Monday 31st August

The last day of August – why does August always feel like far longer than 31 days!? We had extremely windy weather over the Bank Holiday weekend, so we cancelled trips and headed back out today, and the scheduled five hour trip became a three hour instead. Wise decision, as there was still some really chunky swell pumping in this morning (see photo). There were still plenty of  dolphins to see out there and because of the rough sea out to the west, quite a few seals sheltered around the island. Not many seabirds around, however we did have excellent views of a Wilson’s petrel. As you can see from the photo, they have long trailing legs and yellow webbed feet which hang out behind them as they fly. They sometimes use these feet to pat on the surface of the water when foraging. One of Mother Nature’s great travellers, these tiny birds fly out all over the world’s oceans from their nesting sites on islands in the Southern Ocean. Astonishing and awesome birds.

On the afternoon Bay Discovery we found more seals – nine in total, including a very pregnant looking Kelp. Though pupping season is already underway in Cornwall, Kelp always seems to pup relatively late, so she could well be around for a few more weeks yet. Sailing offshore we had a brief encounter with a small pod of common dolphins who criss crossed in front of us before carrying on their way.