What an absolute thrill I had last night. I was on a boat trip in to Lyme Bay out from Brixham on the "Optimist" with 8 other passengers, a trip organised by Nigel Smallbones. I had been on the same trip last Friday evening and had a great time then, but last night was really, really special. We started by pushing out of the harbour at a lively pace, again like last Friday, in to a glorious calm and sunny evening. We were in to a raft of Manx Shearwater almost immediately and we had absolutely brilliant views of them. The sea was almost "millpond" calm and it was really beautiful conditions, warm and bright. I managed some great photographs as one of the Shearwaters came close to the boat and I will post those pictures in another entry. It was going really well and immensely enjoyable, we constantly came upon more and more Manx Shearwater and then amongst them there was three Balearic Shearwater which is a great bird to see in Devon waters. We pushed further out in to Lyme Bay and we were around 6 miles off Brixham now. Chum was being thrown out to attract the gulls, gannets and suddenly two Balearic Shearwater came in to the offerings and were only feet from us. This was quite a spectacle and it was wonderful to get close to the Shearwaters, a bird that I saw for the first time last week. Suddenly the call came out that there was a large pod of Dolphins in the distance and we quickly got back underway and steamed in their direction. Five minutes later we were amongst the magnificent spectacle of a a large pod of Common Dolphin. We had already noticed how much bait and small fish there was in the high levels of the water and the dolphins were no doubt, following these fish shoals. Dolphins were leaping everywhere and sometimes they were just behind the boat and then on occasions right by the gunnels. It was hard to get a good photo because it was hard to predict where they were going to leap, most shots were of tails and flippers as the dive was missed by a a fraction. Amongst the pod was at least one youngster. This is one of the true wildlife spectacles in the UK. Dolphins are the only mammals that are totally untouched by human hand when in UK waters, they are not contained or culled, hunted or shot, nor are they penned and can come and go as any wild mammal would.

This is the second time that I have been really close to Common Dolphins which are a beautifully marked animal. They are sleek and this is reinforced by some sleek "go faster" stripes on the flanks. They are large and can be up to 9 feet long.