birdwatching

We had an Ocean Discovery followed by two Bay Discovery trips. Dolphins were again spotted on all three trips. Having got some close up fin shots today, some of these individuals were exhibiting some noticeable scars and nicks, especially on the dorsal fins. As more dolphins move into our inshore waters, they are more at…

There were common dolphins everywhere today. It was a beautiful day with a lovely sailing breeze. We found them on their own, with feeding gannets, and with feeding shearwaters. We also spotted that tell tale stop start of tons of gannets piling into the water when they are following and feeding with porpoises – we…

What a day we had today on the last day of June. We found a dismembered cuttlefish on leaving the harbour on this morning’s Bay Discovery so were immediately on the alert for Risso’s dolphins. But it was common dolphins we found first – a medium sized group of adults and juveniles who  were keeping…

We saw several grey seals hauled out on the rocks during the morning Ocean Discovery trip, including males, females and juveniles. Sailing westwards, we picked up a few shearwaters, gannets and guillemots but on the whole it was quieter offshore so we decided to go a different direction on the afternoon tour. The brisk north…

After the easterly wind of yesterday, it was rather quieter out there for fins today. We saw some amazing seabird feeding on both morning and afternoon trips though, with gannets, Manx shearwaters, kittiwakes and other gulls, and guillemots all feasting on small baitfish. It was surprising not to see any dolphins or porpoises with all…

The forecast was really mixed and uncertain for today. It did end up raining a bit, but not tall the time, but the camera mostly remained safely stowed. Sea conditions were pretty floppy after the wind overnight though, which made spotting conditions tricky. We saw another large ocean sunfish and a feeding grey seal, but…

Another beautiful day, with sunshine and light easterly wind. A small group of common dolphins approached us as we headed offshore, and there were two very small calves with them. The little ones jumped excitedly  but unpredictably so very hard to capture on camera! It was described by one of the ladies on board as”Magical”!…

A quieter trip today with no marine mammals spotted – at least no alive ones. We did find another dead seal and also what we figured used to be a bottlenose dolphin which had been dead a long time and been pushed down the Channel by the easterlies. The teeth looked massive. We saw a…

It was bright and mild today but breezy with a bit of a swell. On our Ocean Discovery trip this morning we saw two groups of grey seals hauled out on the island as the tide got lower – as it was a really big spring tide it got very low indeed. These were a…

We had two Ocean Discovery trips today and they were both crackers. It was still a little choppy and splashy but the easterly wind dropped down through the day and there was some warm hazy sunshine. We found some big groups of common dolphins this morning, some of whom were eager to bowride with us….