Sea Trust Pelagic:Fri 2.Sept 20011

To end my week off on a further nautical note Teresa and myself booked on one of the Sea Trust's cetacean survey pelagics out of Neyland Marina and after an early start we were soon meeting up with Cliff Benson and the other participants at the marina cafe.

We set off on time and were soon "steaming" down the haven towards open water which once encountered was "lumpy" to say the least and it must have been borderline that we actually sailed.

A Manx Shearwater way up the haven was a bit of a surprise and as we headed our in the general direction of Lundy we picked up plenty of Gannets,Fulmers and Manx Shearwaters.

Cetaceans were a little thin on the ground but after a couple of hours we encountered several small pods of Common Dolphins coming in to "bow-ride" with the twin-hulled Celtic Wildcat,some so close you could hear them "blowing".

The sea state remained more than a little choppy and after doing a "loop" we stopped near Grassholm where the swell made me feel more than a little unwell and for the first time ever out on a small boat I threw up for a couple of minutes,that seemed to do the trick and as we headed back towards Neyland I felt a lot better.

I'm sure I saw Wayne's image in the water as I heaved over the side saying "that'll teach you to take the p..s out of me",harking back to a similar pelagic a number of years ago when he was ill for almost the entire trip !!

There were still thousands of Gannets on and around the island and the smell didn't exactly do me any favours in my delicate state !!

As it was fairly quiet and the sea state was still quite rough we arrived back at Neyland about an hour earlier than scheduled which was fine by me,I've enjoyed better times out in a small boat but won't let this one put me off,I'll be back for some more next year and will hopefully catch up with and enjoy a close encounter with those elusive Fin Whales.

Bay of Biscay:"Pont Aven" Ferry Aug/Sept 2011

After the cancellation of the Cornwall Pelagic out of St Ives on Saturday 27.August with Kevin and Dan I enjoyed the long August Bank Holiday weekend up at the caravan with Teresa before on Tuesday morning heading down from Llangors to Richard Smith's house in Llantrisant for Sue to drop us both at Cardiff Central station to join up with 10 other participants on the Brittany Ferries "Pont Aven" from Portsmouth-Santander-Plymouth in the hope of encountering plenty of quality sea birds and cetaceans.The scheduled train to Portsmouth Harbour was on time but points problems at Bristol meant a 1 hour delay with Great Western deciding to terminate the journey at Fareham,which was really good of them,it's no wonder that the rail system in this country gets such bad press !!

Some quick thinking by the lads had 3 pre-booked taxis waiting for us at Fareham station and we were whisked quickly to the ferry with about 15 mins to spare,we quickly dumped our gear in our cabin and then had a couple of hours up on deck sea-watching as we made our way out into the English Channel picking up some Common Terns and Gannets.

I was sharing a 4 berth cabin with Richard,John Wilson and Alan Rosney and after a brisk wash and brush up we joined the others in the A La Carte restaurant for a sumptuous evening meal and a few drinks.

Wednesday morning saw us rise early if not bright for a full day's seawatching in the lower half of the Bay of Biscay before arriving at Santander at 6.00pm.

Myself and John jumped the gun and it was still dark as we arrived up on Deck 6 (Promenade Deck) which we had sussed out the evening before,we were soon joined by Richard and Alan and Joex Roex and Steve Howcroft soon arrived as did Cliff "Tiger" Woodhead,Alan Hughes,Nigel Fairney,Steve Hinton,Nigel Addecott and Nigel's nephew Tom.

We enjoyed a fantastic day picking up huge numbers of both Cory's and Great Shearwaters,10 Little Shearwaters,with Manx,Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters in good numbers.

50+ Sabine's Gulls were also seen as were Storm Petrels,Gannets,Fulmers and an assortment of gulls and terns,we also picked up both Arctic and Great Skuas and a couple which may have been Pomarine or Long Tailed but distance ruled out exact identificationWe started to enter the deeper canyon areas of the Bay of Biscay and after a slow start we picked up cetaceans in good numbers and at regular intervals,a lone Sperm Whale blew and gave brief if distant views and we also had good numbers of Fin Whales which blew and gave good views and the opportunity of a couple of photographs.Pilot Whales were also encountered as were Striped Dolphins and a couple of Cuvier's Beaked Whales surfaced only for myself,Richard,John and Alan to miss the encounter having slipped off for a coffee and a late light breakfast,sod's law as they were only a 100m or so out from the ship !!

We sailed on and passed raft after raft of Great Shearwaters which also held Manxies,Sootys and some Little Shearwaters,what a bonus !! A number of passarines also passed the ship and a Turtle Dove landed on one of the upper decks after flying past us a couple of times,a couple of Pipit sp were seen and we were told by some other birders that a Sedge Warbler had also sought the sanctuary of the ship on it's jouney south.

We soon reached Santander and had to leave the ship and "enjoy" Spain for a couple of hours which we did sat outside a bar in one of the squares opposite the cathedral.

On the way back myself,Richard and "Tiger" caught up with Joex,Steve,John and Alan who had added Wood Warbler,Spotted and Pied Flycatcher,Chiffchaff and a possible Bonelli's Warbler plus a couple of local Peregrines to the trip list in a small but very busy lacal park.

We had put in a good 12 hour shift and all retired to our cabins well pleased with our efforts although some of us were more than a miffed at "dipping" on the Cuvier's !!

After a nice evening meal in the not so expensive self service restaurant and a quick drink we enjoyed a reasonably early night looking forward to what the upper part of the bay would bring in the morning.

I struggled to get up as early as I had hoped and missed part of the first hour when wave after wave of dolphins came into the ship,a conservative estimate was 1500,I still saw quite a few and managed some pics of Common Dolphins and whilst watching a pod dashing in we spotted a few Minke Whales "rolling" just behind them.

The upper half of the bay I am told is never as good as the deeper lower half and we encountered some quiet periods which unfortunately are inevitable at some point.

The trip soon came to an end as we reached Plymouth at 4.00pm on Thursday afternoon,unfortunately our pre-booked train to Cardiff didn't leave until 6.25pm,yet again a good excuse to go to a local pub for a pint and compile the "trip list".

We made good time to Cardiff and Sue was bang on time to pick us up at the station,after dropping off Alan at Nantgarw and picking up my car I was soon on my way home having enjoyed a fantastic few days.

The company was great,the price negotiated by "Slaphead" fantastic,a ferry as good as most cruise ships I've been on,fabulous food and drink,great weather and sea state and brilliant sea-birds and cetaceans.

I can't wait until next year and with the lads planning a possible "mini-cruise" Plymouth-Santander-Plymouth combined with a couple of days land birding in the Picos de Europa what a prospect !!

The Morning After the Morning Before

Having said I'd get up "first thing" in my previous posting I suppose I'd better prove that I did!

Well I did, and I'm really glad I did. It wasn't quite as busy as the previous morning, and we didn't have the excitement of adding any new species to the patch life list, but it was worth getting up to see the numbers of Chiffchaff going through Radyr Floodplain (The Scrub). We counted at least 35 of them, and that was a conservative estimate. Also making up the numbers were a dozen Blackcap and 4 Whitethroats. And then Geth turned up trumps by digging out a Lesser Whitethroat - only our second ever for The Scrub. Of interest to Geth and me only were some fly-over Rooks (a patch year tick).

And finally, on our way home we went through 'The Top Scrub' (not that it is in anyway 'top' in a birding sense - it's normally rubbish. It's not even particularly 'scrubby' either). It's official name is the Glamorgan Canal LNR Top Meadow and to our surprise, in addition to the ever present Magpies, Jackdaws, Greenfinch and dog walkers, it also had 3 Tree Pipits.

Ah, the joys of migration.

A 'Fall' on the Patch

In terms of notable UK 'falls' of birds this one would probably be better described as a very small 'stumble'. It wouldn't register more than 0.001 on the Ornithological Richter Scale, but in terms of Gethin's and my patch (Radyr Floodplain/Forest Farm/Glamorgan Canal nr Whitchurch, Cardiff) today was positively historic . . . and I nearly missed out on it by being a lazy bugger.

Geth had clocked that it was going to be cloudy and wet overnight and clearing in the morning. He recognised the birding potential of such weather and was out first thing. I on the other hand chose to stay in bed . . . . again. (See previous posting).

An hour later, I was just stepping into the shower when there was an almighty noise downstairs created by Gethin appearing to try and smash the front door down (he'd forgotten his key again). "WHINCHAT! TREE PIPIT! REDSTARTS! LOADS OF WARBLERS!" he blurted breathlessly. The shower was fogotten and, having remembered to throw on some clothes, we were on our way.

As soon as we entered 'The Scrub' (aka Radyr Flood Plain) I got onto a male Redstart and Geth got onto a fem/imm. We didn't bother looking at them for any length of time - we've seen quite a few there on migration - because up on top of a small hawthorn was a Whinchat, and then there was another, and then another! 3 flippin' Whinchat! High fives . . . a new patch tick.

In no time at all, a pipit flew overhead and onto the top of a bush. Meadow Pipit. Damn! A scarcity on the patch, we'd have been happy enough to see a Mipit normally - but not today. We traipsed round The Scrub picking up the odd Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat but the numbers of warblers Geth had had an hour earlier had already cleared out.

And then there it was, another pipit. Straight ahead of us. And this time it was a Tree Pipit - yet another new patch tick. Top banana!

The Tree Pipit takes our combined patch list up to 89. Geth is on 88 (he's seen Canada Goose, Lapwing, Sedge Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Stonechat and I haven't) and I'm on 84 (I've seen Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and he hasn't).

Why am I four species behind him? Because I'm a lazy bugger and he's seen all those extra species while I've been lying in bed.

I'll be out with him first thing tomorrow morning though.

Twitchmeister's Triple Tick Trip

It's August and so the Jenkins-Joneses must be down on their annual summer holidays in beautiful Pembrokeshire. (Every year, I'd like to go to Norfolk on our holidays, but the current Mrs Jenkins-Jones prefers Pembrokeshire. And so every year we compromise - the secret of a successful marriage - and we end up in Pembrokeshire).

Now, if you're a birder, early August isn't usually the bestest time to visit Pembrokeshire. (Norfolk is much better in August, Mrs JJ take note). The islands are quiet because most of the seabirds have finished nesting, wader passage hasn't really kicked off and it's usually just a little bit too soon to expect some nice rarities. The height of our birding ambition every year is to get the Fishguard Harbour Black Guillemots onto Gethin's life list. And so it was again this year. But of course, they also naff off in early August too so we've dipped on them every year.

But, our 2011 holiday was to prove much more fruitful . . . .

We set off for St Davids on the 9th. Unbeknown to the Twitchmeister, before leaving the house I'd clocked that there was a Melodious Warbler lurking down at Martin's Haven. Like any self-respecting birding father, I didn't tell him. On arriving at Havefordwest, I pulled over and checked my phone - the harmonious Hippo was still showing - I still didn't breathe a word. Two minutes before we arrived at the National Trust car park in Martin's Haven I told him to get hold of his Collins and familiarise himself with Melodious Warbler. "Why?" he said "Cos you're going to be looking at one within the next few minutes" I said. Cue: pandamonium.

We duly arrived at the spot where the bird had been seen. Cue usual opening question, trying to sound as calm as possible - "Is it showing boys?" Reply: "Nope". Trying to hide my disappointment "Oh that's a shame". I wandered off to inform Mrs JJ that we may be some time when up went the shout "There it is!" By the time I got there it had disappeared again. Geth had seen it (briefly) and I hadn't. Cue: a serious bout of gripping off his father. It's a good thing for the lad that two minutes later the bird showed brilliantly otherwise he'd have had a tripod wrapped round his neck. Lifer for both of us.

The self-congratulatory couple at Martin's Haven.

This holiday was already proving better than any of our other Pembrokeshire family holidays . . . and it hadn't even started yet.

We arrived at St Davids in a cold, stiff south westerly wind. Mrs JJ wasn't happy. But, Geth and I were. Strumble Head here we come!

7.30 the following morning (I know, I know, we should have been there at least an hour earlier but it was the first full day of our holiday and Mrs JJ didn't want to be woken up too early . . . so we compromised) we were sitting on our deckchairs on Strumble. Cue usual opening question: "Anything showing, boys?" Reply: "Nope, very quiet". Trying to hide my disappointment "Oh, what a shame".

Now, anybody who's ever been seawatching in Glamorgan will be familiar with 'quiet days', and a 'quiet seawatching day' in Glamorgan isn't the same as a 'quiet seawatching day' on Strumble. There were thousands of birds out there! Dozens of Kittiwakes streamed past, as did scores of Manx Shearwaters, auks, gulls and Gannets galore. And then best of all three Bonxies close in and two Sooty Shearwaters further out. Two more lifers for the Twitchmeister (#248 & #249) and a Wales tick for me (the Sooties).

"Wot no Balearics?" The Twitchmeister enjoying a "quiet day" on Strumble.

We left north Pembs the following Saturday (having enjoyed every night the spectacle of thousands Manxies flying past St Davids Head on the way back to their burrows) and headed off to our second destination - Saundersfoot. Here, the quality of birding dropped to the usual Jenkins-Jones family holiday standard. Although Geth, on one of his early morning forays into a nearby wood (I'd stayed in bed), found a Marsh Tit. He tried gripping me off again but it didn't work this time.

The Twitchmeister sketched in Tenby - complete with bins

The twpsyn has since cut his hair so the picture doesn't look anything like him anymore.

In birding terms the holiday may have started with a bang and ended in a whimper but I'm not complaining. I'll be happy to compromise and return to Pembrokeshire again in 2012.

And in case you'r wondering . . . yes, we dipped on the Black Guillemots at Fishguard again.