The bustle of Heysham port was running at the usual pace, with the tugmaster tractors busily taking freight trailers to the ship as we were escorted through the port to the Progress. Once on board, we were escorted to the bridge where we set up our survey position ready to commence our survey.
This was a slightly more subdued trip than the Heysham to Dublin trip the previous month, which had been like an episode of a wildlife documentary! There was a good mix of the usual avian suspects going about their business with Manx Shearwater being dominant, together with numbers of Guillemot and Gannet. Other species of birds were more sporadic, with Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Storm Petrel, and Herring Gull in the single numbers. Cetaceans were more elusive than in August with only one sighting of four Common Dolphin and a single Grey Seal on the outbound passage.
Manx Shearwater Archive photo: Rob Petley-Jones
The highlights for this surveyor were not only the good company of my Senior Surveyor and the welcome we received from both CLdN crews of the vessels, but also the spectacular approach to Warrenpoint! What a magnificent view as the coastline appeared through the low cloud or our approach, but with Carlingford Lough looking even better the following morning after a good rest ay the Whistledown Hotel and early morning start.
Prior to setting off from Warrenpoint, another highlight was the sheer amount of Hooded Crow doing their thing and milling about the shores of the lough. I had been chasing a local sighting of this bird the previous year but was not successful, so watching these and a lone Black Guillemot from the Precision while we waited to go up onto the bridge was a great way to pass the time.
Black Guillemot Archive photo: Rob Petley-Jones
The return trip to Heysham was steady but quiet, with bird sightings only here and there on this supersized transect of ocean life! Cetaceans were again elusive and none were recorded, despite our efforts to spot them.
Although this was not as an intense action-packed trip, filled to the brim of dancing dolphins and baffling birds as we experienced on the August survey to Dublin, the trip was still rewarding in the company kept and the wildlife seen and shared.
As ever, out thanks to CLdN for allowing us to survey with them, and particularly to the captains and crews whose welcome was superb and their hosting immaculate. Each time on ship is a shared learning experience, where curiosities about how crew and surveyors work are respectfully shared, and knowledge enthusiastically given.
Robin Langdon and James Nock, Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Species recorded
Marine mammals
- Common Dolphin (Short-beaked) Delphinus delphis 4
- Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 1
Seabirds
- Auk sp. Alcidae 18
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 2
- Common Gull Larus canus 4
- Common Scoter Melanitta nigra 36
- Common Tern Sterna hirundo 2
- Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 18
- Gannet Morus bassanus 140
- Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 1
- Guillemot Uria aalge 204
- Gull sp. Laridae 11
- Herring Gull Larus argentatus 4
- Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 64
- Larus sp. 1
- Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 17
- Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 1701
- Razorbill Alca torda 15
- Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis 2
- Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus 2