Tuesday, August 01, 2023
It was a beautiful day, with blue sky and warm sunshine - but the wind grew steadily stronger during the voyage out, and the sea was quite choppy. Half an hour outside Stornoway half a dozen Risso's dolphins were making large splashes to the north of the ferry. They were quite a bit closer than the one I snapped in April, but I was on the lower seating deck this time and I only spotted them as they receded rapidly behind us.
Quite by chance I managed to catch underparts with the anchor shape.....
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A few shearwaters were found but quickly lost; one at least was a Manx, but there was no sign of the large numbers that were here on the last two trips. A skua (probably Arctic) flew up from the water and then disappeared behind the funnel, at least two groups of common/Arctic terns were seen feeding, and a pod of common dolphins delighted everyone - apart from an elderly woman who was heard complaining to her daughter that they were smaller than she'd expected!
