h find it quite fascinating that the roads just get narrower & narrower when finally as you approach Martins Haven where we get on the boat it's a lane with passing places as only just wide enough for cars. As you already know we like bird watching (not twitching!) and this trip was to do just that. But before we even got on the boat there were swallows flying in & out of the public loos. Inside there were a number of nests in both the gents & ladies, but some birds were actually on top of the toilet cisterns, and others sat on the road, not being particularly bothered that there were people around. As we got on the boat something appearing to be a bottle bobbing up & down in the water turned out to be a seal – absolutely perfect example of one doing what is known as ‘bottle nosing’! Not far out to sea it started being quite choppy and we were told it was very unlikely that we could go round the island. As it happened it really didn’t matter. For a start we saw hundreds of puffins, in the water & flying together with razorbills & guillemots. Now I hate to sound a bit blazé but as much as I love them these were not what we had come to see.
A few started flying across in front of the boat - they stay out at sea as great bird rafts all day, then come back at night to roost. The ‘dirty weather’ was actually in our favour as this encourages them to return earlier, and then we saw them, I mean really saw them – thousands in the water, in the sky, all around. Puffinus Puffinus aka Manx Shearwater. For those of you who have seen the marvel of your common starling when in winter they perform in the sky late afternoon you will understand when I say that this was similar. They are superb flyers, a bit like a cross between a swallow, a swift and a tern. Just black & white yet beautiful. On the way back the boatman said that we would never see a better display of these birds and I think there is no doubt at all that he’s right.
Les X
PS It was obviously all too much for me as I slept all the way home!
