Bay of Biscay trip on "Pride of Bilbao"

2-5 Sept - Very rough seas, especially on the outward journey with severe gale force 9 in the channel, led to a very poor cetacean trip with the Company of Whales - 1 Minke Whale seen very briefly in the northern Bay, and pods of Striped and Bottlenose Dolphins seen on the return journey - no other cetaceans seen! The wind however produced good numbers of seabirds, the highlight being about 90 Great Shearwaters (middle 2) and 65 Cory's Shearwaters (lower) in the Bay, together with 6 Sooty and 26 Manx Shearwaters. 12 Sabine's Gulls (upper), 2 Long-tailed Skuas and 10 Great Skuas were seen, together with a Storm Petrel and 5 Grey Phalaropes.
The walk at Santurzi gave some good sightings, including a pale phase Booted Eagle, a Griffon Vulture, a Hobby, 2 Red-backed and a Woodchat Shrike, a Wryneck and 5 Cirl Buntings. All in all, a very good trip from the birding point of view.