Took a trip guided by Orca, a Whale and Dolphin charity from 24th to 26th September on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Santander then back to Plymouth Birds seen on 25th south of Brittany to Santander 1 small wader, showed id features of Curlew Sandpiper 2 Ringed Plover Wagtail sp. c15 Sooty Shearwater Many Gannets Arctic Tern Common Scoter few small flocks 1 pos. 2 Little Shearwater Skua sp. Pos Pomarine 2 1 Northern Wheatear 1 Willow Warbler 1 Yellow Wagtail Santander evening of 25th, small park near ferry port Spotted Flycatcher Pied Flycatcher Willow Warbler Chiffchaff Lots of Humming-bird Hawkmoth 26th northern Biscay and English Channel. Most of these areas affected by thick fog c20 Great Skua 1 Leach's Storm Petrel c15 Great Shearwater 3 Cory's Shearwater 4 Sooty Shearwater 1 Arctic Skua 4 Sabine's Gull 2 Sandwich Tern Meadow Pipit Yellow Wagtail 1 European Storm Petrel Lots of Gannets I took this same trip in 2011 at the end of August when the large Shearwaters numbered into the thousands, a much different story this time with long periods where no birds were seen, however the Whales and Dolphins were incredible. Fin Whale 6+ Pilot Whale 30+ Cuvier's Beaked Whale Unidentified Beaked Whale sp. 5 Northern Bottlenose Whale 1 Minke Whale 3 Killer Whale 100s Common Dolphin 100s Striped Dolphin 30+ Bottlenose Dolphin Lots Ocean Sunfish 1 Basking Shark 1 Oceanic Whitetip Shark 1 Thresher Shark
I managed to see most but not all of the above. A great trip with lots of enthusiastic and knowledgeable people.
Off tomorrow morning. You can tell I'm leaving the country, Least Sandpiper over the Pennines. Hey ho, here's hoping the winds have blown a Frigatebird into Biscay!
Brittany Ferries are operating Portsmouth to Bilbao and Plymouth to Santander.
Will be taking the P - B late May for a short stop in Northern Spain hoping for a day in Picos looking for Wallcreeper, Alpine Chough & Snowfinch as well as picking up some birds, dolphins and maybe a whale or two en route.
Just got back from a 3 day mini cruise to Bilbao from Portsmouth,birds from the ship:- 15+ Sabines Gulls 2 Cory's Shearwaters 4 Black Terns Good numbers of Manx Shearwaters Storm Petrel Gannets,Fulmars,Commic Terns Plus a Dunlin and Turtle Dove which landed on the ship Cetaceans seen 10 Sperm Whales 2 Fin Whales 1 Cuviers Beaked Whale 400+ Dolphins inc Common, Bottlenosed and Striped Birds seen around Bilbao(in 3 hours) Griffin Vulture Honey Buzzard Serin Fan Tailed Warbler Melodious Warbler Kestrel Whinchat plus Willow Warblers/Chiffchaff etc Good value for £87 return
