Thank you Richard for the previous post and the excellent images from the trip. You fared far better than I on the dolphin shots. Sometimes the flying bridge can be a bit high to catch those flyers at the right angle.
After leaving the heads, some five miles out we encountered our first dolphins. A small group of perhaps five or so which didn't show much interest in the boat. Very quiet then as we made our way to Grassholm to see how the Ganets are faring with the bird flue epidemic. Lots of green areas and lots of bare space in the colony would suggest not as well as hoped. However lots of juvenile and first year birds around so hopefully they will recover.
On to the Smalls lighthouse area and again fairly quiet except for more sea birds en route. Just south of the lighthouse we spotted our first Minke of the trip. A relatively brief sighting and although we hung around for a while we didn't see it again.
As we motored to the SW we started to come accross more common dolphin and the numbers started to build up. These were interspersed with various sea birds including Guillemots, Storm Petrels, Fulmars and various gulls.
Another forty minutes or so quiet cruising and the shout went up for our second Minke Whale. This time a lot closer to the boat and we were treated to several surfacings over fifteen minutes or so. That meant plenty of pics so appologies in advance but Cliff loves a good whale pic so this should satisfy his cravings.
By this time we were already well on our return leg at around 4.30pm. Most of the way back saw mostly sightings of birds with the odd small groups of commons thrown into the mix.
We got back to the berth around 18.30 all tired but having enjoyed another great day out. Many many thanks to Skipper Andy Rickard and crew Rob for putting up with us and delivering the goods as usual. We may be lucky weather permitting to get another trip in before it turns too Autumnal but we'll have to see I guess.
Ken B
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