I drove down to Felixstowe Monday evening, had my booking processed and was taken to the ship to bed down for the survey the following morning.
I woke up to leaden skies, with patches of fog and rain reducing visibility at times. It took just over an hour to record my first bird of the day, a Lesser Black-backed Gull. Sightings picked up slowly as the vessel neared the coast with Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, and Herring Gull in evidence.
The Suecia Seaways entered the Nieuwe Maas Waterweg just before 09:00 and travelled down to Vlaardingen, on the outskirts of Rotterdam, an hour and a quarter away. There is a significant change in the avian residents at this time of year. Many birds including terns had left on migration, the number of Mute Swan had decreased noticeably, but winter residents were starting to appear. The ever present Gulls and Cormorants of all ages were still near and on the river. The flat light made identification of some species, particularly the wildfowl, difficult.
Four hours later, the ship proceeded back towards the North Sea. In the interim period the weather had closed in with continual rain reducing visibility considerably. Just 20 minutes into our return transect along the river, a bridge officer brought my attention to a Grey Seal feeding in the water, she commented on how far inland the seal had travelled. Two hours into the return transect the survey had to be suspended as the rain was too heavy to continue working.
It was a further two hours before the weather improved enough to resume surveying. By this time the weather front had passed us and the sun appeared directly ahead of the ship. A further hours surveying was undertaken and the sun set at 19:20, drawing the survey to a close.
My thanks go to Captain Jakub Plombon, his bridge officers and crew for looking after me so well and to the DFDS shore team for the support they give to MARINElife.
Carol Farmer-Wright, Research Surveyor for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Weather
Outward: wind WSW-SSW force 4-5, overcast with eventual mist and rain, visibility good to moderate
Return – wind WSW-SW 3-4, inc. W 5-7 then NW 6-7, initially overcast with increasingly heavy rain, followed by good visibility with glare
Species recorded
Marine mammals
- Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 1
Seabirds
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 292
- Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 1002
- Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 116
- Herring Gull Larus argentatus 432
- Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 31
- Gull sp.36
- Larus sp. 261
River Birds - Coot Fulica atra 122
- Gadwall Anas strepera 9
- Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus 2
- Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 2
- Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 4
- Mute Swan Cygnus olor 89
- Wigeon Anas penelope 7
- Duck sp. Duck 57
- Goose sp. Anatidae 30
Terrestrial birds
- Jackdaw Corvus monedula 1