With some good birds being reported around The Plym I headed off for a lookabout on Sunday 23rd August and arrived off the bus at Marsh Mills at around 8:30am. It was low tide but I was more interested in land birds on this visit and things started well with a Spotted Flycatcher flitting about in the trees in the same area as last weeks sightings.
I headed on to Chelson Meadow where 2 Whinchat and a Wheatear had been seen, I failed to find the Wheatear but eventually I caught up with the Whinchat which were flitty and mobile around the site. The previous days reported Tree Pipits and Sedge Warbler were no shows and I also missed an Osprey flying over with a fish but never mind. There had also been 4 Ringed Plover reported on the Plym mudflats and as I had a scan about from The Ride I eventually found them in the company of 2 Dunlin.
Ringed Plovers
Ringed Plover and Dunlin
Ringed Plover
Dunlin
It was off to Wembury on the 7am bus on Monday 24th August for a lookabout, when I arrived it was sunny but cool in a fresh easterly breeze and while it warmed up over the course of the morning the breeze became stronger and birding became a bit trickier.
Clouded Yellow - still plenty around at Wembury despite the wind and the lack of flowers
There was no sign of the male Common Scoter which has presumably finished his moult and moved on. The usual mobile Mediterranean Gulls were still present though, all adult and 2nd winter birds in non-breeding plumage with one adult bird sporting a white ring with black coding but too far away to read without a scope. There were also 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls out on the rocks but the best Gull was a smart looking juvenile Kittiwake which patrolled along the shoreline for a few minutes before flying off east.
The usual Oystercatchers were present and with them was a Little Egret, a Turnstone and an adult and a juvenile Ringed Plover while offshore there were Gannets flying around along with a single Fulmar and 2 Sandwich Tern. A pair of Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, 2 Raven, Swallows and House Martins were seen overhead and the usual Cirl Buntings, Linnets and Stonechats were seen along the footpath. A juvenile Wheatear sat out on the rocks amongst the Gulls was a strange sight, it stayed there for some time facing into the breeze and probably wondering what the big expanse of water was in front of it and whether to fly off over it.
The highlight of my walk was a Spotted Flycatcher in the Pine tree by the steps leading up to the radar station, it was very mobile amongst the tangle of branches but I watched it for a while before it flew over towards the 2 rows of Pine trees where I eventually refound it and enjoyed better views of it. Also in the Pine trees here were a juvenile Willow Warbler, a Coal Tit, a Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff and Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit.
Sunflowers growing in the field above The Point
It was off to Santander in Spain on the Pont Aven ferry on Wednesday 26th August, a there-and-back mini-cruise with the hope of seeing some cetaceans and sea birds along the way. I missed the trip last year as I wasn't feeling very well and decided not to go, I wasn't feeling great this year either but decided to just go for it anyway and I ended up having an enjoyable and interesting trip. The weather and sea conditions were kind to us although I wished I was feeling a little better, the ferry was also very busy as the August Bank Holiday approaches and the viewing deck was often packed out hampering viewing but I still had a good range of wildlife sightings.
We left Plymouth at around 4pm and I stayed up on deck until 7pm but it was very quiet with only a Guillemot, a Sandwich Tern, an adult Great Black-backed Gull, Gannets, Herring Gulls and Manx Shearwaters seen with the highlight being a Great Skua. A distant Tuna feeding frenzy was also seen but I had no cetacean sightings.
I didn't head up to the decks until around 8:30am the following morning and watched until we arrived into Santander at around 12:00pm and again I didn't have a single cetacean sighting although sightings were being called, I just never managed to get onto them in time. More Tuna were seen and quite a few Portuguese Man-o'war but no bird sightings were had until we approached Santander when Yellow-legged Gulls began to appear and on docking in Santander I ruminated on my first ever Bay of Biscay crossing without a single cetacean sighting and hoped the afternoons return crossing would prove to be more productive.
The Bay of Biscay from the Pont Aven
With the gantry in Santander out of action and bus transfers needed to and from the immigration building along with the longer EU entry and exit procedures we decided to stay on board the ferry, the time ashore is always short and these obstacles would mean even less time ashore than usual. While waiting onboard for the ferry to depart I did some birding from the ferry decks and I managed to see a Swift, Woodpigeons, Feral Pigeons, an Oystercatcher, Mediterranean Gulls, a juvenile Peregrine, a juvenile Marsh Harrier and Yellow-legged Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and surprisingly 2 adult Herring Gulls.
Yellow-legged Gull, Santander Quay
The ferry left Santander at around 3:00pm as rain showers appeared from the skies, they soon passed but a big storm arrived at around 7:00pm which quickly curtailed all deck watching. There was rain and plenty of lightning flashes in the clouds which lasted well into the night although strangely the sea state remained fairly calm. Before the storm arrived I did manage to see some distant Dolphins, probably Striped, so at least I hadn't repeated my Bay of Biscay cetacean duck and there were more Tuna and Portuguese Man-o'war sightings as well. No sea birds were seen again apart from a few juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls although 8 Pintail flying west way out in the Bay was an odd and out of place sighting.
The Bay of Biscay
Again I didn't get up on deck the next morning until around 8:30am but things had already started very well as while I was having breakfast in the cafe at the front of the ferry we passed through a large feeding frenzy of Common Dolphins with attendant Gannets and Manx, Great and Sooty Shearwaters.
From the outside deck things got even better with 2 or possibly 3 Fin Whales seen, their blows were huge and were slow to dissipate and at times I could see their backs and fins as the rolled at the waters surface even though they were distant. More Common Dolphins and Tuna were seen along with lovely views of Manx, Great and Sooty Shearwaters and I also saw 3 Fulmar and another Great Skua. A small wader was also seen flying low over the waves amongst a group of Manx Shearwaters, at first I thought it was a Ringed Plover but I finally realised it was a Grey Phalarope, a nice bird to end our trip with.
The Eddystone Lighthouse
I've had a look through my notebooks and I've now crossed the Bay of Biscay 9 times by ferry since 2006, travelling from Plymouth to Santander and from Portsmouth to both Santander and Bilbao, and each trip has been different. It has always been an interesting and varied trip with good views of sea birds and cetaceans but one thing that has become noticeable over the years is the apparent decline in sightings of Fin Whales so I was very pleased to see them on this voyage even if it was in The English Channel and not in the Bay of Biscay itself.
