It was sunny and dry in the morning as I drove down to Dover. The summer holidays being over, the journey to the port was straightforward. I boarded the ship and was immediately taken to the bridge to set up for my survey. The cruise ship Viking Vela was at the cruise terminal waiting to take passengers on-board.
I looked over to the east and could see the French Coast through a light haze, we left on time and headed to Calais, unusually, there were no gull or Cormorant on the breakwater. The sun was shining and glare was directly ahead of the vessel for just under an hour.
Birds were scarce with only five being seen on the eastward transect, two Gannet, two Great-Black-backed Gull and a single Herring Gull. During the passage I spotted a single Common Seal, swimming slowly a few hundred meters ahead of the ship and one of the bridge officers alerted me to another seal close by just before arriving at Calais harbour.
Whilst moored in Calais, off survey, I was able to casually sight 50 or more seals hauled out on the exposed Flanders banks to the North-East of the harbour. Inside the breakwater several Black-headed Gull were seen, now in winter plumage. Hauled out in the inner harbour beach were ten or more Common Seal and seventy birds, mainly Cormorant and Oystercatcher sheltering with them. Sadly these could not be counted in our survey.
Just over an hour later we headed out of Calais towards Dover. While we were in port the clouds had built up and the wind had strengthened. No marine mammals were seen however twelve birds were recorded on the westward transect. These included four migrating Sandwich Tern now transitioning into their winter plumage, a Black-headed Gull also in winter plumage, an immature Herring Gull, and two unidentified gulls. Frustratingly, a Shearwater was seen but was just too far away to be positively identified. The survey closed with the sighting of three immature Gannets a five year old, a three year old and a first year bird. I collected my belongings and headed down to the passenger area to disembark.
On reflection, despite having so few sightings, the survey was able to ascertain that the breeding season was well and truly over and birds from Europe are moving back to their winter haunts.
I wish to thank both the DFDS Captains, their Officers and crew of the Cote d’Opale for their great hospitality to
Carol Farmer-Wright, Research Surveyor for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Weather
Outbound: wind SW 4-6, visibility good with glare
Return: wind SW 6-8, visibility good
Species recorded
Marine mammals
- Common Seal Phoca vitulina 1
- Unidentified Seal sp. 1
Seabirds
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus 1
- Gannet Morus bassanus 5
- Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 2
- Herring Gull Larus argentatus 2
- Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis 4
- Gull sp.1
- Larus sp.1
- Shearwater sp.1