We took advantage of yesterday's calm seas to visit Skokholm and then head out to Grassholm and the Smalls. Around 3 miles East of the Smalls we came on a large area of oily-calm water where the bottom rises up from c.200ft deep to around 100ft. As well as constant Gannet action, and flocks of Manx Shearwaters that glided in and out, a real highlight was the astonishing number of Storm Petrels feeding. At one stage I had six in the binoculars at once, and a scan around the boat gave a count of 20-30 in a small area: a fantastic sight.
On the Smalls at low tide there were around 150 Kittiwakes roosting; later on in the season we have recorded larger numbers, apparently moulting here.
