After a gap of a couple of years on the Poole to Channel Isles route, it was good to be offered a MARINElife survey on the DFDS route from Poole to Jersey. I met my fellow surveyor Elisabeth in the ferry terminal, and it wasn’t long before we were called to board.

We were pleased to be invited onto the bridge before we sailed. This is always a wonderful start to the survey, as the Levante Jet provides great views over the Brownsea lagoon, the Studland Peninsula and Old Harry Rocks, as the ferry departs from Poole Harbour. We looked for the Brownsea Spoonbills on the lagoon, but it was low tide and they were still out feeding somewhere else in Poole Harbour. We left the Purbeck coast in sunshine with 15 knot westerly winds, but it quickly clouded over.

We commenced surveying once we left the Purbeck coastline. The first birds recorded were singles of Gannet, Razorbill and an unexpected Mallard flying east about ten miles off the Purbeck coastline. I had hoped for more auks and other seabirds from the Purbeck coastline colonies, but they must have been feeding elsewhere on the day.

After we crossed the mid-Channel point, we started to encounter more seabirds which breed on the Channel Isles. This included two Puffin, and a scattering of Razorbill, Guillemot, Common Tern, Kittiwake, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Shag and Cormorant. We also saw our only Manx Shearwater of the survey. The most commonly encountered species was Gannet, with 20 seen. Presumably, they were from the Ortac Rock colony, which we could see in the distance to the West of Alderney. In the water, we had distant views of two breaching Bluefin Tuna about 15 miles northeast of Alderney.

The wind dropped close to Jersey and there was a patch of coastal mist which hampered our final few miles of the survey. Fortunately, the coastal mist had cleared by the time we departed from Jersey, and we had good visibility for our return journey.

We returned to the bridge just after we left Jersey to start our survey for the return trip. We were greeted by one of the crew saying, you have just missed a couple of dolphins. Sadly, we couldn’t relocate them, and we didn’t record any cetaceans on the survey.

There was a similar set of species seen on the return route in the seas around the Channel Isles, with small numbers of Razorbill, Guillemot, Kittiwake, Black-headed Gull and Herring Gull. There were four Shag feeding close to Jersey and Alderney. A further nine Gannet were recorded.

The avian highlight of the survey was our only Balearic Shearwater about three miles northeast of Alderney. I had been hoping to see more Balearic Shearwater, given this is a stronghold for the species at this time of year and Portland Bill were recording 40-60 at the time of the survey. Perhaps the Balearic Shearwater were finding more food in Lyme Bay.

Approaching the Purbeck coastline, we saw our final few Razorbill, Common Tern, Great Black-backed Gull and Gannet. We stopped the survey as we passed Old Harry Rocks. After thanking the bridge crew for their hospitality, we quickly left the bridge.

We would like to send our thanks to Captain Toby and his crew for their friendliness and support during our time on board and for their interest in the work of MARINElife. It was a pleasure to meet everyone, and we look forward to surveying on this route again in the future.

Steve Smith and Elisabeth Waterfall Research Surveyors for MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)

Weather

Wind W-SW force 3-4 occ. 5 later, except for the still misty conditions as we approached Jersey, sea state 3 – 4, inc. to 5 later