Quick report
Mixed results.
The birding was terrible. We got a few Cory's on the Saturday p.m. and not much else. I heard of one Sooty Shearwater and 2 European Storm Petrels being seen by others. A passerine arrived on the boat mid-afternoon on Friday and all 4 of us thought we saw yellow and streaky and wondered if it might be a Serin, but a professional bird guide, BF member and Spanish resident saw something completely different and thought phylloscopus-type. He's a lot more familiar with Serin than us, so we're not claiming anything. Little blighter went right down to the (inaccessible) front bit of the boat and disappeared.
Cetaceans were brilliant on the Friday, with probably well over 500 dolphins of several species (Common, Bottle-nosed, Risso's and Pilot Whales, and probably a few Striped as well) and a few Fin Whales and one Cuvier's Beaked Whale, with great viewing conditions. One large (150-200) pod of Common Dolphins came right along side the boat and stayed around, swirling and generally enthralling everyone. Risso's is technically a new species for Julie and I, so we were particularly pleased with them.
Saturday was much quieter, although we did see 4 Cuvier's Beaked Whales, one unidentified whale breaching several times (we thought it looked big, but the Wildlife Officer thought either Cuvier's or Northern Bottle-nosed Whale) and a few sightings of dolphins and tuna. Nothing at all seen from about 16:20 until 19:00, when we gave up - and I really mean nothing, despite clear visibilty right to the horizon. No birds, no cetaceans, no fish. Nothing. It was also very windy and pretty arduous.
It was incredibly quiet yesterday in the Western approaches with only small numbers of Gannets and single Kittiwakes and LBBs to keep us awake. Again viewing conditions were excellent to good.
We underspent our budget by about £50 for the two of us and despite some long and boring hours, the highlights made it worthwhile and I suspect that we'll do it again some time.
