Graham Ekins, MARINElife Research Surveyor
Weather: East and West bound: Force 3 NNW with scattered clouds and
good visibility.
Seals and
Cetaceans
Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 1
Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus
1
Common Seal Phoca vitulina 2
Seabirds
Gannet Morus bassanus 270
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 532
Common Scoter Melanitta nigra 24
Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata
13
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 13
Pomarine Skua Stecorarius pomarinus
1
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 70
Common Gull Larus canus 118
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 1686
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 1
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus
439
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 318
Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus 16
Guillemot Uria aalge 38
Razorbill Alca torda 9
Terrestrial Birds
Great Crested Grebe Podiceps
cristatus 19
After an excellent drive
down to Dover the bright skies suggested that I would have good
visibility for the survey. Once I boarded the "DFDS
Dover Seaways" I was taken to the restaurant for an early lunch
where I met 4 surveyors from the French OCEAMM Cetacean Group led
by Thibaut Bouveroux. It was very interesting listening to
details of their sightings on this and previous surveys. I
enjoyed their company on the eastbound survey route.
Captain Steven Burton welcomed me on to the bridge and introduced me to his bridge staff. As we crossed the channel the numbers of seabirds was impressive with many Gannet and Kittiwake as well as several Red-throated Diver logged. As we approached the French coast we had brief views of a Grey Seal and shortly afterwards a Harbour Porpoise. We then came across a trawler with large numbers of Gannet and gulls in attendance. As we travelled north along the French coast towards Dunkirk we found a large flock of Gannet diving on a fish shoal accompanied by many gulls, 10 Great Skua and a juvenile Pomarine Skua which was an unexpectedly high number of skuas for mid-winter. We also saw several Guillemot, a few Razorbill and 3 Little Gull.
As we approached Dunkirk harbour we noticed many Cormorant roosting on one of the gantries while several Great-crested Grebe were fishing in one of the sheltered bays.
While the "Dover Seaways" was unloaded I said goodbye to my French colleagues. I then started to collate to records for the first part of the survey.
Within a
short while the "Dover Seaways" was leaving the port, as we left I
noticed 2 Common Seal fishing near the harbour
entrance. The numbers of birds on the western
section of the survey was very impressive with increasing numbers
of Kittiwake, Common, Great Black-backed and Herring Gull of the
northern race argentatus. I also had a flock of 24 Common Scoter
fly south past the ship plus several more Red-throated Diver, Great
Skua and Guillemot. As we approached the port of Dover I
encountered a steady stream of large gulls heading NW. This passage
continued until dusk when we were still 30 minutes east of the
port.
As I left the bridge I thanked Captain Steven Burton and his officers for their hospitality during this very busy and interesting survey.
I would like to thank DFDS for providing continued support for this survey.
Graham Ekins, MARINElife Research Surveyor.