30 JULY 2012
25nm South of Start Point, Devon
From an angling boat. Good numbers of gulls, with juvs of both Herring and Lesser Black now appearing out at sea, in with them at least 3 juv/1w Yellow-legged Gulls. Constant chumming only produced 4 European Storm-petrels, a brief visit by a Sooty Shearwater and Fulmars numbers were higher than recent trips with over 50. One Ocean Sunfish drifted past the boat but conditions were too rough to see any cetaceans.
Although a few Manx were seen further out most were within 6nm of land both when going out and returning.

25 JULY, 2012

Marinelife/Naturetrek pelagic - Lyme Bay 

Totals included 23 White-beaked Dolphin, 1 Minke Whale, 10 Harbour Porpoise, 1 Ocean Sunfish, 7 Balearic Shearwater, 2000 Manx Shearwater, 1000 Gannet, Pomarine Skua, 5 Great Skua, 5 European Storm-petrel


8 Common Dolphin 1 mile south of Lyme Regis at 13:00

22 JULY, 2012

Marinelife/Naturetrek pelagic - Lyme Bay 

White-beaked Dolphin 13, Harbour Porpoise 8, Common Dolphin 25, Balearic Shearwater 2, Manx Shearwater 150, Sooty Shearwater 2, Great Skua 2, Arctic Skua 2, Dunlin 15, Common Scoter 26

21 JULY, 2012

Naturetrek/Marinelife pelagic (James Phillips), Lyme Bay 09:00-18:00

White-beaked Dolphin 4 (bow-riding for an hour), Harbour Porpoise 9, a breaching Thresher Shark, European Storm-petrel 4, Manx Shearwater 354, Common Scoter 22

20 JULY, 2012

Naturetrek/Marinelife pelagic (Martin Gillingham  & Tom Brereton), Weymouth 17:00-20:00

Balearic Shearwater 3, Manx Shearwater 300, Common Scoter 26, Common Tern 20, Sandwich Tern 2

MARCH, 2012

Frequent sightings of Bottlenose Dolphin in Poole Bay this year by SailTime.

23 July 2012
30nm south of Start Point, Devon
Angling boat skipper Rob Dart  reported 2 Balearic Shearwaters feeding around the boat and 2-3 Minke Whales in the same area.

20 July 2013
30nm south of Start Point
From an angling boat. Minke Whale, juv Yellow-legged Gull, 12 European Storm-petrels, 40+ Lesser black-backed Gulls, 10+ great Black-backed Gulls, 5 Herring Gulls, 25 Fulmar, Arctic Skua

European Storm-petrel

18 JULY 2012
Western Lyme Bay
Still very few Balearic Shearwaters filtering through to headlands such as Berry head, Start Point and Prawle Point, with no counts even into double figures yet, although good numbers of Manx Shearwaters.



17 JULY 2012
English Channel 20nm south of Start Point

Out on angling boat, in between fishing constant chumming pulled up 40+ European Storm-petrels (but still no Wilson's!), otherwise nice sub-adult Pom and Arctic Skuas (both presumed third-summer type - see pics). Also 5 Harbour Porpoise that strangely came around the boat (usually far more timid), but always disappeared when camera was to hand!

Size comparison - Lesser Black-backed Gull, Pomarine Skua & Kittiwake





3rd JULY 2012
Berry Head, Devon
Seawatching 09:15-14:15. Steady trickle of Manx reaching c400, but no Balearics, 3 Arctic Skua (two went into Torbay), 1 Pomarine Skua (sub-ad type), 1 Bonxie and 2 Puffins.
One Harbour Porpoise off the headland, while fishermen reported a pod of dolphins heading south earlier. The highlight was a couple of huge splashes way-out of a breaching animal, on the third time I managed to get on the beast which revealed itself as a really large Thresher Shark coming right out of the water! Seen one before here but not of this size.

2nd JULY 2012
Start Point, Devon
Seawatch 07:00-13:00: Great Shearwater (SW at 10:41, my earliest yet off Devon), 3305 Manx Shearwater (but surprisingly no balearics yet!),  4 Puffins, 6 European Storm-petrels, 20 Common Scoter. 2 Pomarine Skuas, 2 Arctic Skuas. The usuall group of Bottlenose Dolphins headed SW close inshore at 09:00.