seabirds

This morning’s trip was cancelled because of the bad weather but we set off on the Ocean Discovery this afternoon wearing lots of waterproof layers in case of more rain. What a good thing we did, as we had a fairly Biblical downpour. However rain does not affect wildlife sightings, and there were small groups…

We had a great day today with two Ocean Discovery trips, lots of wildlife spotted and some big happy smiles. This morning we found a big pod of harbour porpoises in an area we used to find them frequently. They were feeding with some gannets and Josh managed to snap some of the fish in…

We had two windy trips today, an Ocean Discovery and a Discovery Voyage. This morning we watched several seals hauled out on the island before heading up the coast then sailing offshore. There were a few seabirds soaring past us including kittiwakes, fulmars and gannets, but it was largely quiet until by chance a large…

It was a long day today  – today and tomorrow we are taking out the whole of the Year 2 group from a local primary school. This meant 3 back to back trips with them today followed by a “normal” Bay Discovery at the end of the day, and the other class are coming out…

July already. It didn’t particularly feel like it out there though – people  had their woolly hats on! On the Ocean Discovery this morning we found a pod of  three porpoises in the bay. They surfaced several times, giving everyone good views. We also saw a non breeding puffin, and a family of guillemots; mum,…

Today felt cold! We had a four hour then a three hour trip, and the four hour this morning was surprisingly quiet. We saw a variety of seabirds including gannets, shearwaters, lots of terns and kittiwakes. There were a few seals bottleing round the island, and we saw the splash of a breaching sunfish. This…

It was a quiet sleepy sort of day today for our two Ocean Discovery trips. This morning we covered a lot of miles offshore and some shearwaters, guillemots, gannets and fulmars, all searching just like we were. A seal popped up in front of the boat who had been hunting several miles offshore. We then…

It was a long day today with a four hour trip followed by a three hour. This morning it was quiet for over two hours, with a few rafts of shearwaters and some gannets spotted, before we found a large pod of common dolphins a long way offshore. We also saw an ocean sunfish and…

Today’s conditions could not have been more different to yesterday. With an increasing south westerly wind chopping up the sea, and grey skies threatening rain (but holding off) we just did the morning Ocean Discovery. We saw some grey seals including old faithful Kelp hauled out on the island as well as a variety of…

It was a quieter day today though we covered a wide area of sea searching. This morning on the Bay Discovery we saw grey seals hauled out who were striking a variety of poses – a male, a female and a juvenile for a bit of balance. We then sailed across the bay on the…