Thursday 19 September 2019

A Grand Day Out.......

Courtesy of the Walrus & the Lady Cartlett, with a motley crew of 11 including a certain Ian Smith the finder of last year`s Buff Breasted Sands, so I knew we were in for a good trip!
We left Neyland at 10.00 & headed out S.W. from St Anne`s Head anticipating the day ahead talking about the things we`d like to see, as ever I started banging on about a Sabine`s having spent several hundred quid on Pelagic trips over the years to see one, Dolphins aplenty, Sabs no.
We were some six miles south of Grassholm when the Dolphins turned up & put on the usual entertainment of close passes of the boat. A few miles further on a big splash proved to be that of a Minke Whale while we were watching it a Sabines Gull appeared  with some Kittiwakes - spotted by Ian - YES! Back of the net! I managed to make eye contact with it & held out my hand, it was just about to land on my arm when one of the now two Minkes slipped under the Lady Cartlett & everybody rushed the otherside of the boat to watch the Whale submerge beneath us, I rushed back to the other side again but my new found bird friend had left! Seriously though everything seemed to happen at once, a tick & some close Whale encounters. Then a Dark Phase Arctic Skua appeared briefly & to finish everything off a nice Sooty Shearwater dwarfing the Manxie flock it was with. on the way back more Dolphins. A fabulous day, stunning sea conditions, a couple of hundred dolphins, 2 Minkes (a possible third?) a Sabine`s Gull (adult) Arctic Skua, Sooty Shearwater, Manxies, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Swallows too & a nice "crew"Worth every penny & thanks to Cliff & the Skipper of the Lady Cartlett.