Its hard not to think about what it would be like again to be out on one of the Stena Europe’s Bridge-Wings on a day like today under lock down; The conditions are perfect, hardly any wind and slightly overcast. Especially at this time of the year.
In my ramblings about our Stena surveys last week, I mentioned that we had been surveying from the Bridge Wings since 2003 My old mate Adrian (Wdig Birder) Rodger, pulled me up on that one, telling me that it was a year later. Hence, I edited the post correcting it. Or so I thought. In fact, Adrian tells me we did an exploratory trip on April 15th so the first trip on the Bridge wings was after that probably early May, I just don’t have access to all our records at the moment.
Sometime in early February 2004 I had a phone call from Carl Milne of Stena asking if we, Sea Trust, would like to do some surveys from their Sea Lynx. I said no, it was too fast, But the Stena Europe would probably be OK. I was literally about to walk out of the door to go on a holiday to Tenerife, food for thought!
Its all a bit hazy now but I remember doing an exploratory trip with Adrian, as I say, before the trip on the bridge. Adrian and I were trying to watch from around the ship as at that point we had no access to the bridge. It was incredibly frustrating knowing that if anything passed on the opposite side, we you would probably miss it. If our surveys were to have a sufficient degree of rigour, we had to have a good view forwards which would massively improve our chances of seeing cetaceans before they reacted to the approach of a 30.000-ton vessel.
We saw no cetaceans on that trip, a migrant warbler landed aboard, probably a Willow Warbler or Chiff Chaff that eluded our efforts to get a decent view, also a Merlin fly by.
But it was useful because it highlighted the need to be at the front of the ship. This meant being allowed on the Bridge. Soon after we got back, I made an appointment to meet Carl and put my proposals to him.
Number one was free tickets for self and volunteers, number two was access to the Bridge and number three was some overnight accommodation aboard the ship so we could complete an outward and inboard passage or at least one daylight trip during the darker months.
Amazingly he agreed to all these with the proviso that the Senior Master Captain Farrell agreed. So, the next day I joined the ship on a free ticket with an appointment to meet the Senior Master. Having boarded I reported to reception who furnished me with a key card for a cabin. So far so good. Next the receptionist called the bridge and the Captains secretary (Rhoda) came and escorted me to his cabin. Captain Farrell let me in and we sat down. “I suppose you are one of those vegetarian hippy types” was his first challenging gambit. “No, I replied, give me a good rare steak a few chips and some mushrooms and I am a happy bunny
In my ramblings about our Stena surveys last week, I mentioned that we had been surveying from the Bridge Wings since 2003 My old mate Adrian (Wdig Birder) Rodger, pulled me up on that one, telling me that it was a year later. Hence, I edited the post correcting it. Or so I thought. In fact, Adrian tells me we did an exploratory trip on April 15th so the first trip on the Bridge wings was after that probably early May, I just don’t have access to all our records at the moment.
Sometime in early February 2004 I had a phone call from Carl Milne of Stena asking if we, Sea Trust, would like to do some surveys from their Sea Lynx. I said no, it was too fast, But the Stena Europe would probably be OK. I was literally about to walk out of the door to go on a holiday to Tenerife, food for thought!
Its all a bit hazy now but I remember doing an exploratory trip with Adrian, as I say, before the trip on the bridge. Adrian and I were trying to watch from around the ship as at that point we had no access to the bridge. It was incredibly frustrating knowing that if anything passed on the opposite side, we you would probably miss it. If our surveys were to have a sufficient degree of rigour, we had to have a good view forwards which would massively improve our chances of seeing cetaceans before they reacted to the approach of a 30.000-ton vessel.
We saw no cetaceans on that trip, a migrant warbler landed aboard, probably a Willow Warbler or Chiff Chaff that eluded our efforts to get a decent view, also a Merlin fly by.
But it was useful because it highlighted the need to be at the front of the ship. This meant being allowed on the Bridge. Soon after we got back, I made an appointment to meet Carl and put my proposals to him.
Number one was free tickets for self and volunteers, number two was access to the Bridge and number three was some overnight accommodation aboard the ship so we could complete an outward and inboard passage or at least one daylight trip during the darker months.
Amazingly he agreed to all these with the proviso that the Senior Master Captain Farrell agreed. So, the next day I joined the ship on a free ticket with an appointment to meet the Senior Master. Having boarded I reported to reception who furnished me with a key card for a cabin. So far so good. Next the receptionist called the bridge and the Captains secretary (Rhoda) came and escorted me to his cabin. Captain Farrell let me in and we sat down. “I suppose you are one of those vegetarian hippy types” was his first challenging gambit. “No, I replied, give me a good rare steak a few chips and some mushrooms and I am a happy bunny
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| Captain David Farrell. |
(What I did not know about Captain Farrell at the time and apologies to Veggie /Vegan friends. was that not only was he a master mariner but also a farmer rearing Welsh Black Cattle)
He looked at me quizzically for a moment and then a smile flickered momentarily, “So, OK to free tickets and cabins but why do you need to be on the bridge?” I explained that it was necessary to get a good forwards view. I also explained this was how it was done on other ships such as the “Pride of Bilbao” on the Portsmouth to Bilbao run. “Have you been on her” he asked and I replied “Yes several times but omitted to mention I had not been part of the Marine Life Bridge-team, merely reporting via hand held radio from the upper deck. I explained that without that forward view, we would be wasting our time. Thankfully he relented and took me onto the bridge where he introduced me to the officers and explained the situation. I realised that we did not need to be inside the bridge and that the open bridge wings where we would be out of the way, were perfect for my purposes. Everyone was happy with this arrangement; Captain Farrell went back to his business as did the men on the bridge. I took up position on the bridge wing although the sea was quite rough and I saw nothing for the rest of the trip, but in my head, I was a happy bunny. Sea Trust was where we needed to be, to record the cetaceans of the southern Irish Sea, game on!....
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| With some of the gang! Stephen Davies, Stevo Lucas, CB, Steve Rosser,Tony Lucas¬ |
May 2014 was the tenth anniversary of our first Stena Europe cetacean surveys. I remember it well, the absolute privilege of being allowed up on the bridge of this fantastic vessel, was a dream come true. A forward view is the only way to perform proper surveys, too much would be missed from the stern or the sides.
Over these ten years I have safely crossed the Irish sea aboard the Stena Europe hundreds of times, seen thousands of Dolphins, dozens of Whales and porpoises a plenty. We have worked with hundreds of fantastic volunteers and laughed and joked with our Stena shipmates! We have been incredibly lucky and had so much help and kindness from everyone at Stena both onshore and aboard the ship. Particular thanks to Carl Milne who set us up on her to begin with.
Over these ten years I have safely crossed the Irish sea aboard the Stena Europe hundreds of times, seen thousands of Dolphins, dozens of Whales and porpoises a plenty. We have worked with hundreds of fantastic volunteers and laughed and joked with our Stena shipmates! We have been incredibly lucky and had so much help and kindness from everyone at Stena both onshore and aboard the ship. Particular thanks to Carl Milne who set us up on her to begin with.
The Senior Master who allowed us onto his bridge was Captain David Farrell a man with a dry sense of humour, an old school master mariner, strict but fair.
Captain Farrell, like several others has retired but others, old mates like Rush, Bob and Charlie were still on the bridge today. It would be easy to go on, I could write a book and maybe will one day
Captain Farrell, like several others has retired but others, old mates like Rush, Bob and Charlie were still on the bridge today. It would be easy to go on, I could write a book and maybe will one day
Ten years ago we got off to a great start with Porp's, Common dolphins and a couple of Minke's and it just went on getting better and better with more Risso's, in fact more of everything than we ever dared to expect. To date we have recorded Fin, Humpback and Minke Whales, Common Risso's and Bottlenose Dolphins as well as our ever-present Porpoises.
TOTALS for May 2014 survey.
73 sightings
65 of porpoise
4 of common dolphin
2 of Risso's dolphin
1 of Minke whale
1 unidentified dolphin species.
Thanks to Captain Farrell and Carl Milne, Sea Trust has an incredible data log of sightings that is probably the most comprehensive for any area of sea, year round in Europe.
Here's a super-pod we recorded in January 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
To be continued...