Blog

Christmas Appeal Yes, I know it’s not Christmas yet, but I’m sure you will have begun buying presents, or will do very soon! Please consider signing up to EasyFundraising as it costs you nothing but a few minutes of your time and will generate much needed funds for our work. www.easyfundraising.org.uk Did you know that… View more

An estimated 5m (16ft) thresher shark surprised sightseers when it leapt out of the water in front of them. It happened while they were on a one hour trip to look for dolphins off New Quay, Ceredigion. Guide and photographer Joshua Pedley said it was a shock when the “huge animal jumped up out of… View more

We are currently half way through our annual National Whale & Dolphin Watch event and so far it’s a roaring (or should I say) ‘clicking’ successs! It’s not too late to join one of the many watches that have been organised around our extensive coastline, so what are you waiting for! Become a Citizen Scientist… View more

Visitors in New Quay We are very privileged to have a semi-resident population of bottlenose dolphins on our doorstep here in New Quay, so when we head out on the boat, we expect to spot them most of the time, along with grey seals and harbour porpoise. Last week we were lucky enough to spot not… View more

Calling all young citizen scientists! National Whale and Dolphin Watch is just one month away, from 29th July to 6th August. This is your chance to contribute to vital cetacean research and help dolphins by recording your sightings of whales, dolphins, and porpoises in UK waters.  BBC Springwatch and National Whale & Dolphin Watch https://www.facebook.com/seawatchfoundation/posts/pfbid02xB9ajnWyx59c2fLphzoprE5czvwByeNKWmqtJ1YL3HzkmhLfCkr124MEMtQcFwfTl… View more

Nurdles are micro plastic – tiny plastic pellets roughly the size of a lentil that although are tiny, are causing serious pollution to our oceans. For a long while, they have been used in the process of making all things plastic, such as bottle tops, and food containers. Unfortunately, during the manufacturing process of these… View more

Isn’t it great to have a good friend! Do you have a bestie, or perhaps a group of besties? Those of you who are Dolphin Defenders will know we talk often in our newsletter about female dolphins and their strong bonds between cousins, and other relatives and pals and we also talk a lot about… View more

Friend or foe? Can harbour seals tell the difference between different kinds of kilIer whales? I imagine life as a harbor seal might be a bit harrowing. A Bigg’s killer whale could be lurking around any corner, and a harbor seal is one of their favorite meals. But not all killer whales pose a threat…. View more

Since buying our little Dory boat in July, and spending time pottering around Looe Bay, south east Cornwall, I’ve managed to conduct eleven surveys with my boat pal, Adrian Perry. This is not bad going for three months. Our last trip out happened to be the day after the funeral of our Queen. It was the… View more

It’s our National Whale & Dolphin Watch week, and what a brilliant start ! Peter Foster (Pedyr’s Bake House) baked us 200 ginger dolphins and hearts specially to sell over NWDW. It’s a family business new in the area, with Peter being the baker at only 28 having trained as a pastry chef. It’s a thriving… View more

We love nothing more than spending time with our Finned Friends, and also our younger two-legged ones! Llanarth Primary School visited us very recently for their end of term celebrations and to get closer to the dolphins! Firstly, we started with a presentation to the group and told them all about Sea Watch Foundaion, why we exist, what… View more

Have you ever listened to the album that energised the Save the Whales movement? Biologist, Roger Payne, created the iconic album “Songs of the Humpback Whale” five decades ago and in a recent interview with WBUR explains how the record came to be. He describes the whale sounds as follows: “It’s a direct emotional exchange…. View more

We love to hear about what our interns are up to following their time with us!   One of our past interns, Leanne Rosser now works in Aomori, Northern Japan as a researcher for Mutsu Bay Dolphin Research. Well done Leanne! This is from Leanne’s blog: The Mikura Dolphins   Mikura Island is one of… View more

39 days to go until our annual Orca Watch event! Who will be joining us this year? 👀 Orca Watch is one of our two citizen science events (NWDW is the other one). Running over ten days, the aim of Orca Watch is to collect as much data as possible on the whales, dolphins and… View more

A new report from WWF and partners provides the first truly comprehensive look at whale migrations and the threats they face across all oceans, highlighting how the cumulative impacts from industrial fishing, ship strikes, pollution, habitat loss, and climate change are creating a hazardous and sometimes fatal obstacle course for the marine species.   Protecting… View more

If you have ever suffered from anxiety, depression, or any other mental health issue, then you will understand just how difficult it is to get up in the morning, get dressed and try to ‘carry on’. With mental health illnesses having risen worldwide over the past few years due to Covid and the associated lockdowns,… View more

A pair of orcas suspected of hunting great white sharks was recently spotted off the coast of South Africa’s Western Cape, with the animals previously linked to declining shark activity in the area. The sighting was announced on Monday (January 17) by the Seafari app, which allows users to document and share their marine life… View more

  APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2022 EDUCATION & OUTREACH ASSISTANT POSITION IS NOW OPEN! https://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/education-outreach-assistant-2/ For any questions, please contact the Sea Watch Team at seawatchfoundation@gmail.com

Are marine protected areas helping marine mammals and birds? Maybe, but more can be done. Over one-third of marine mammals are threatened with extinction – and in Europe over 30% of marine birds are declining. Some species, including the Balearic shearwater and Atlantic puffin, are already endangered. Read more marine protected areas and how to… View more

For the first time, Sea Watch Foundation has been working alongside businesses in south-east Cornwall. Cafes, ice-cream kiosks, shops and museums in Looe, Polperro and Talland Bay have been displaying our new donation boxes, leaflets and merchandise and we can not thank them enough. Thanks goes to: Smugglers Rest in Talland Bay Talland Bay Hotel… View more

We are very excited about our range of products at the moment, all totally exclusive to Adopt a Dolphin, and found NOWHERE ELSE! With a small but quality range of books, jewellery, T-shirts and baseball tops for all sizes, hand painted greetings cards printed from commissioned artwork, our soft toys, useful ID guides, and finally our… View more

The ocean is an important part of Earth’s carbon cycle as it helps with something known as carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. Carbon sequestration is the removal of carbon dioxide gas from the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon mitigation involves reducing emissions of carbon into the atmosphere. More recently, research has indicated that marine animals may… View more

Funding that we received from Polperro person, Chris Dauncey and Polperro’s own Choir Master, Phil Carrigan in May, has stretched far enough to enable us to have a second information board printed as part of our, South-West Cetacean Awareness Project. This second board was sited on the wall of Hannafore Kiosk,  Marine Drive, Hannafore, West Looe in… View more

Our handy sightings videos are produced for whale & dolphin enthusiasts like you every month, and are completely free of charge to watch. Arianne Kenworthy, our video producer from Whale Hello (www.whalehello.co.uk) works on making sure each and every sighting is included in the videos and enjoys adding the sound effects and animations to illustrate our… View more