Tony and I arrived at Heysham Port from opposite directions at 23.00 on Friday night, where the check-in staff in the CLdN office was extremely helpful, and within minutes she was driving us across the port and on to the CLdN Power.  Following a welcome by the steward, we agreed to meet at 07.00 the following morning to go to the bridge.

Saturday saw light winds and good visibility.  Even though we were still well out at sea and recording occasional Fulmar, some of the birds were migrating landbirds with a Pied Wagtail followed by several Meadow Pipit.  We gradually added the expected seabird species of Kittiwake, Gannet, Guillemot, and Razorbill to the recording sheets.   We had been told returning Manx Shearwater were seen on the last survey and we had a handful.  An early Puffin was much appreciated.

Not far from the harbour wall Tony saw two Common Dolphin heading purposefully past us, and it was good to break our cetacean duck on the shorter outward survey window!   As we neared the harbour wall and the end of the first run of the survey, we were hoping for a Black Guillemot to add to the survey effort, but unfortunately these were all within the harbour walls.  However, a Great Crested Grebe heading south was relatively unusual for the survey.

After first run of survey effort had ceased, I headed out on deck to view the birds gathered off the South Wall at Poolbeg power station outfall.  As I could not pick out anything special among the feeding frenzy of gulls there I turned by attention to the flock of Common Teal and was astonished to see a drake American Green-winged Teal among them!  This species is a rare visitor to the British Isles from North America, and the drakes have a vertical white stripe on their flank, rather than a horizontal one as with our own Common Teal.  Checking online later I found out this particular bird had been around at the site for a month, which was good confirmation of my sighting from a moving ferry!

Elsewhere in the port, Tony found about 20 Brent Goose in the area around the berth, and we also noted Dunlin, Redshank, Turnstone, and of course several Black Guillemot in the port area.  When the time came for the Power to depart, we were keen to find the Green-winged Teal again for Tony, but unfortunately the number of Common Teal at the outfall had mushroomed and we could not pick it out!  Shortly after we left the harbour, a Sandwich Tern flew past the bow of the boat but bird-wise, although we saw a few more Manx Shearwater, there was little else to record.

However, ‘blubber-wise’ things were very different!  Initially there was a sighting of something that sank under the water, which neither of us saw enough of to identify!   Tony then picked out a couple of Harbour Porpoise, while I picked out a Grey Seal ‘bottling’ at long range, before it moved out of the way of the ship.  Then, with the approaching dusk and as we were considering drawing stumps for the day, we were treated to a marvellous sight of perhaps 30 Bottlenose Dolphin passing in small groups in front of the bow of the ship.  What a great way to end a wonderful day’s surveying!

We would like to record our thanks to Captain Karm and the crew of the Seatruck Power, who as ever they made us feel so very welcome and helping to make this survey a great pleasure.

Stephen Dunstan and Tony Marshall, Research Surveyors for MARINElife, Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)

Weather:

Outbound: Sea state 2-3; Visibility 3-6; Clouds 4-7; Swell 1m; Wind 10-14knots WSW

Return: Sea state 2-3; Visibility 3-6; Clouds 4-7; Swell 1m; Wind 6-20 knots variable