After a quick, smooth check in we were soon in the reception area of the Condor Liberation being welcomed by the friendly staff. The captain invited us up to the bridge straight away and a Grey Seal was observed close by in the harbour. We enjoyed the sail out passing Brownsea Island which had five Spoonbill asleep in the bay. Surveying began as we rounded Old Harry rock and the beautiful Dorset coastline.
After an hour of Gannet only sightings the first of 13 Cory’s Shearwater was seen giving us excellent close views of its leisurely flight. Soon after a Sooty Shearwater came flying by at high speed, a great start to our survey. Around this time and two hours out from Poole, three separate small groups of Common Dolphin were seen leaping clear of the water.
More Shearwaters! This time Manx and Balearic. The start of an incredible day counting rafts of Balearic Shearwaters mostly between Guernsey and Jersey with over 1,700 mainly loafing on the water. This is an important area for these birds during their moult period. After the cloudy conditions we suddenly came into bright sunshine around the Islands giving us some glare.
During the return leg from Jersey with the glare behind and a reduced sea state, we anticipated dolphin sightings, but we weren’t in luck. Large numbers of jelly fish were seen floating in the direction of Jersey. Soon after the impressive Gannetry of Ortac and as we headed towards the shipping lanes, we saw a large feeding group of Gannet and shearwater ahead. A lone Great Skua was seen to crash into an immature Gannet, the only skua of the survey. It looked almost certain that there would be cetaceans associating with the gannets and shearwaters, but none were seen. Leaving this fantastic display of sea birds it all went quiet until six Common Dolphin appeared and disappeared down the port side.
On approach to the Dorset coast, we went from full sun to thick fog within a couple of minutes. The ships foghorn sounding until we suddenly came out into sunshine just before our lovely evening sail into Poole.
Thanking the captain and his very friendly crew we then headed down from the bridge and were swiftly on our way to the staff car park and home.
Steve Boswell and Steve Smith, Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Weather: wind SW 3-4, sea state 2-4 with a low swell, visibility good apart from brief fog bank on return leg
Summary of sightings
Marine Mammals
Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis 19
Seabirds
Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus 1748
Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 116
Common Tern Sterna hirundo 34
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 1
Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris borealis 13
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 2
Gannet Morus bassanus 810
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 8
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 1
Guillemot Uria aalge 1
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 32
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 1
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 75
Mediterranean Gull Ichthyaetus melanocephalus 4
Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis 15
Shag Gulosus aristotelis 10
Sooty Shearwater Ardenna griseus 7
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