Liverpool-Belfast

Duncan Fyfe Surveyors for MARINElife

Weather: 0-2

Cetacea / Sea Mammals
Harbour Porpoise Phocena phocena 15
Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis 5
Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 4
Common Seal Phoca vitulina 1
Unidentified Seal Sp 1 

Seabirds
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 6
Common Scoter Melanitta nigra 2
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 48
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 12
Common Gull Larus canus 97
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 13
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 27
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 2
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 3
Guillemot Uria aalge 45
Razorbill Alca torda 6
Unidentified auk sp 81
Unidentified gull sp 123

Leaving home early on the Saturday morning was a frantic but pleasant journey over the snow covered Pennines. Stena Line were very hospitable and made me feel welcome straight away, after meeting the captain, I settled down to commence the survey.

The crossing couldn't have been better. Sea State barely rose above a force 2 and was mirror calm for much of the crossing. Visibility was reasonably good despite the cloud cover and this boded well for ideal spotting conditions. It wasn't long before I spotted the first seal of the trip - a Common Seal just in the outer estuary.

 The outer reaches of the estuary and into the outer reaches of Morecambe Bay was a good spot for Cormorants and Common Gulls a plenty. Then as we came within sight of the south Cumbrian Coast 2 Common Scoter were seen heading south and also a Grey Seal swam out of the way of the ship at a leisurely pace. Conditions remained calm so I was hopefully of a few more sightings. I wasn't to be disappointed. Indeed the snow capped Cumbrian mountains and later Snae Fell provided the backdrop for the Harbour Porpoise sightings. The almost mirror calm conditions were ideal for spotting our smallest cetacean as they are often so easy to miss in sea conditions over force 2 or 3. 15 animals from 8 sightings in total including 1 juvenile.

An adult grey seal caused momentary excitement within view of Port St. Mary on the Isle of Man. In the calm conditions its large head bobbing out of the water looked for while like a large dorsal fin and when its back broke the surface I was hoping for Risso's Dolphin that are sometimes seen here. However, it did turn out to be a large grey seal - still very nice to see.

The ship then took a course to the west of the Isle of Man and it was mid afternoon whilst views of the Calf of Man were rapidly disappearing behind the ship that I had the first of 2 dolphin sightings. Frustratingly I only got glimpses of 4 dorsal fins before they disappeared from view.  Less than 20 minutes later another 2 dorsal fins appeared heading towards the bow of the ship before disappearing from view.  The general 'jizz' of both sightings suggested possible Common Dolphin. These proved to be the last of the survey effort sightings.

Bird wise on this trip there was nothing rare or unusual to report but nevertheless it was still a pleasure to watch and record a myriad of guillemots in various states of plumage plus the occasional fulmar.

I ended the survey at 16:45 within sight of Belfast and typically 5 minutes later 2 harbour porpoise appeared in front of the bow. The number of times this has happened! The rest of the evening was spent on board watching the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls in port hoping for something more unusual but it got tricky gull spotting in the dark so I resigned myself to watching an episode of Casualty before bed and the return journey!

Once again our thanks go to the staff and crew of the Stena Mersey who made this an enjoyable crossing.

Duncan Fyfe Research Surveyor for MARINElife

Maggie Gamble and Sue Lakeman Surveyors for MARINElife

Weather: NW 3-7

Seabirds
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 3
Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus 1
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus  1
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 25
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 27
Common Gull Larus canus 27
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 93
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 1
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 15
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 15
Guillemot Uria aalge 7
Razorbill Alca torda  2
Unidentified auk sp 17
Unidentified small gull sp 501
Unidentified large gull sp 55

After a somewhat challenging drive (heavy hailstorms during the last hour made conditions rather tricky for Sue who was driving) we arrived at the ferry terminal to find it full of students all heading home for the Christmas vacation. Once on board and had been allocated our cabins, we had time for lunch, which after a very early start was most welcome.

Conditions in the Irish Sea were quite breezy and although we had a comfortable crossing, a sea state of over three does make cetacean spotting much trickier. So that on this trip we failed to spot any marine mammals. Never mind, I remind myself, it's all good data and less than perfect environmental conditions are allowed for during analysis.

There is potential on this route depending on conditions for sailing north or south of the Isle of Man. The Captain asked if we had a preference but we decided that at this early stage in surveying this route we didn't have enough data to form a preference.

Over the two partial days of the survey, good numbers of seabirds were seen, mainly various species of gull including juvenile's many of which zoomed along with the benefit of a good tail wind!  Certainly it was a good opportunity to admire their marvellous flying ability and even the auks, which always seem to me to have an air of controlled panic in their flying style despite being an oceanic species spending their entire winter at sea.

This was a challenging survey in terms of the weather and the limited available daylight.  However it's good to be able to keep continuity of effort over the winter months and see what marine life utilises the area. Our thanks go to the captain and crew of the Stena Lagan for their hospitality once more.
Maggie Gamble and Sue Lakeman, Research Surveyors for MARINElife

Stephen Dunstan and Janet Shepherd Surveyors for MARINElife

Weather: Westbound: SW 6

Cetaceans & Sea Mammals
Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 2

Seabirds
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 20
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus  1
Gannet Morus bassanus 4
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 20
Brent Goose Branta bernicla 7
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 10
Common Gull Larus canus 18
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 7
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 3
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 11
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 15
Guillemot Uria aalge 4
Razorbill Alca torda  42
Unidentified auk sp 1

Terrestrial Birds
Dunlin  Caidris alpina 25

Given the stormy conditions forecast in the Irish Sea we were initially unsure if the second survey on this route would proceed and knew that conditions could impact the conduct of the survey. We were welcomed onto the ship by the friendly captain and in the River Mersey, we were relatively protected from the south westerly winds, allowing us to start recording gulls feeding over the water.

As we entered open water it appeared too rough to pick up sea mammals, so it was a bonus that we quickly spotted a Grey Seal close to the ship.  Cormorants were perched on some of the buoys and a flock of Dunlin flew past the bow.  Small numbers of seabirds were picked up, initially Kittiwakes and Razorbills. 

The course taken maximised the shelter from the Welsh coast until reaching Anglesey before we turned north for Belfast. As we headed north towards the gap between the Isle of Man and Ireland there was a much better spell for recording birds.  Most unusual for the time of year was a Manx Shearwater, this passed very close to the ship providing good views - these birds are normally much further south at this time of year.

A number of Fulmars were also recorded and Janet picked up seven ducks or geese heading south east.  These turned out to be Brent Geese, presumably migrating to Ireland.

We ran out of light several hours before reaching Belfast, but we did have a brief window of light on the return journey before the boat entered the Mersey Estuary. As well as good views of the 'Another Place' art installation on Crosby shore this produced another Grey Seal hauled out on a sandbank.

This was probably as challenging as the conditions on this route will get, in terms of the weather and the limited available daylight after the late start.  Nevertheless some interesting sightings were had and this bodes well for future trips.

Our thanks go to the captain and crew of the Stena Lagan for their friendliness and co-operation on this survey.

  Stephen Dunstan and Janet Shepherd, Research Surveyors for MARINElife

Maggie Gamble and Rick Morris Research Surveyors for MARINElife

Weather: Westbound: SE 3-5

Cetaceans
Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 1 (seen by Bridge Crew)

Seabirds
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 58
European Storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus 2
Gannet Morus bassanus 39
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 30
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 3
Parasitic (Arctic) Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 1
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 206
Common Gull Larus canus 23
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 28
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 1
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 30
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 54
Guillemot Uria aalge 80
Razorbill Alca torda 3
Unidentified Auk Species 15
Unidentified Large Gull Species 25
Unidentified Small Gull Species 500+
Unidentified Skua species 2

Terrestrial Birds
Carrion Crow Corvus corone 6

Rick who lives a little farther south on the M5 collected me from Clevedon and we had an early morning drive to arrive in Birkenhead around 8.30am. Check-in formalities were soon completed and we joined the other foot passengers on the ferry bus, for the start of a new MARINElife survey.

Once on board, we were welcomed onto the bridge to familiarise ourselves with the layout and the Captain explained the route we would be taking on the charts and highlighted the areas where they had had sightings in the past. We then had time to view the historic waterfront of Liverpool, including the famous "Royal Liverbird Building", before returning to the bridge just before departure to begin surveying. 

As we left the river mouth we were immediately in the middle of birds, Black-Headed Gulls, Great Black-Backed Gulls and many Cormorants all busily fishing. This was obviously a good feeding area and we looked hopefully for Harbour Porpoise but their tiny size and shy undemonstrative behaviour make them difficult to spot unless the sea is mirror calm.  Indeed on this survey we failed to spot any cetaceans but we had a report of one which appeared on the "wrong" side of the bridge for us!

However the trip was punctuated with views of seabirds to keep us busy, including: Great Skua; Arctic Skua; Fulmars, Guillemots; Kittiwakes and Common Gull. Common Gulls are not at all common in the area I live, so was pleased to see them.

This route across the Irish Sea looks like being a very productive route and will add valuable scientific data to the understanding of the UK coastline. A number of the crew had anecdotes of past sightings which bode well for future surveys.

Our thanks go to the Stena staff and crew of the Stena Mersey who made us very welcome and were enthusiastic about the MARINElife survey.

Maggie Gamble and Rick Morris, Research Surveyors for MARINElife