Our journey began late on Monday night at the Heysham CLdN terminal, where after securing our tickets at the CLdN office we made our way aboard CLdN’s Pace.  We were warmly welcomed by the Steward who showed us to our comfortable cabins and arranged a time for breakfast.  Following an orientation briefing in the driver’s lounge and a well needed hot drink we settled down for the night, ready for an early start.

By the time we awoke, the ship was making good progress across the Irish Sea and after the traditional hearty breakfast and plenty of coffee we were set up for the day.  As the dawn light grew, we made our way to the bridge and set up to survey from the starboard wing.  The weather conditions were ideal with good levels of visibility and no precipitation and before long we had our first sightings.  These were predominantly of Kittiwake and Herring Gull but before long were interspersed with Razorbill and Guillemot, and early in the survey we saw a solitary Great Black-backed Gull, the only one to be seen during the trip.

As we made the approach to Dublin harbour the sightings stepped up a gear, with several Shag resting on the buoys and large rafts of predominantly Black-headed Gull on the water, interspersed with the now regular Mediterranean Gull.  One of these large rafts was directly in our path and as the ship approached the birds took off en-masse and flew as an escort with us into Dublin harbour.

During the turn-around at Dublin we made good use of our time on the outer deck making sightings of Dublin’s resident Grey Seal, a Grey Heron, some distant Red-throated Diver, and a good number of Dublin’s Light-bellied Brent Goose herd in an adjacent bay.  We also had the surreal sighting of a Cormorant trying to eat a tennis ball that was floating in the water!  As we left the CLdN berth, we were entertained by more Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, and Mediterranean Gull, and had superb view of a Great Northern Diver and a couple of winter plumaged Black Guillemot as we approached the double lighthouses to start the survey.

On the return leg of the survey, we were again blessed with a calm sea state and good levels of visibility – ideal for cetacean sightings, and it did not take long before a couple of Harbour Porpoise appeared.  Towards the mid-point of the return leg, we had our first sightings of Fulmar and also noted a number of Starling heading towards Ireland, presumably migrants from the north that will spend the winter in the murmurations around Dublin.

As these birds passed to the west, we had an unexpected highlight for the survey with two Manx Shearwater, a rare sight for this late in the year.  As the evening light began to fade, with the South Stack lighthouse on Holyhead Island winking away to the south, a small flock of Common Scoter flew by and as the night drew in we were treated to a final cetacean encounter with three Common Dolphin passing across the ship’s course and away to starboard.  A perfect end to an enjoyable survey.

Rob and I would like to thank Captain Suharevs and the crew at CLdN for their warm welcome and generous hospitality, on what was my first survey for MARINElife.

 Lee Hornsby and Rob Petley-Jones, Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)

 Weather Conditions

 Outbound: Sea state 2-3, Visibility 5, Clouds 3-4, Swell 0-1, Wind 2-19 knots, No Precipitation

Return: Sea state 1-2, Visibility 5-6, Clouds 3-6, Swell 0-1, Wind 3-18 knots, No Precipitation