With good weather, both Carol and I were looking forward to the survey. However, with the sun being out, it did mean glare was ahead of us for the southbound crossing. This made some identification tricky, but otherwise conditions were good with a slight wind that predominantly came from the west. The first hour and a half’s bird action was mainly Gannets and gulls with two Common Scoters also recorded. It was generally slow in this period of the survey, but there were a couple of sightings of pods of Bottlenose Dolphins. In the first sighting shortly after 10am (UK time), a pod of six was seen and then an hour later, a pod of five was seen close to the bow of the ship, including a juvenile.
As it was nearing time for one of the surveyors to take a break, splashes of movement were spotted on the starboard side. It was three tuna leaping out of the water, the first time I have knowingly seen live tuna and fantastic to see them returning to the English Channel after hearing about records last year on the Newhaven to Dieppe crossing.
As Carol sat down to take a break, expecting activity to possibly quieten down, a group of thirty Gannets flew past the ship, with two Fulmars flying with them low over the water. Approximately ten minutes later, the first Great Skua of the survey was seen. As with many of these surveys, there are peaks and troughs of activity and after a long period of little bird activity, another Great Skua was seen. With it was a smallish bird, a petrel species, flying low over the water. It seems likely it was a European Storm Petrel, but it was too distant to be confident on identification to species and the bird was not exhibiting the typical ‘dancing on the water’ behaviour which is seen when they feed.
The next main interest was a spell of ten to fifteen minutes of activity including birds flying close to the ship right in front of the bridge including six Cormorants and a Great Skua. Between these sightings, our first auk of the survey was seen, a distant view of a bird in flight. Shortly after, birds were seen associating with a fishing vessel, including over 500 Gannets and approximately 200 gulls. This included birds circling and diving.
On nearing the French coast with glare diminishing slightly, a flock of 40 Common Scoter were seen in flight. Shortly after and with more Black-headed Gulls being seen as we approached harbour, we finished up the survey and the outward journey before taking some time to get some lunch in Dieppe.
After Carol and I enjoyed a Dieppe déjeuner, we were back on the ship ready for a couple of hours of survey before sunset. The first hour was similar to the first hour or so on the outward journey in terms of bird activity, with mainly gulls and Gannets recorded. During this time frame, another Great Skua was seen. It was promising to see a few of these birds on passage, particularly with the impacts from Avian Influenza and the species recent addition to the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List. The final hour of survey saw a steady stream of a mix of species with Manx Shearwaters, Great Skuas and a Sandwich Tern seen.
There were many highlights on this survey, but with less than half an hour till sunset, I noticed a bird flying relatively strongly with no bounce in its flight, indicating a skua species. Then in typical skua fashion, it sped up, taking a direct route to target a tern which was likely carrying food to steal from in a behaviour called kleptoparasitism. The birds were too distant to determine if the skua was successful in getting any food and to identify species with confidence. However, as the skua turned, a pale belly was revealed indicating a pale phase individual, so we could rule out Great Skua. Alongside the recording of data, it was also a joy seeing this interactive behaviour between two species.
A fantastic survey day was finished off with a Grey Seal and five more tuna not long before sunset. It was another very enjoyable day surveying with Carol. Thanks, are also given to the crew of the Seven Sisters who were very welcoming and friendly.
Ptolemy McKinnon and Carol Farmer-Wright, Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Weather
Outward – wind N to SW, force 0-4, dry, glare mainly ahead for most of outward journey
Return – wind N to WSW, force 2-4, dry, good to moderate visibility as light died
Summary of sightings
Marine mammals
Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus 11
Seabirds
Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 4
Commic Tern Sterna hirundo/Sterna paradisaea 1
Common Scoter Melanitta nigra 42
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 6
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 2
Gannet Morus bassanus 413
Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 16
Great Skua Stercorarius skua 7
Herring Gull Larus argentatus 11
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 1
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 8
Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis 1
Shearwater sp. 2
Petrel sp. 1
Skua sp. 4
Gull sp. 1
Larus sp. 608
Tern sp. 1
Auk sp. 21
Comments