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Dolphins At Shields Today
I went back down today, to see if I could connect with the big brother or sister of the little pollock I caught on Monday! 
A total fail, I had the pier to myself for about an hour, then a few lads turned up, who had had their boat fishing trip cancelled, followed by an older bloke I've seen on the pier a few times over the summer.
The wind was howling, actually blowing over my rod stand once and conditions were pretty crappy, but at least it wasn't raining and it certainly wasn't too cold.
To cap it off, there was a big fat seal lolling about, watching our carrying's on, presumably waiting for one of us to catch a decent fish, so it could pinch it!
Anyway, I was trying to sort out my tripod when the lad I'd seen before, says; "there's a porpoise" I looked over the wall and sure enough, there was!
But not just one or two, there must have been at least 30 of them, (probably a lot more) scattered across the sea in front of us, from just a few yards away to more than a mile off. They seemed to be hunting, as two or three would head in one direction and another few would head towards them, only to have the whole lot change direction and go back the way they'd come or dive all at the same time.
There were some really big animals, as well as youngsters with mothers or whatever and they put on a hell of a show for a good hour or so. Some were jumping completely clear of the water, just like a Seaworld type display.
I'm pretty sure they were dolphins though, rather than porpoise, as they had long noses and their dorsal fins were pretty big as well. I could be wrong but having checked to see what porpoises look like, I reckon these were dolphins
Dolphins Off South Shields Pier 23 Oct 2013 - YouTube
Another short clip-looking at the nose and fin-dolphin? pause at 0:03 and it's a big fin for a porpoise
Another Dolphin At Shields 23 October 2013 - YouTube
They weren't the only ones having "a bit of a play" around the mouth of the Tyne today. There was also H.M.S. Grimsby, a Sandown Class M.C.M.V ( Minesweeper) doing what looked like some learner driver training
H.M.S. Grimsby playing on the Tyne Bar 23 Oct. 2013 - YouTube
Then just to include the spuggies, a bloody great big herring gull made a forced landing just behind us! It landed with a sickening thud, as if it'd forgotten to drop its legs to land! there was wings and beaks and feathers all over the floor, then it got up, sorted itself out, then looked at us as if to say: "Aye?..What?... Ah meant to dee that man!"
So no fish,not even a bite that I could detect in the wind, but plenty of other stuff happening
cheers
Steve
A total fail, I had the pier to myself for about an hour, then a few lads turned up, who had had their boat fishing trip cancelled, followed by an older bloke I've seen on the pier a few times over the summer.
The wind was howling, actually blowing over my rod stand once and conditions were pretty crappy, but at least it wasn't raining and it certainly wasn't too cold.
To cap it off, there was a big fat seal lolling about, watching our carrying's on, presumably waiting for one of us to catch a decent fish, so it could pinch it!
Anyway, I was trying to sort out my tripod when the lad I'd seen before, says; "there's a porpoise" I looked over the wall and sure enough, there was!
But not just one or two, there must have been at least 30 of them, (probably a lot more) scattered across the sea in front of us, from just a few yards away to more than a mile off. They seemed to be hunting, as two or three would head in one direction and another few would head towards them, only to have the whole lot change direction and go back the way they'd come or dive all at the same time.
There were some really big animals, as well as youngsters with mothers or whatever and they put on a hell of a show for a good hour or so. Some were jumping completely clear of the water, just like a Seaworld type display.
I'm pretty sure they were dolphins though, rather than porpoise, as they had long noses and their dorsal fins were pretty big as well. I could be wrong but having checked to see what porpoises look like, I reckon these were dolphins
Dolphins Off South Shields Pier 23 Oct 2013 - YouTube
Another short clip-looking at the nose and fin-dolphin? pause at 0:03 and it's a big fin for a porpoise
Another Dolphin At Shields 23 October 2013 - YouTube
They weren't the only ones having "a bit of a play" around the mouth of the Tyne today. There was also H.M.S. Grimsby, a Sandown Class M.C.M.V ( Minesweeper) doing what looked like some learner driver training
H.M.S. Grimsby playing on the Tyne Bar 23 Oct. 2013 - YouTube
Then just to include the spuggies, a bloody great big herring gull made a forced landing just behind us! It landed with a sickening thud, as if it'd forgotten to drop its legs to land! there was wings and beaks and feathers all over the floor, then it got up, sorted itself out, then looked at us as if to say: "Aye?..What?... Ah meant to dee that man!"
So no fish,not even a bite that I could detect in the wind, but plenty of other stuff happening
cheers
Steve
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