On the Sunday, we steamed in a circuit around the flat "control" site that is set away from the main bank. Only trouble is that its not a true control site because the oceanographers discovered an unexpected flow of the currents from the edge of the bank to this particular area, presumably enriching it with nutrients. So that scuppers that plan a bit. We didn't see anything special in the area although Mark and Adam saw an unidentified large shearwater in the evening around a French stern trawler that strayed into our area.A young gannet
On Monday, we did stationary point counts on the edge of the bank. This was a repeat of stationary counts we did at the start of the cruise when the weather was quite bad and adding its own mixing to the water column. The weather has improved considerably, and it has added a lazy Sunday afternoon feel to proceedings, except its Monday. Our stationary counts have been punctuated by occasional stray trawlers through the area, which is a bit of a pest. It has been interesting that we have also seen quite a bit of searching and feeding behaviour during these counts, and that these birds were continuing to feed even when a trawler passed through the area. It must be a bit like birds sticking to the healthy food even when there's a relatively easy, relatively unhealthy meal available nearby. The equivalent to salad v's BicMac.
Oi, that trawler's stolen our birds!Mark and I saw a couple of very distant large shearwaters while watching a rather spectacular sunset. They were far too distant to do anything with.
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