Rosyth-Zeebrugge

Karen Dick, Janet Shepherd, Marinelife Research Surveyors
Weather: Southbound E 3-4. Northbound S-SW 0-3. Good visibility.

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 3
Short-beaked Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis 8
White-Beaked Dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris 12
Unidentified Dolphin Species 7

Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 9
Harbour/Common Seal Phoca vitulina 17

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 109
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 18
Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus 1
Gannet Morus bassanus 4823
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 19
Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis 32
Arctic "Parasitic" Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 2
Common Gull Larus canus 18
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 242
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 111
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 15
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 483
Common Tern Sterna hirundo 100
Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea 136
'Commic' Tern Sterna hirundo/paradisaea 19
Puffin Fratercula arctica 846
Guillemot Uria aalge 1075
Razorbill Alca torda 219
Eider Duck Somateria mollissima 2
Shelduck Tadorna tadorna 2
Gadwall Anas strepera 1
Unidentified Auk Species 2

Carrion Crow Corvus corone 3
Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto 2
Swift Apus apus 1
Racing Pigeon 5

Outward (Southbound)

Leaving Rosyth with north easterly winds and a force 4 sea state, the ships course kept as within sight of land. We settled into the survey with expectations for lots of seabirds during the busy breeding season and were not disappointed with Bass Rock, the Farne Islands and the areas further south living up to expectations with many Gannets, Auks and Gulls. It was exciting to see the numerous Gannets carrying nesting materials and the Auks with beaks full of sandeels. We also played host to a group of racing pigeons which rode a good proportion of the way south.

It was midday before we encountered our first mammal, a Common Seal which was lying on a buoy, shortly followed by a Grey Seal. By mid-afternoon, we had the first cetacean sighting of the trip, Common Dolphins slowly approaching the vessel and a further sighting of the same species occurred late evening.


Return (Northbound)

The winds slackened as the trip progressed with almost mirror calm conditions by the time we reached the Farne Islands. We morning started with an early distant dolphin sighting which went unidentified before a close view of a Harbour Porpoise. As the day progressed, we encountered more cetaceans with the highlight being bow-riding White-Beaked Dolphin which stayed there for around 3 minutes. We also encountered numerous Common Seals and at lunch time a mother and juvenile Harbour Porpoise. Again, good numbers of seabird sightings especially Gannets, Guillemots and Kittiwakes. 


In total we counted 8275 birds, of which the most unusual was a Gadwall out at sea and 24 sea mammal sightings totalling 56 animals.

Karen Dick and Janet Shepherd, Research Surveyors for MARINElife

Allan Carpenter, Chris Cutts, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 1
Unidentified Seal Species 1

Common Scoter Melanitta nigra 18
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 10
Gannet Morus bassanus 233
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 6
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 1
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 152
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 19
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 37
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 60
'Commic' Tern Sterna hirundo/paradisaea 1
Puffin Fratercula arctica 9
Guillemot Uria aalge 57
Razorbill Alca torda 3
Unidentified Gull Species 435

Robin Erithacus rubecula 1
Unidentified Wagtail Species 1

Allan Carpenter, Peter Swan, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 1

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 45
Gannet Morus bassanus 120
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 1
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 4
Common Gull Larus canus 12
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 26
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 21
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 19
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 58
Guillemot Uria aalge 640
Little Auk Alle alle 69
Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata 1
Black-throated Diver Gavia arctica 2
Diver sp. 1
Gull sp. 100
Petrel sp. 2

Allan Carpenter, John Nadin, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Short-beaked Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis 1
Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 5
Unidentified Dolphin species 1
Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 3

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 15
Gannet Morus bassanus 41
European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis 4
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 1
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 13
Common Gull Larus canus 73
Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus 2
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 50
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 3
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 48
Little Gull Larus minutus 2
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 216
Guillemot Uria aalge 178
Razorbill Alca torda 22
Eider Somateria mollissima 17
Little Auk Alle alle 32
Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata 27
Black-throated Diver Gavia arctica 3
Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus 2
Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator 2
Unidentified Auk species 5

Allan Carpenter, Alistair Eberst, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 1
Gannet Morus bassanus 73
European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis 2
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 2
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 1
Common Gull Larus canus 9
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 19
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 92
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 80
Puffin Fratercula arctica 4
Guillemot Uria aalge 119
Razorbill Alca torda 1
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola 1
Little Auk Alle alle 1
Gull sp. 73

Karen Dick, Linda Robertson, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 5
Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 1
Common Seal Phoca vitulina 1

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 14
Gannet Morus bassanus 829
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 10
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 3
Pomarine Skua Stercorarius pomarinus 1
Parasitic (Arctic) Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 2
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 51
Common Gull Larus canus 134
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 20
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 99
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 11
Little Gull Larus minutus 1
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 295
Puffin Fratercula arctica 37
Guillemot Uria aalge 178
Razorbill Alca torda 13
Auk sp. 3

Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata 5
Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus 215
European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria 2
Feral Pigeon Columba livia 82
Robin Erithacus rubecula 1
Common Blackbird Turdus merula 6
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 4
Common Linnet Carduelis cannabina 1
Pipit sp. 1
Passerine sp. 1

Allan Carpenter, Gordon Lang, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 1

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 9
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 1
Gannet Morus bassanus 490
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 5
Parasitic (Arctic) Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 1
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 2
Common Gull Larus canus 1
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 15
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 42
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 6
Little Gull Larus minutus 2
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 139
Little Tern Sterna albifrons 1
Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis 2
'Commic' Tern Sterna hirundo/paradisaea 10
Guillemot Uria aalge 63
Eider Somateria mollissima 12
Baltic Gull Larus fuscus fuscus 1
Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus 16
Gull sp. 9

Chris Cutts, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 25
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 2
Gannet Morus bassanus 3,669+
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 8
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 3
Parasitic (Arctic) Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 1
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 130+
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 71
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 20
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 55
Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis 15
'Commic' Tern Sterna hirundo/paradisaea 7
Puffin Fratercula arctica 45
Guillemot Uria aalge 263+
Razorbill Alca torda 19
Gull sp. 188+
Skua sp. 1

Allan Carpenter, Chris Cutts, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 3
Dolphin sp. 1

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 18
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 8
Gannet Morus bassanus 23312
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 8
Parasitic (Arctic) Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 1
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 1
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 166
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 67
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 6
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 89
Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis 13
Common Tern Sterna hirundo 2
Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea 7
'Commic' Tern Sterna hirundo/paradisaea 94
Puffin Fratercula arctica 66
Guillemot Uria aalge 332
Razorbill Alca torda 32
Eider Somateria mollissima 2
Common Scoter Melanitta nigra 30
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 8
Gull sp. 1446

Duncan Fyfe, Allan Carpenter, Marinelife Research Surveyors

Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena 61
Dolphin sp. 1
Cetacean sp. 1
Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 8
Common Seal Phoca vitulina 1

Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 27
Gannet Morus bassanus 20,920
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 1
European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis 3
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 2
Parasitic (Arctic) Skua Stercorarius parasiticus 2
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 2
Common Gull Larus canus 9
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 502
Yellow-legged Gull Larus cachinnans 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 379
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 23
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 89
'Commic' Tern Sterna hirundo/paradisaea 1
Puffin Fratercula arctica 263
Guillemot Uria aalge 1,274
Razorbill Alca torda 75
Eider Somateria mollissima 19
Auk sp. 1,393
Gull sp. 779

Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata 16
Black-throated Diver Gavia arctica 3
Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus 8
Brent Goose Branta bernicla 2
Red Knot Calidris canutus 2
Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis 7
Stonechat Saxicola torquata 1
Carrion Crow Corvus corone 1
White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla 1
Diver sp. 21
Passerine sp. 37