Trevor was once again a guide on a ZEST for BIRDS pelagic trip today. Conditions were certainly not ideal and we were greeted at the harbour with a fairly strong south-easterly wind which continued throughout the day averaging at least 20 knots. This created a lot of wind chop on the water and subsequently a lot of spray flying around as well resulting in many of us getting wet.
Nevertheless, we battled on out to sea, scratching out a single Pomarine Skua along the way, and eventually located a couple of trawlers working in the deep with thousands of birds in their wake. Not long after arriving at the trawlers, we picked up a Southern Royal Albatross and were later astounded to find no fewer than 4 individuals in the area. This bird is still quite rare in Southern African waters and still is much sought after by many a lister, so is always good to see. Unfortunately, the birds never really came very close to our boat and, because of the bumpy conditions, the photos leave a lot to be desired...
The rest of the day was spent working through the trawler flocks to see what else could be found. A Flesh-footed Shearwater was seen briefly by some on board, but the rest of the birds were pretty much the "run of the mill" things and, eventually after being bumped around for a number of hours, we gave up and turned for home. Photography also had to take a serious back seat today due to the conditions with fine spray around all the time - the camera and lens definitely needed a wipe down once we got home!
