The Ocean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBTA3v1Jt_I

A sojourn down to the furthest end of Cornwall for a family holiday allowed for a couple of boat trips out on the Mermaid II out of Penzance and some seawatching from the land.  From the off there were many Manx Shearwaters moving offshore in the of northerly winds - for the first few days I routinely counted passage from the beach at Porthcurno, between beach activities and watching the dolphins, 750 west per hour was pretty consistent and off the boat we also saw many. 

Mermaid II off St Michaels Mount

There were many dolphins from land and on the sea, mostly Common but a few views of a small pod  of Bottle-nosed.  In the flat calm seas they were easy to see and I also had two sightings of the rolling arc of a Minke Whales back and fin.  Sunfish were regular including one where we could see the giant fish underwater, oddly with red dorsal stripe and lips, perhaps to do with the slicks of nasty looking red algal blooms we kept seeing.  Tuna were also pretty prolific, looking to be Yellow-fin when they launched themselves out of the sea and through the air.

Sunfish

Yellow-Fin Tuna

Back to birds, it's always exciting to see Storm Petrels (well for me, being land locked - the Cornish birders seem non-plussed).  Off the boat there were 10 or so and I also enjoyed a still evening at Porthgwarra as Stormies fed offshore.

A couple of hopeful seawatches off Porthgwarra produced a handful of Sooty Shearwaters, Bonxie, a single Balearic Shearwater and best of the bunch Cory's Shearwater lazing northwards on two successive mornings.  Great Shearwaters flirted too - all a bit beyond certainty range but 3 birds off PG and a single from the Mermaid hint at some numbers when the big blow arrives in the next 24hrs.