A foggy start to my last Yorkshire Coast Nature pelagics out ot Staithes and a bumpy sea, but with such a lot of wildlife hopefully present, our optimism was high. By mid-morning the fog lifted and the first of the day's many Minke Whales blew close to the boat, before showing its arched black back and curved dorsal fin. Big smiles from all on board and for a moment queasy feelings caused by the big sea were forgotten. Big rafts of Sooty Shearwaters were just as impressive; I scoured everything that moved hard for something rarer, but it was not to be - at least not yet.
Our first trip of the day ended with a mysterious lone dolphin, which I missed, which some observers thought could have been a Risso's....
We had seen about 30 Minke Whales, Harbour Porpoises, lots of Grey Seals, c200 Sooty and c25 Manx Shearwaters, several Arctic and Great Skuas, a handful of Red-throated Divers, Common Scoters and three Whimbrels. Not a bad start!
Back into Staithes at 3.30pm, we quickly said our farewells to our clients before welcoming on the next group of sailors. Heading straight out to the most productive areas, we quickly bumped into the lone dolphin again. The first sighting looked promising to confirm the Risso's hunch; a slow-moving, large dolphin with tall fin, but with closer views, it was in fact a lone Bottlenose. The fin wasn't right, and the head was typically dark and obviously beaked. Sean and me were disappointed it hadn't been the much rarer Risso's but all aboard were delighted to see what was for many, their first dolphin!
Bottlenose Dolphin
Soon, we were into the Minke Whales and much delight ensued. Sooty Shearwaters powered past, and large numbers of Fulmars fed around the floating corpse of a dead Minke. Activity definitely waned as early evening arrived, with many seabirds loafing on the sea, presumably digesting their meals. I continued to scan, and shortly before Sean announced we should head back to harbour, I picked up the unmistakable form of a Storm Petrel! The petrel was flitting along the water behind a raft of Fulmars and Sooty Shearwaters, being tiny in comparison. I shouted 'Storm Petrel!' and followed the bird desperately trying to see any sign of a covert bar (for Wilson's) or an underwing bar to confirm European. I couldn't really see either as the bird wasn't that close, but it's behaviour and wingshape definitely favoured the more-likely European. After a few minutes, it drifted off into the distance without coming any closer. I was elated; this isn't a particularly rare bird, but they are hard to see off the Yorkshire coast. It is the first I have seen in six years of doing these trips and only the third Sean has ever seen and only the second ever seen on YCN pelagics off Staithes. So this little petrel really was a great finale to what had been a great day's pelagic birding and whale-watching.
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