Olive-Ridley turtle

Last day of my survey work today, so lots of 'computer work' to tidy up and finish- spreadsheets, day report, weekly report, monthly report, final report…….after sorting that lot out I then had time to do what I'm supposed to do and actually survey marine fauna!

Anyway, we had a nice close pass from an Olive-Ridley turtle today. Also a mini-surge in bird migration with pomarine, arctic and long-tailed skuas past the vessel- also a few more Sabines gulls and my first Arctic terns of the voyage. In very calm conditions I also saw a few rafts of grey phalaropes sitting on the sea, a number of black terns and a couple of Leach's petrels.

I should get off the vessel tomorrow and commence my 3 day journey home- looking forward to getting back to the UK for some spring migration and much anticipated visits to the Outer Hebrides and Cornwall! Hopefully catch-up with some cracking migrants at PG and the Lizard!!

Olive-Ridley turtle

close-up showing the scute layout

Black tern

Sabine's gull

Shear delight

After a few days of fog and light, variable winds, the forecast of a reasonable blow with a significant westerly element raised my pulse rate and guaranteed that I was on watch early the following morning. I was not disappointed, as two great shearwaters flew 100 metres or so off the port bow as I gathered my waterproofs, hat, notebook and binoculars from the bridge! From then on and over the last three days I have enjoyed three figure counts of great shearwaters, intermingled with scores of Cory's! Some birders would say that when you have seen one large shear you have seen them all, but I disagree, find them totally captivating and have no problem watching them shear and glide over the swell and waves for hours on end. Surprisingly, and contrary to the large numbers of sooty shearwaters reported from Irish sea-watching sites, I have only seen one in the last 3 days- maybe they hug the Irish coast more as they drift SE? I also had the bonus of seeing flocks of Sabines' gulls- a group of 3 and a group of five. Unfortunately being on a 92 metre vessel, with a GRT of over 9000 tonnes means that many birds are rather ship-shy, occasionally however, a large shear made a relatively close pass, allowing me to try for a couple of shots. Good numbers of Arctic and 'comic' terns have also been seen flying south and an additional grey phalarope and a turnstone have been the only other obvious passage birds. I suppose we should see some significant skua passage before too long, but with the exception of a solo, spoon-laden pom and a few locally foraging bonxies they have yet to make an appearance. Happy days!

great shearwater- close pass at last!

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Cory's - unusually close in!

brilliant birds!

The Porcupine Seabight

The Porcupine Seabight is an interesting oceanographic feature located a hundred or so nautical miles  WSW off the southern coast of Ireland. It is a large depression where the water rapidly deepens and leads out to the abyssal depths of the North Atlantic. The strong ocean currents form nice areas of nutrient-rich upwelling so there is often an abundance of marine life- plankton, shoals of pelagic fish including albacore and yellow-fin tuna, cetaceans and seabirds- at least that is what it said in the tourist brochure! In all honesty there have been good numbers of fin whales- sometimes 5 or 6 in a day, the fishing fleets of Ireland and Spain are actively fishing for tuna, but seabirds have been rather scarce. Admittedly I see gannets and fulmars every day but numbers are low. A few lesser black-backed gulls have followed the survey vessel on occasion and I have had good days where I have seen four species of shearwater- Great, Corys, Sooty and Manx- but again numbers have been disappointing. I have also see a few bonxies, 2 Sabines gulls- both magnificent adults in summer plumage a few storm petrels and 1 wilson's petrel- I can't complain but I hope that numbers increase over the coming weeks! Unfortunately I have struggled with poor light and distant birds so taking photographs has been challenging, although this morning a great shearwater came within 40 metres of the bow, allowing me to rattle off a few snaps. Hopefully the sunshine and a nice Fea's or Bulwer's petrel are not too far away! 

great shearwater

great shearwater

nice flock of manx shearwaters

manx shearwaters- incredible how the light affects the plumage tones!

a lesson learned

Having made a big sweeping statement on a recent post as to how the cory's tend to avoid close passes with my vessel, the inevitable happened today with several birds coming in to 50 metres or so- the first of several occasions during the day when mother nature put me firmly back in my place!

arctic skua

I had a great day today and recorded 11 species of seabird- Cory's shearwater, gannet, LBB gull, YL gull, arctic skua, great skua, common tern, sandwich tern, black tern, sabine's gull, kittiwake. There are now thousands of sandwich terns in the survey area and I presume many of these are now resident as opposed to passage birds. They are particularly impressive in the late afternoon when they gather in large flocks to feed on the shoals of sardines. This provides ample ambush opportunities for the growing number of arctic skuas too. The black terns were definitely passage birds and the first I have seen moving north this 'spring'.

 

Having spent several hours on the seabird melee I was just thinking that I don't see many seabirds in this part of the ocean that really challenge my IDing abilities anymore, unless they are very distant (or juvenile gulls!). I was continuing to self-assess and starting to feel quite good about myself when a small grey-white-black seabird went fast across the bow and sheared hard and fast down wind- mother natures slap back number 2! I could not decide if it was a probable phalarope or maybe a white-faced stormy!

 

Having consoled myself that not being able to ID one seabird was not too bad, a few minutes later I got my come-uppance again when I noticed a tern that was obviously bigger and heavier than a sandwich flying purposefully north. Having got on it with the trusted opticrons it showed a massive orange-red bill but flying away I couldn't get anything else on it in the late afternoon light so had to leave that one un ID'd too- slap back No. 3! I think I may have missed an opportunity to ID a lifer in the shape of my first ever Royal tern?- or was it a wayward caspian? With the current weather systems I would not like to guesse! Anyway, serves me right for getting cocky and forgetting that after 40 years of birding I still learn something new every time I look at our feathered friends!

 

common tern

 



arctic skua

 

cory's shearwater

 

 

sandwich tern

 

super sabs.

3 days of awful weather including 6-7 metre swell and a nasty Beaufort force 7/8 has made conditions onboard pretty difficult for all concerned. Although I do not suffer from sea sickness I do get tired from the constant vessel motion- especially as it has been so rough that there has been a danger of being thrown out of my bunk on occasion! Anyway, a brilliant bonus of the NW gale was the arrival of a flock of 7 Sabine's gulls- a great surprise and a species I was not expecting this far south and east. The birds looked really comfortable in the high winds and seas- they are so obviously an oceanic species when viewed under such conditions. As can be seen below I really struggled to take photos. in the bright sunshine, 28 knot winds and from the heavily rolling vessel. I'm not too bothered though, as it was such a treat to see these delightful gulls. All tiredness was forgotten for the few minutes that they spent around the ship. 

with sandwich tern