I spent a fabulous 2 hours this morning, accompanying other birders on the Dart Princess out of Paignton to look for and photograph the "divers" that over-winter in the bay. It was a very successful trip and I enjoyed it immensely, I wish it had been longer. I am sorting through the pictures as I speak but wanted to whet your appetite for more to come as the evening progresses. All I can say about the bird above, which is my very first Great Northern Diver, is wow!!!! ........And now, below, my very first Black-Throated Diver. This one was quite a distance away, we couldn't get close to it in the boat and consequently this photo is a massive crop. However it's a geat record shot and shows a good diagnostic feature, the white patch which you can see on the flank at the waterline.
Grey Seals are not that difficult to see in Devon and Brixham Harbour is a good place for them, in fact there were two today, both hauled out on one pontoon each right by the entrance to the harbour.
This is a Guillemot, one of several on the sea off Berry Head close to a colony of several hundred already on the rocks nearby. As we drifted in the current with the engine off, for me this was some of the best moments of the trip. I caught a glimpse of Harbour Porpoise nearby, only momentarily but others on the boat saw them better than me. As it happened, this is not a rare occurance here and the others had seen them often but I hadn't of course and I wished we could have gone to try to get photographs of them. Northern Gannets were flying over the boat and I took some photos of one interesting bird that looks to be moulting in to it's adult plumage.
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