Monday morning we were up on deck quite early as a chumming session had been planned. We were by now over the Continental Shelf. and a trail of chum was put into the water, then the ship then circled around and passed alongside the slick. Several Storm Petrels soon arrived but unfortunately time was pressing and after a short while the ship began to continue south heading for deeper water as birds were still arriving. At first the journey south was fairly quiet apart from quite a few Gannets and Fulmars enlivened by the odd Bonxie and Sooty Shearwaters. Later we started to pick up our first cetaceans of the trip, firstly a few Bottle-nosed Dolphins followed quickly by our first Fin Whales of the trip as we began to reach deeper water. A Great Shearwater showed well in the wake for a short while. Shortly afterwards Trev picked up a Petrel flying above a distant group of Dolphins. Almost immediately there was a shout from the bridge that it was a probable Wilson's Petrel. I did not get on to it then, but a minute or so later I picked up what was presumably the same Petrel passing the ship at about half the distance (still quite distant) and got Trev on to it. It was moving very rapidly towards the bow and was difficult to get on, but through the scope I could just make out a wrapped around white rump, a paler brownish upperwing bar and more rounded wing shape. Unfortunately nobody else seemed to have picked it up. Over the rest of the day we saw quite a few Fin Whales, some quite close but most were fairly distant, though we did have some very good views of Pilot Whales porpoising. At one point we were surrounded by a huge numbers of Dolphins (mainly Common but also a few Striped). At least four Little Shearwaters were seen during the afternoon but frustratingly we managed to miss all of these.
Tuesday morning I went up on deck quite early but Trev stayed in late. By now we could see the hills of northern Spain to our south. Three Melodious Warblers were on board as well as various other passerines. A Grey Phalarope was picked up on the water in front of the boat which I saw, but I managed to miss yet another Little Shearwater which passed close to the ship. Soon after this a group of Sowerby's Beaked Whales were picked up and I got excellent views of these through the scope. I was so intent on watching them that I forgot to try and get a photograph, but these were my peronal highlight of the trip. Shortly afterwards Trev arrived up on deck and we moved to a position nearer the front of the boat. Shortly afterwards someone nearby called out a Manx type Shearwater and while they were discussing its identity we got onto it and immediately realised it was a Little Shearwater. It gave excellent views just off the boat joining up with a Cory's as it went towards the bow and made up for the one that Trev missed last year. At the time there was some debate about its identity, some observers thought it was a Balearic but apparently as they passed the bow of the ship there were singles each of Little, Balearic and Cory's, so presumably they had been looking at the wrong bird. The rest of the morning and afternoon were quite productive with numerous Fin Whales, quite a few sightings of Cuvier's Beaked Whales, though I never really got any good views of the Cuvier's this year. We also had several sightings of Tuna sp and the odd Flying Fish, several Sabine's Gulls and a few Cory's and Balearic Shearwaters. During the afternoon a report of a possible Basking Shark turned out to be a pod of Risso's Dolphins which gave some excellent views. Some time later a Whale was picked up, which from the blow and fin shape was thought by the experts to be most probably a Sei Whale. Trev picked up the fin but I did not see it. Shortly after this a very large blow was reported very distantly close to the horizon and a very large whale was seen rolling over which was thought most likely to be a Blue Whale. Trev saw this but again I missed it. Later as we reached the Continental Shelf it gradually became much quieter though we did have a couple of Fin Whale here well out of their normal range. Later we decided to go down for dinner and apparently we did not miss too much during the evening.
This was the first voyage of the Ultimate Pelagic and so was something of a trial run, further trips are already planned for the
future. I can thoroughly recommend it especially if you have not been to Biscay. All the species seen can also be seen quite
regularly from the Portsmouth - Bilbao Ferry, but the Ultimate Pelagic has the advantage of being able visit areas
well away from the ferry routes. We were able to divert course in order to get Whales on the best side for light and also to
alter speed when necessary and were also able to sail fairly close to a few fishing boats in order to check out the birds
in their wake. The food and the staff on the ship were excellent, we had set meals on two evenings and a buffet style meal
on the other evening. Personally we preferred the buffet meal as it was much quicker and more convenient to get our
own food.
A few things could have been better, for example the tannoy system did not work too well on the first day, though this was
fixed later and perhaps a more persistent attempt at chumming would have been worthwhile. Due to the large numbers of
birders on board, even though it was a large ship, it was sometimes difficult to get a good viewing position and digiscoping
was extremely difficult, the Fin Whale above was the only shot I took. Despite this overall the trip was very sucessful and
enjoyable and I'm sure a few lessons will have been learnt to ensure that future trips are even better.
Well done to Steve Bird and the Ultimate Pelagic team who organised this event, which must have been something of a logistical nightmare. It is worth remembering that you cannot possibly expect to see everything that is called out which can be frustrating at times but the chances are you will still have some excellent sightings that you will remember for a lifetime.