Seven Men in a Boat

by Andrew Lawson

For some years a few of us have often wondered if there are seabirds in the English Channel which are passing by at a distance too great to be noticed by our keenest seawatchers. Storm Petrels, for example, have in recent years been lured, trapped and rung at SandwichBay and yet they are rarely seen from Kentish shores whilst other localities along the North East coast of England have also had some success either by trapping at night or from a boat during the day. One of the greatest prizes was a Wilson’s Petrel seen from a pelagic 20km off of the Northumberland coast on the 1st September 2002.

With all this in mind, a few of us have frequently discussed whether we should take a boat from Kent to try chumming for seabirds. So, on the 29th July 2004 six foolhardy souls decided to brave the often choppy seas off of Dungeness in a quest to try to find pelagic specialities.

Nigel Driver, myself, Marcus Lawson, Peter Simpson, Phil Simons & Don Taylor met at Dungeness Bird Observatory at 6am and by 6.30am we had driven around to the fishing boats where we met our captain for the day, Jerry Oiler.

We walked out to the boat and helped push it down the shingle to the water’s edge where we boarded and promptly set off.

Almost immediately we had an adult Arctic Skua fly almost over our heads. A good start and we were only 100 metres or so offshore! A little further out we passed an adult Guillemot in winter plumage.

We sped away from the point in a South-Easterly direction until we had reached a distance of about four or five miles. Jerry cut the engines and Marcus began to prepare the chum as the rest of us scanned for seabirds. Several scans revealed a birdless seascape so without further ado, Marcus dispatched the chum to the water.

Almost immediately a Fulmar zoomed in low across the water and splashed down in the widening slick where it was quickly joined by three more Fulmars.  

We watched the slick in expectation of greater things to come but alas, after about an hour, we had been rewarded with sightings of just one or two Herring Gulls.

Jerry started up the motor and we headed further South until we were about eight miles from shore. A Bonxie passed the boat heading South but did not linger long enough for a record shot. Gannets also flew by with some occasionally passing fairly close to the boat.

Again we came to a stop and the only movement to the boat was caused by a gentle swell. Fortunately, we all had our sea legs with us and the swell did not cause any of us to inadvertently add to Marcus’s chum.

In fact it was very calm and also becoming rather hot and still with only the slightest sea breeze helping to cool us down.

This weather is perhaps not conducive to attracting sea birds into the English Channel and someone present suggested that birds such as shearwaters need a slight breeze to aid their flight. It wasn’t looking good and several more attempts at chumming attracted what were probably the same Fulmars each time. Our spirits were high but, to be honest, we were starting to lose interest.

Some interest was provided by the number of insects either passing by or landing on the boat with Small and Large White butterflies fluttering by in ones and twos along with a Lesser Yellow Underwing moth whilst Hoverflies were frequent visitors but were not present in enough numbers to be a pest as they apparently sometimes can be.

Jerry had brought a couple of fishing lines with him which we intended to use to catch some Mackerel to supplement the chum. The lines had four hooks each and Marcus made the first tentative attempt to catch some fish. Within seconds he was hauling three Mackerel into the boat and Don and I soon joined in by taking it in turns with the other line. Meanwhile Marcus also caught a rather magnificent looking Rock Salmon and then Pete emulated Marcus’s success by catching another Rock Salmon. Both fish were returned to the sea.

By now it was Midday and we only had about an hour left before we had to return to the Point. We headed back towards the ‘Patch’ where we knew that we could at least view some birds. We stopped within half a mile of the shore and enjoyed some close views of Common & Sandwich Terns, a couple of Gannets and many Gulls including a splendid fly-by summer plumaged Little Gull and a couple of Kittiwake.

Before long we were heading back to shore and so our pelagic had come to an end.

I think we all had realistic expectations from the onset and so we were not too disappointed. It was never going to be like the Scilly pelagics or the occasional pelagics off of the North-East of England and none of us thought it would be. But Dungeness is geographically positioned to attract the outrageous and indeed it often has. Besides, it only takes one bird………

Overall it was a very pleasant day and when we did find some seabirds they often afforded us close views which are rarely had from dry land. It was a worthwhile experience and if at first you don't succeed......

Thank you Marcus for organising the boat!