birdwatching

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…

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…