birdwatching

We have been plagued by fog this week. It can happen when we get a southerly airflow that sucks up a load of moisture from the Bay of Biscay, when the rest of the country is basking in sunshine and it’s incredibly annoying. But that’s part and parcel of living on a peninsular sticking out…

It was bleak and foggy this morning, but the trip was thoroughly brightened by some great wildlife sightings at the end of the trip. Fog often disorientates seabirds so they come closer to the coast and down onto the sea surface. We saw a couple of grey seals hauled out in a spot we have…

We had a final Ocean Discovery trip to finish the half term this morning. After a quiet start to the season, this week has seen beautiful weather and a lot of very welcome visitors – both humans and animals! We watched some seals at the island at the start of the trip, including our favourite…

What a fabulous bank holiday Ocean Discovery trip we had this morning. The sea was absolutely mirror calm and shortly after leaving the harbour, tall fins were spotted in the distance. Risso’s dolphins! We suspected they were around somewhere yesterday based on the evidence of the gulls, and later heard that one of the fishing…

We were so lucky with the weather today – it was forecast to be wet, and we didn’t get a single drop out at sea, though the hills inland looked really misty and rainy. The moral of this tale is – ignore BBC weather. There are far more accurate forecasts. The seabirds are amazing at…

There was a brisk northeasterly wind blowing over a sea which was full of southeasterly swell today which make for some rather confused sea conditions. We sailed from Penzance Harbour southwards then west all the way down to Gewnnap Head, where we again found absolutely stacks of seabirds feeding in the tidal race – guillemots,…

Today was an early hint of summer – even the wind felt warm (looks like all change for tomorrow though, as frequently happens in April). Another thing that can happen in April is a quiet day on the water! There was lots of seabird activity in one particular spot and this lasted all day –…

We had a three hour followed by a two hour trip today. It was still fairly windy and choppy which made searching conditions difficult. However this morning we had some great views of leaping bluefin tuna as well as gannets, kittiwakes and lots of grey seals. During the afternoon’s Bay Discovery there were even more…

We had another lovely day today. Bright sunshine and calm seas allowed us to search offshore. In the morning we found lots of different groups of harbour porpoises and had some lovely interactions in the calm conditions. We also saw a variety of seabirds including many arctic skuas, who were harassing kittiwakes for their catch….

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…