September 8th 2008

Mini Cruise Bay of Biscay Day One
The storms that had brought high winds and heavy rain to the south coast started to die down over night as we passed the French coast of Ushant. It was still breezy with occasional showers and ideal for picking up seabirds that had been pushed nearer the coast or disorientated by the weather. Plenty of the more common seabirds went by in good numbers while the highlights included Storm Petrel 24, Great Skua 8, Artic Skua, Manx Shearwater 15 and Sooty Shearwater. As we entered the northern part of the bay activity continued and over the next six hours managed Gannet 120+, Lesser Black-backed Gull 34, Greater Black-backed Gull 5, Kittiwake 12, Fulmar 42, Common Tern 12, Little Tern 1, Black Tern 4, Storm Petrel 6, Razorbill 10 and Great Skua 5 with a good passage of shearwaters that I was hoping for which included Sooty 5, Manx 17, Cory 48, Greater 2 and Balearic Shearwater 4. Once we neared the continental shelf then whale/dolphin activity started with the blow of a distant Fin Whale and over the next two hours managed to see 26 Fin Whale and blows of a further 11 animals though none were close, Long-finned Pilot Whale 4, Common Dolphin 60 and a distant school of dolphins on the horizon that could not be identified to a species. Other sightings for the day included Sunfish 2, Ringed Plover circling the ship, 5 Whimbrel heading east, Turnstone 2, a few Swallows picked up low over the sea heading south and on board there was a Whinchat and White Wagtail which had arrived in the afternoon and more excitingly a moth was found on deck eight which I managed to identify later as a Gem – a known migrant so must have come on board overnight.

Richard