Stepping aboard the Princess Seaways we were warmly welcomed by the crew and guided to our cabins where we finished essential preparations, ordering all the paperwork, checking camera batteries, and a final clean of binocular lenses, whilst waiting to get underway. As soon as the ship had cleared Tynemouth the wonderfully helpful Ilse, the ship’s Purser, arranged to have us escorted to the bridge where the hugely accommodating Captain Danial Vang kindly allowed us to conduct our survey.
Running south-east along the famous bird watching sites of the Yorkshire coast in good light and fair conditions we were hopeful of some good sightings and were soon rewarded with a mixture of Gannet, Guillemot, Fulmar, and gulls, as well a couple of skeins of Pink-footed Goose skimming low over the waves. However, the particular highlight was a Cory’s Shearwater, a first for one of the team!
Within an hour we started to spot marine mammals and in quick succession encountered small pods of both Common Dolphin and Bottlenose Dolphin, followed by a series of Grey Seal as we voyaged out into the North Sea. Dusk put an end to our survey and, feeling hungry, we availed ourselves of the excellent food in the onboard Bistro before heading to bed.
The morning brought a fresh breeze and dark grey skies as we began our second survey leg from the steps outside the Sky Bar at the highest rear part of the ship. Whilst the conditions may not be as comfortable as on the bridge it was nice to take photos that weren’t hampered by a double layer of glass, and being on the deck also provided a nice opportunity to chat to other guests about MARINElife’s work as we sailed into Ijmuiden accompanied by a slowly building number of gulls and terns.
The middle of the day was spent in Amsterdam, where the birding highlights were a pair of Grey Heron, and a Carrion Crow carrying a rat, before a return to sea for a third survey period that was oddly empty of sightings. Having been unexpectedly afforded the opportunity to conduct our outward survey from the bridge again we set ourselves up to survey through the quickly changing weather and then waited. Two Great Black-backed Gull and two bits of plastic waste were all that was to be seen in over two hours scanning the skies and the sea, so we contented ourselves by remembering that an absence of sightings is still useful data and focused on the pleasure of seeing both a double rainbow whilst at sea and a phenomenal sunset as well.
Heading back towards Newcastle on the last morning we had our fingers crossed for more things to report and were rewarded with a similar mix of species as seen when leaving the English coast. The greatest excitement was caused by a Manx Shearwater that shot by, and then the only Kittiwake of the survey, just because it would be a shame to steam towards the Tyne and its famous inland colony without spotting one!
We would like to sincerely thank Captain Danial Vang, the purser Ilse, and all the crew of the DFDS Princess Seaways for their hospitality, readiness to share knowledge, and positive attitude towards the work that MARINElife do.
Don Ainsworth and James Silson, Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Weather
Period 1 – clear skies, excellent visibility, variable southerly winds, force 3-5, sea state 2-3
Period 2 – cloudy, good visibility, south westerly winds, force 5, sea state 3-4
Period 3 – overcast then brightening, good visibility less one low cloud bank, south westerly winds, force 5, sea state 2-3
Period 4 – overcast, excellent visibility, north-easterly wind force 6, sea state 4
Species recorded
Marine mammals
- Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis 6
- Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus 2
- Unidentified dolphin species 4
- Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus 4
Seabirds
- Gannet Morus bassanus 73
- Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 12
- Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 11
- Herring Gull Larus argentatus 1
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 2
- Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 1
- Unidentified gull species 10
- Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 14
- Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris diomeda 1
- Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 1
- Unidentified shearwater species 1
- Auk species 10
- Guillemot Uria aalge 12
- Common Tern Sterna hirundo 3
- ‘Commic’ Tern 4
- Unidentified tern species 7
- Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 1
Inland birds
- Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus 94