Peter Jones, "Hampshire Diary"
• Friday, August 28, 2009 - Fea's Surprise
In Madeira recently, I saw a handful of Desertas/Zino's Petrels on the Ventura Boat trip to the Desertas Islands, including 1 definate Desertas Petrel, (though I wasn't able to make the distinction myself). Every sighting was on the other side of the boat from where I sat, so I struggled! I also saw a smaller number of shadows resembling Zino's Petrels on the spectacular, and knackering night walk in the Madeiran Mountains. I left the Island without any great emotions towards the Pterodroma Petrels.. Obviously they are extremely rare, but with such fleeting views, I didn't really get the chance to grow too attached to them!
What I never dreamt of was that I would see another within a month, in The English Channel, and with much better views. Incredibly, this is exactly what happened to me last weekend, when I volunteered to a Balearic Shearwater and Cetacean survey in Lyme Bay, on a Diving boat out of West Bay, near Bridport. It was the kind of day when everything fell into place perfectly.. the weather had been naff with a strong south-west wind and heavy rain for the previous two days, and I was lucky that the boat trip sailed on the Saturday in much calmer conditions. Seawatching from the boat was fairly comfortable with a superb uninterrupted 180 Degree view to the front of the vessel, and a steady trickle of birds which kept me busy for most of the 10 hours I spent on deck.
It was at the dive point, some 30 miles south of Bridport (a couple more miles would have made us closer to the Channel Islands than the English mainland!), when the "presumed" Fea's quite unexpectedly zoomed past the boat giving me incredible views, albeit only for a few seconds before it headed off into the distance. I was understandably left quite stunned, a feeling that stayed with me for the next 3 or 4 days, realising the magnitude of what I had seen, and how lucky I was to be on the boat and on to the bird during it's brief fly past.
I'm now a big fan of the Fea's group of Petrels.. the speed and elusiveness that frustrated me no end in Madeira, now makes me even more in awe of these amazing superfast seabirds. Here is a bird that made the Balearic and Manx Shearwaters on the day appear sluggish and flat, as it darted and wheeled around the boat. I suspect however many you see, you will always want to see more, and watch them for longer.
It has also made me see the English Channel in a whole new light: Previously, I've looked at it as pretty tame, with all the decent birds stopping in the Bay of Biscay or West of the Scillies. I'm now seeing it as a huge almost unchartered area in terms of Birders.. Let's face it, anyone heading on the typical Biscay ferries run makes sure as much of the Channel sections are overnight, and spent asleep dreaming of what lies in store in the Biscay! Even with determination, it is quite difficult to get out in a boat in fairly calm conditions straight after stormy weather (assuming the storm chaser theory for finding birds holds true out at sea, as it often does on land!). I tried to follow up with a second survey this week, the weather was again looking suitably terrible in the days leading up to the survey, but the survey itself fell victim to the weather.
To cover this area with the regularity you would associate with a local patch is pretty much impossible, so who knows what is out there.
Perhaps we need a few proper pelagic boats out of Weymouth or West Bay, into these unwatched areas 30 or 40 miles south of Dorset and Devon, complete with a couple of barrels of Chum. Count me in if you hear of any trips, but I suspect weather related cancellations would be frequent.
If you see any opportunity out there.. believe me, grab it with both hands!
Other highlights recorded from the boat: 5 Common Scoter, 4 Manx Shearwater, 3 Storm Petrel, 3 Great Skua, 2 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Arctic Skua. |
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