In my previous post about Dolphins – see here – I mentioned the great sightings I had of both Manx and Balearic Shearwaters. The conditions were really good when we first left Brixham harbour, but later on in the trip the sun was hidden behind cloud which made photography a little more difficult. However, within a few minutes of leaving harbour we came upon a raft of Manx Shearwater, a dozen or so birds were surface diving on to small bait fish.  Last week the birds had kept quite a distance from the boat but on this occasion one bird in particular was right there quite close to the boat. I took a series of shots as it glided past the boat, the white belly and throat contrasting with the dark uppers and long dark wings.

Then later on with the light now a bit more difficult for photography we had started to “chum” with fish pieces. The gulls were coming to feed on the scraps and Gannets had started to arrive. Suddenly two Balearics were right there in the surf, only a few feet behind. I should have done a lot better but I am quite pleased with the results considering how hard it was to get the light right in the hard conditions.