Wildlife Visitors in the Bristol Channel


Sailing north across the Bristol Channel from St Ives to Milford Haven, we encountered some interesting wild life, each very different but always a welcome interruption during our long day at sea.

While we were sailing rather slowly in light winds, a tiny bird that I think had to be a young Goldcrest landed on our stern rail and then hopped onto the steering wheel before flying round the boat and back again.  It was far out at sea and seemed unsure what to do.  We would like to have helped it but we could not have caught it and even so, would it have wanted us to hold it?  Eventually it flew off and we did not see it again.  I was too slow with my camera so this is a photo from the internet.

We frequently came across groups of Razorbills far from land, surfacing just ahead of the boat and then diving down again in search of fish.  They were perfectly at home well away from the shore either under or on the sea.  This is another photo from the internet.


And finally, we saw several small pods of dolphins.  They would swim alongside us and then dive in and out of the sea either side of our bow, having a great time and easily keeping up with our boat's speed.  This is a photo taken from our boat yesterday.

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