At Sea! (31st May)

I've recently got a volunteering place on board a AK Wildlife Cruise which make regular boat trips out to sea!  I'm really pleased with this brilliant opportunity to encounter some truly pelagic birds and cetaceans so hopefully over the next coming year I'll have plenty more updates on exciting sea birds, dolphins and maybe even whales!  Today, thanks to the persistent northerly winds over the past couple days the majority of birds were a considerable distance offshore.  None the less we still enjoyed good views of 2 Grey Seals in the coves and a my personal highlight a close up sum. plum. Great Northern Diver.  We were also lucky enough to encounter 2 Peregrine pairs and plenty of other commoner pelagic birds, including a couple flypast groups of Manx Shearwater, Guillemots resting on the water and 2 Sandwich Terns on our way back.

male Peregrine

female Peregrine

only got the mantle on this Great Northern Diver

Sandwich Tern showing nicely on the buoys

Once back on dry land I made my way round the coast again towards Swanpool, just to check if the Garganey had remained another day.  As it happened, I failed to relocate it but a flyover Peregrine and a Cushion-star that I found in the rock pools was good compensation.

local patch coast from Swanpool Point

 Cushion-star