A little weather window opened up and I decided to do a Ferry survey. We set off yesterday in more or less perfect conditions but missed out on porpoises as we passed the usually infallable area around Strumble.
Myriads of Manxies, Auks and Kitties formed small to medium feeding flocks as far as the eye could see which was somewhat distracting , but still no porps.
About forty minutes into the crossing, I spotted a patch of disturbed water and then a Minke Whale slid up and down as I yelled Minke! Its footprint was quite obvious to the naked eye and everyone got on to it as it surfaced again in a rather slo-mo fashion before dissapearing for the third and final time.
Stacey, Katie and Stephanie (my co-observers) were fairly chuffed as was I, a great if belated entry to the recording sheet. Three small pods of common dolphins punctuated the next couple of hours along with surprising numbers of migrating terns.
As we approached the Tusker I saw some splashing in the far distance and realised it must be Risso's. The aquabatics continued as we approached and I managed to get a few record shot pic's with my 200mm lense which i have included although they are a bit pathetic!
Conditions this morning were less goood with a ss3 and heavy glare. We still managed a couple of Risso's sightings but then it dried up and apart from a seal we saw no more marine mammals.
The Minke literally came out of the blue, the commons and Risso's were fairly much as scripted but no porp's is a bit of a poser!
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