Birds in Lincolnshire
Portsmouth - Bilbao 15th-18th August 2000
PORTSMOUTH - BILBAO 15th -18th August 2000 by Alex Lees
Once again this August a team of birders from UEA (University of East Anglia) assembled for a third pelagic into Biscay. The journey down the day before had been fairly uneventful, baring a stop at Noar Hill LNR, Hampshire, which produced Brown Hairstreak, Autumn Ladies Tresses, Musk Orchid and Violet Heleborine amonst others. Previous trips had witnessed just a handful of birders embarking on a 'mini cruise' to Spain and back, but on this occasion nearly 100 birders were on board, including a Wildwings tour group and a 50 strong RSPB and BTO contingency. Expecting it to be fairly dead along the Brittany coast, I was surprised to locate a Sabine's Gull almost as soon as I arrived on deck. A distant trawler was accompanied by a following of Fulmars and one each of Mediterranean and Cory's Shearwaters, the latter kleptoparasitised by a passing Bonxie. A close pod of Bottle-nosed dolphins were the first cetaceans of the trip and a Black Tern headed south a few minutes later. After rounding the island of Ouessant, we arrived at the northern end of the bay where Cory's Shearwaters became more prevalent. A Reed Warbler made an impromptu visit to the boat around this time, perching on the lifeboats and a lone Garden Warbler made a similar visit several hours later. It was lucky that the visits of neither of these passerines co-incided with that of the Kestrel that arrived late afternoon and would presumably relish such a travel snack. Raptors are not unusual in the bay, on my September 1999 visit an Osprey tracked steadily south alongside the boat!
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Seabirds by Andrew P. Chick |
Watching for Storm Petrels is notoriously difficult from the ferry, but viewing lower down we were able to locate several British Storm Petrels but we failed to connect with the Wilson's reported on the opposite side. Getting on such small seabirds from a large, fast-moving boat is very difficult; an Oceanadroma petrel sp. that I observed last autumn was only see by one other birder. The first Great Sheatwaters materialised in the early afternoon and I picked up a single Sooty around six o'clock. The first whales were reported towards evening, with descriptions pointing to their indentification as Fins. We did not bother to change our position to look for them and were rewarded by distant views of an unidentified beaked whale. A party of cretaceans I called off the port side proved to be a pod of Pilot whales that gave superb views as they breached and fluked. We arrived in Bilbao early the next morning - a stroll into the hills produced the expected Melodious, Fan-tailed and Sardinian Warblers, Pied Flycatchers, Serins and Red-backed Shrikes as well as a fearsome looking Wasp spider. Others had Black Kite, Wrynecks and even a Praying Mantis! |
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The first quarter of the return leg was fairly quiet, a pod of Bottle-nosed dolphins, 4 Pomarine Skuas and a few Storm Petrels aside. Once we entered the central part of the Abyssal Plain, Fin whales appeared quite frequently; some young animals came very close to 'check out' the boat. My first lifer came in the form of a trio of distant Orcas, a single menacing looking Portugese Man O'War also drifted past but I dipped the Sunfish that appeared later. With so many people on the boat it was very hectic on 11 deck, with people charging from one side to another, our decision to stay lower down gave us better views of many species, but called for a mad dash if something was called on the opposite side. A row of distant humps in the sea seemed to defy identification, until a shout from one seasoned sea-birder pointed to their identification as a logging Sperm whale! After remaining at the surface for a few minutes it eventually fluked and dived. A mother and calf Sperm whale on the other side gave exceptional views as they cruised past the boat; the latter was seen to breach; an unforgettable event. A single Whinchat was the only passerine logged on the return leg. Birds were few and far between until we neared the shelf edge at which point we cruised past rafts of large shearwaters, the majority of which proved to be Greats, with at least 250 in total, along with a fair few Cory's, a couple of Sootys and a single Manx. |
Herring Gull |
The bird that the majority had hoped for did not disappoint and the disbelievers were converted when the first of three Little Shearwaters appeared. My friend that called the first originally thought it was a petrel, such is their small size and Common Sand. jizz, the white headed appearance of the second bird I picked up as it crossed the bow was particularly striking. Evidently a modest number of this species make an annual pilgrimage from the atlantic isles into the bay. Accompanying the shearwaters were a handful of immaculate adult Sabine's Gulls, a Kittiwake and a few Great Skuas. We were all fairly satiated by this point but fate was to deal its biggest card. A shout from the bridge of 'Blue whale' sent the crowd into a frenzy, but despite much searching the beast found by the Wildwings crew just off the bow dived under the boat and was subsequently only seen by the fortunate few in the wake. I had just chalked up my biggest (literally) dip. A few compensatory Stripped dolphins added interest but late evening past by quietly: a Sooty the last good bird of the day.
Fin Whale © A Lees
Those who got up early enough had views of a small, presumed Minke whale the next morning although all I managed was a few Bonxies, a Storm Petrel and seven incongruous Black-tailed Godwits heading south! Despite the big dip, the trip was one of the best pelargics I have done; no avian lifers, but two cetacean - the Sperm and Killer whales. One thing's for sure, if I don't get Blue after a year in California I'll be back next year; in fact I'll be back whatever happens, as if White-faced Petrel has turned up once ..
Graham Catley also tried the Biscay route and writes as follows:
Just been on the Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry trip 2-5 Sept 2000, on board Sat night in Spain for 3 hours and back Tuesday evening for the extortionate cost of £32 and they say they have over charged us and we are due a £11 refund!
A nice calm sea with 2500+ Great and 3000 Cory's, 2/3 Little, 3 Manx and 14 Sooty Shearwater, 100+ Storm Petrel, 5 Sabine's Gulls, Black Tern, Little Gull, 50+ Bonxie, 7 Arctic and 2 Poms---a few Pilot Whales, Striped, Common and Bottle-nosed Dolphins, 3 Cuvier's beaked Whales and I managed to miss 2 Minke and 2 Fin Whales plus Risso's Dolphins---in the 3 hours in Spain ticked 3 new butterflies Adonis, Long-tailed and Lang's short-tailed Blues plus Swallowtail lots of Clouded and possibly pale Clouded Yellows, Griffon, Melodious, Fan-tailed, Sardinian and Cetti's Warblers. Back in the UK we were motoring back when we were diverted off the A34 by a 3 lorry pile up, onto a minor country lane-- following an artic it swerved to miss a 4x4 and hit an oak tree which dropped a 1 ton bough on the roof of my mate's car passing through the back window and the roof--I was in the back! luckily just a flat car and no human injuries an eventful weekend!
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