Good morning :-) Somewhat different looking out across the Bay this morning :-) .. Somewhat Grey and Overcast, compared to yesterdays brilliant and spectacular, hot, fiery Sunrise . What a stunner it was too !! . Im thrilled so may of you enjoyed it so much .. Delightful :-) and thank you for all your LIKES :-) and comments, I just adore photography :-) these modern phones and their incredible cameras.. Perfect for that quick snap :-) . Although its grey at the moment today, the sea is still lovely and calm, with just a slight ruffle . The joy and excitement as I scan across the Bay .. Is I can see some beautiful Snow White Egrets fishing in the rock pools below and there are several, Great Northern Divers just offshore and feeding in the Bay .. Numbers are steadily building now as these large and striking birds arrive from the far North of the UK, Scandinavia and Russia, to over Winter in our calm and sheltered Bays . Always a joy and exciting to see them ... :-) giving us some truly spectacular and close up views, when we are out on Free Spirit :-) What an exciting and fabulous day we had yesterday,, making the most of what was a very special and beautiful, gentle day .. To be quite honest !! It was hard to realy believe it IS December !!!! How warm and calm it was ... Without showing my age toooo much :-) haha.. I remember as a boy :-) being dressed up in big wooly jumpers, thick wooly socks, big heavy Duffle coats and wooly balaclavas in December, to keep the cold at bay .. Yesterday, Im delighted to say .. It was positively balmy, down here in Falmouth . The warmth in the sun, Devine .. :-) With calm seas and clear skies, wildlife was everywhere to be found .. Seals are gathering nicely now in their favourite sites along this stunning coastline . Peregrine Falcons, Kestrels, Buzzards and Ravens enjoying the warm thermals, rising off the granite cliffs. Great Northern and Black Throated Divers are all along the inshore zone and Slavonian Grebes in our sheltered bays .. Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Gannets and a lone, dark phase Arctic Skua heading through offshore and joy of joys :-) Beautiful playful pods of Common Dolphins, bringing squeals of excitement to all onboard Free Spirit and cameras clicking ... :-) happiness and excitement joined together . Beaming smiles all round :-) Perfect in everyway :-) Winters days can be so exciting, hardly another boat in sight, crystal clear seas, giving incredible views through the water and long clear views, to far off distant shorelines, were shared by all .. How lucky we all were, to spend some time offshore yesterday in such glorious conditions .. I wish you could have all been with me, so I could have shared it with you all .... :-) .. Need a bigger boat :-) comes to mind, haha :-) Returning to our photographic albums from this year and more of the Spring, still to share with you all .. Below is another series of stunning photographs for you all to marvel at and enjoy .. The Basking Sharks when they arrive ,, always leave me in absolute AWE and AMAZEMENT .. As they are quite literally, HUGE and MYSTERIOUS . One minute nothing and next thing here they are again, up on the surface feeding .. Incredible .. I always get a tingle of adrenaline when I see them and marvel at their colossal bulk ... Second largest fish in the sea !! The crazing thing is here we are in the 21st century and ... We still know so little about these truly incredible creatures .. Our underwater GoPro footage from this year, revealing some phenomenal images and insights into their watery world .. We recorded and documented, Nineteen Basking Sharks this season out from Falmouth .. The most as far as I am aware in one area of Cornwall this year .. Several interactions involved multiple clusters of large animals feeding together in chorus lines .. Interestingly, where we locate the most Barrel Jellyfish, is where we also located, the most Basking Sharks !!.. Both feeding on the rich clouds of Zooplankton.. Giving us all some truly spectacular and very exciting views .. If anyone reading this, would like to go on our, Basking Shark ALERT !! mailing list for next year .. Please feel free to drop us a line with you contact phone number. To, [email protected] and it will be our delight and pleasure to inform you, when they are IN next Spring !! March through to May potentially appears to be the very best time to observe and interact with these mind boggling, thought prevoking, jaw dropping and very exciting to see, leviathans and gentle giants of our temperate seas. Snorkelling trips giving everyone such a thrill to see these fabulous creatures .. Spring also sees the arrival of our cliff neating seabirds and the return of gorgeous and charismatic Puffins offshore. Everyones favourite bird and always a thrill to locate .. I pride myself in tracking them down for you all to enjoy .. Such lovely little characters :-) always fun to see.. Our local and only, large active nesting Auk colony on the South coast of Cornwall, will be in full swing .. However, sadly numbers over the last couple of years, appear to be down :-( Every Spring and on every visit we undertake to view and record these delightful little birds .. We do a detailed and specific count of the number of both Guillemots and Razorbills, nesting at this important site .. With the last two Winters severe weather and the two major P. I. B Oil discharges into the English Channel diring 2012/13. Sadly our records show, we have lost lots of birds from this vital breeding colony .. Numbers falling from some 550 + / - Guillemots to just some 150 + / - birds this year and Razorbills down from some 100 + / - birds to just 45 + / - :-( It will be interesting to see what numbers we will record in 2015 .. I will close now :-) by extending a very warm and heart felt thank you, for all your kind comments and words to me from yesterdays posts. Im thrilled as always, to be privileged and able to share the joy and beauty of all, that is our incredibly varied, diverse and magnificent Cornish wildlife with you all .. A special thanks goes to all the photographers too :-) for sharing their photographs with us .. Have a lovely weekend everyone .. Thank you .... :-) CK :-)
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 12:53:04 +0000
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