Tuesday 7th October

Autumn days like this feel like a gift from the gods, especially in the aftermath of wind and swell like we had at the weekend. On this morning’s Bay Discovery trip, we had an awesome encounter with a massive fin whale – this was feeding with what looked like over a thousand gannets, plus countless common dolphins as well as huge bluefin tuna. It was a pretty amazing experience. The whale surfaced repeatedly, lunging on its side and opening its massive jaws to scoop up huge mouthfuls of fish. The dolphins were actually bowriding it like it was a vessel, and picking up the fish that got away. Tuna busts at the surface saw explosions of white water in every direction, and the constant cackling racket of the gannets as they dived was the aural accompaniment. At the start of the trip we also counted 12 seals on the island, hauled out on the extra low tide. All in two hours!

On the afternoon Ocean Discovery, the feeding frenzy had died down and the whale had moved on, however we encountered even more dolphins. Group after group appeared, either resting and quietly socialising among themselves, or coming over to inspect us. The bulk of the Manx shearwaters appear to have left our shores, but a little way out they seem to have been replaced with great shearwaters, an altogether more unusual species (for here. We also saw an aerial dogfight between a great skua and a herring gull, and had beautiful views of a Portuguese man of war.