Day 1: The
first day began with us conducting our sightings from the bridge, weather
conditions were not ideal with sea state
6 for the day making it hard to observe cetaceans. However with assistance from
the crew we did manage to see 3 common dolphins in the afternoon. Things on the
bird front were better with 8 different species through the day Fulmars, Gannets,
Kittiwakes, Great Skuas, Great Black Backed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Guillemots
and a couple of Manx Shearwaters. We have moved off the continental shelf edge
and are currently in waters that are three to four kilometres deep. The bacon and cabbage dinner more than made
up for a quiet day on the sightings front.
Day 2:
Unfortunately the sea state didn’t improve over night but we were treated to
nice blue skies for the day and were able to conduct our sightings from the
crow’s nest. Again we only saw only one cetacean species today, a group of 10
pilot whales that we encountered shortly after lunch. We managed to take some
pictures including a few fin shots that may be used for photo-id. The birds
managed to keep us busy again but were noticeably fewer in number than
yesterday we had 6 species Fulmars, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Great Skuas, Lesser
Black Backed Gull and Manx Shearwaters. We have our fingers crossed that the
sea state will improve over the few days and give us better opportunities for
spotting cetaceans. Failing that I’m sure the birds will still keep us entertained.
The internet is pretty hit and miss at the moment but we’ll try and keep you up
to date when we can.
Lesser
Black Backed Gull (Paddy O'Dwyer)
Pilot Whale (Paddy O'Dwyer)
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