I drove down to Dover with dawn breaking ahead of me. I joined Stephen at our prearranged meeting point, drove to the port, obtained our day passes and queued to board the Dunkerque Seaways’ midday sailing. On boarding, we were escorted to the bridge, welcomed by the bridge officers and prepared to survey. The weather was partially cloudy, but the sun was shining ahead of us, resulting in some of the birds being cast in silhouette. The moderate sea with a meter swell also meant that sightings of marine mammals might be challenging.

On leaving the port, we began recording Kittiwake, Gannet, Guillemot and Great Black-backed Gull. A winter plumage Red-throated Diver flew past the bridge, one of two we saw during the day, a bird we see occasionally in the Dover Straits during winter months.

An hour into our transect we recorded feeding activity as a number of Gannet started diving into the water ahead of us. Closer inspection showed that they were with Guillemot, Kittiwake and Great Black-backed Gull the latter were on the water trying to feed on the shoal that was there. Despite keeping a close watch on the area, sadly, no cetaceans were spotted.

A second area of feeding activity was seen as we neared the French Coast, the same bird species as previously, but again also with an absence of cetaceans.

We arrived at Dunkirk and within 90 minutes were heading back to Dover. With sunset arriving at 16:30 we were unable to complete the full transect on the return sailing. During the hour of daylight remaining, we were able to record over 130 birds, predominately Gannet and Herring Gull, before twilight ended our survey.

Despite the lack of marine mammal sightings, we were able to get a good impression of the bird species that inhabit this area of the coastline in winter months.

We would like to thank Captain Ben May, his officers and crew for making us so welcome during our survey. We would also like to thank the shore staff for their help in enabling us to survey on this very busy route.

Carol Farmer-Wright and Stephen Hedley, Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)

Weather

Outbound: wind SE force 6, partially cloudy, good visibility with glare at times

Return: wind SE force 4-5, brighter, good visibility with glare at times