Outward – 3 June: SW wind F3-5, full sun, good visibility – 4 June: SSW wind F4, overcast, no swell
Return – 4 June: SW wind F6-7, overcast with deteriorating visibility – 5 June: W wind F6-7, full sun
This was to be only the second MARINElife survey on this route and the first on DFDS King Seaways, and we were given a very warm welcome aboard by all the crew. Shortly after the ship left the River Tyne, we were able to go up onto the bridge where we were welcomed by Captain Andreas Schou Kristensen and were shown the instrumentation that we would be using.
Early in the voyage Kittiwake was the dominant bird, presumably from the colony in the city centre, and about an hour out we had a brief view of four Bottlenose Dolphin swimming in a very tight pod. There were regular sightings of Gannet and small groups of Guillemot, and later in the evening long strings of Razorbill passed by. We continued surveying until sunset.
The following morning, we did a short two-hour survey, but the visibility was poor and there were very few birds. We were, however, delighted to see one Great Shearwater. Whilst the ship was docking in the port of Ijmuiden, we had a good opportunity to study the large group of Lesser Black-backed Gull which were feeding around the disturbed water.
We caught the ferry bus into Amsterdam Central railway station and had around four hours to explore that part of city. Coffee and cake with a view seemed a good start to get our bearings, so we headed to the roof plaza on the Nemo Science Museum, where even on a dull day the view was good. Afterwards we walked around the canals and streets looking at the architecture admiring how use is made of every possible space for plants of all different types. Many of the canal barges had green roofs or were completely covered in pots, and these gardens were spreading onto adjacent pavements. We enjoyed lunch sitting outside of a café on the canal side, watching a young Coot family swimming around.
Back on the ferry the poor weather cut the evening survey short, as we soon started to lose visibility and had to stop when it started to rain. The final part of the survey was from around 6.00am until we arrived at the mouth of the River Tyne, and it was a bright and breezy morning with lots of birds and a very brief glimpse of two dolphin tails. Just before passing the breakwater, we thanked Captain Kristensen and crew for all their help and support and left the bridge.
Jenny Ball and Judith Tatem, Research Surveyors for MARINElife
Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)
Species recorded
Marine mammals
- Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus 4
- Unidentified Dolphin sp. 2
Seabirds
- Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis 25
- Gannet Morus bassanus 67
- Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus 2
- Great Shearwater Ardenna gravis 1
- Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 5
- Shearwater sp. Puffinae 1
- Herring Gull Larus argentatus 59
- Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla 179
- Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 21
- Gull sp. Laridae 12
- Tern sp. Sternidae 1
- Puffin Fratercula arctica 5
- Guillemot Uria aalge 147
- Razorbill Alca torda 220
- Auk sp. Alcidae 195