Survey Route: CEFAS Peltic survey

Not long into the transect a group of Gannets were seen circling ahead of the ship. Beneath them there was splashing in the water and then a whale blow was sighted, most likely a Minke, and the splashing was being caused by a pod of 10 Risso’s Dolphin feeding

Also, a first for the Peltic survey, a Cetti’s Warbler

right from the moment we turned onto the transect there were three flocks of Gannet and gulls in different directions all feeding with tuna

After five days of flat seas our luck had to come to an end. When we arrived on the bridge there was a 1 metre swell and a sea state between 4 and 5 for the first transect, number 49. The word was we were going to go through this and the next transect with…

Ultimately there were over 100 Gannet diving in around the net along with a large number of dolphin around the net

However just before the break for the trawl a couple of dark fins slowly moved passed the ship. On closer inspection these turned out to be Risso’s Dolphin

Just before 09:00 a few Common Dolphin were seen coming into the starboard bow. Chains of them kept on coming until an estimated 150-200 had come into the ship, the largest pod to date

As the net came onboard there were in the region of 100 Gannet diving in around the net

The omens were good, on our steam from Falmouth to Torbay we had seen four Fin Whale and more Common Dolphin than you could shake a stick at

They were, however, diving close to the stern of the Endeavour as the net was hauled which allowed for fantastic views