Day 4 : What the Flock!

Today was by far the best day for sightings that we have had yet the swell had decreased further overnight and the wind had eased off. The improved conditions lead to almost instant results when shortly after beginning our watch we spotted a blow off in the distance. This lifted our mood instantly because it was the first blow we have seen so far on the trip, unfortunately it was too far off for us to id the whale. Things then got very quiet till we encountered a small group of about 8 pilot whales just off the port side as with the other two groups we managed to capture pictures of these as well. Then as the evening wore on and we began to talk about how perfect the conditions were we were rewarded with some more blows, first off to our starboard side and then far off on the port side. As we looked for further signs of these animals two more appeared much closer to the boat. Enda was quick to grab the camera and captured a few photographs of the whales. As the excitement died down and we began to think about dinner, another blow appeared off the bow of the boat. This was to be the final activity from the cetaceans for the day. After consulting with our esteemed colleagues the whales were identified as Northern Bottlenose Whales.

 Northern Bottlenose Whales (Enda McKeogh)

It wasn’t all whales today as we have added two more bird species to our list bringing it to 11. The day had started quietly with no activity in the air but this picked up as the day progressed and culminated in a large group of Pomarine Skuas as well as our new arrivals Long Tailed Skuas. The Long Tailed Skuas made a big impression with well over 150 of them passing us throughout the evening consisting of three large groups of 30-50 individuals and stragglers. All were headed east and seemed to be on a mission. The other bird sightings today were a few Great Skuas and a scattering of Fulmars, the odd Shearwater species and 2 groups of Tern species with up to 50 individuals each during the day. 

 Long Tailed Skua (Enda McKeogh)

Then just as we were packing up John Cunningham one of the crew spotted a large sun fish passing by in the water it was a nice end to an exciting day. Hopefully the weather stays the same and we see plenty more tomorrow.