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| Common Dolphin |
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I've been leading a few pelagic boat trips for Naturetrek Wildlife Holidays in the past few years and these 2 single day trips were packed full of wildlife!
We were aboard the "Spirit of our seas", a brand new catamaran skippered by CK, Captain Keith and out of the Falmouth deep water estuary and into Falmouth Bay. "If it's out there Keith will find it!".
Very knowledgeable crew members were Fen on the Saturday & Alex on the Sunday, Thanks guys!
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Spirit of our seas.
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On both tours we encountered Harbour Porpoise just close in the bay with Mediterranean Gulls bobbing on the tops of the waves.
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| Harbour Porpoise |
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| Med Gull |
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A few Kittiwakes were in the bay with an occasional Razorbill or Guillemot being sighted.
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| Kittiwake | |
On the Saturday we headed south-west toward the Lizard Point often hugging the shore picking out Grey Seals off of Porthoustock and Coverack, dodging the pinnacle rocks of the infamous Manacles Reef before heading out to the south to pick up the flight path of the pelagic birds between the Dodman point and the lizard.
The skipper was always watching for "mix-ups" or "work-ups" on the horizon where birds were feeding or tuna and dolphins were dashing around creating a white water frenzy.
When he spotted one it was everyone back to their seats and the throttle opened up to get out a few miles and look for wildlife. When nearby he would kill the revs and we would hang off the feeding spectacle and wait for them to come to us or us to drift toward them. That way they don't get spooked and all the clients get to see all that's on offer.
The Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna are huge fish and they seem to surround their prey in a circle and when you watch them you can see hundreds of small fish (sprats) leaping from the water to escape the predatory fish and gulls.
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| Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna |
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| Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna |
Here's a short video clip of the tuna frenzy taken on my phone....
Of course where there are small fish there are always lots of seabirds and the sea was buzzing with Gannets, Shearwaters and Gulls.
The Shearwaters consisted of the numerous Manx, along with many Great, Cory's and Sooties.
Here are a few images of them taken over the weekend trips....
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| A composite of diving Gannets. | |
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Gannet taking off
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| Gannet just getting airborne |
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| Adult Gannet |
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Manx Shearwater
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Cory's Shearwater
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Great Shearwater
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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Northern Fulmar
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| Northern Fulmar |
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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| Great Shearwater |
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| Sooty Shearwater |
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| Sooty Shearwater | |
Another bird that gave us a run around was an Arctic Skua of which I only got some shots of its rear end as it flew off but luckily one of our group got some better shots to positively ID it.
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| Arctic Skua |
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Another cracking bird was this Wilson's Storm Petrel, first identified as a European Stormie, subsequent looking showed it to be a Wilson's.
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| Wilson's Storm Petrel |
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| Wilson's Storm Petrel | |
The fly past of a flock of Common Scoter was another highlight despite being a long way off but easily identifiable.
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Common Scoter
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On both days we caught up with Common Dolphins and often they stayed around the boat for many hours. Here are a few images ....
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Common Dolphins
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| Common Dolphin |
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| Common Dolphin |
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| Common Dolphin |
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| Common Dolphin |
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| Common Dolphin | |
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| Common Dolphins | | |
So as you can see an amazing wildlife adventure!
Naturetrek are running a few more pelagics from Falmouth in the coming weeks with availability on some of the trips.
If you're interested then here is the link for information...
Naturetrek Falmouth Pelagic day tours.
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