It was a warm but overcast morning when I walked along the quay. I collected my tickets and was soon aboard the Oldenburg, where I was warmly greeted by Captain Jason and other members of the crew. I picked up my tabard and headed out onto the decks to chat with my fellow passengers.

Soon after leaving the estuary two large groups of Oystercatcher flew over the boat. The rest of voyage out was very quiet, with just a few Gannet and Manx Shearwater, plus a group of Kittiwake seen as we approached the island. A small group of passengers reported briefly seeing one dolphin in the ship’s wake. Just before we reached Lundy the clouds cleared and we had the promise of a lovely sunny day. We were welcomed into the Landing Bay by the usual large group of Shag on the outer rocks.

Walking up through the Millcombe Valley I was delighted to see a Clouded Yellow butterfly. I decided to have an early lunch in the village, then headed back down to the Devil’s Kitchen to make the most of the low spring tide to go rock pooling. I went down to the tide edge to search amongst the Furbelows (a species of kelp) for Blue-rayed Limpet and was delighted to find some of the seaweed had many small groups grazing on them.  Notable amongst the rocks were a large number of Snakelocks Anemone. For the whole time a female Grey Seal casually watched me and other explorers from just offshore.

The return journey again started quietly, however about halfway across several Manx Shearwater, Gannet and Guillemot were seen. Approaching the estuary, we passed a large mixed group of gulls in a feeding frenzy, sadly there were no dolphin associated with them that we could see.

After we moored up in Bideford, I collected my bags and thanked Jason and the crew before disembarking to walk back along the quay and head home.

MARINElife WLA Judith Tatem

Weather: cloudy outward – sunny return, wind NW 3-4, sea state 3-4, swell 1-2