would survive much longer, she called up for someone to come rescue the poor creature. Volunteers Danielle and Jenna headed down to the pier to take a look and try to plot a recovery plan.

After looking around for some kind of net to catch the bird in (it had swum out to far for them to grab from land), a local boater was asked to assist with the rescue by taking Danielle out in his boat so she could catch the bird. The bird was wary of the boat and dived every time it approached - so this plan was quickly abandoned. Plan B was soon decided upon and an attempt to herd the bird into the rocks by two kayakers(father and son) while Danielle stood ready with the net.

After a few tries it was plan C was created, this time to herd the bird towards Dolau beach. Danielle and Jenna bravely waded into the water with the net stretched between them waiting for the kayakers to bring the bird in.

After several misses with nets and buckets, the father of the kayaking duo was able to grab the bird and attempted to pry the shell off, but unfortunately the bird got free. After a few more catches and losses the young boy, Panos, caught him by the tail. A very kind onlooker offered his keys as a lever to get what turned out to be a massive clam shell off the cormorant's beak.

After being examined by a bird of prey handler, it was determined that there was nothing wrong with it, and it was released back into the ocean. All in all, the rescue lasted one and a half hours. We were all glad that it had a happy ending, and hopefully the cormorant will have learnt its lesson too!

A big thanks to all those that helped out in the rescue.

The Adventurous Sea Watch Team
www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk