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
Species recorded
Marine mammals
- Dolphin sp. 1 (passenger sighting)
- Grey Seal 5
Seabirds
- Herring Gull
- Black-headed Gull
- Fulmar
- Guillemot
- Shag
- Manx Shearwater
- Gannet
- Kittiwake
- Oystercatcher
Wildlife seen on Lundy
- Grey Seal
- Shag
- Willow Warbler
- House Sparrow
- Starling
- Robin
- Carrion Crow
- Raven
- Swallow
- Herring Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Lesser Black-backed Gul
- Oystercatcher
- Wheatear
- Linnet
- Goldfinch
- Pied Wagtail
- Red Admiral
- Small White
- Large White
- Painted Lady
- Clouded Yellow
- Common Blue
- Hummingbird Hawk-moth
On the River
- Herring Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Curlew