Extreme Bird Watching – Gannets and Manx Shearwaters
I had a great windsurf session yesterday when the wind picked up without warning.
I’d just been for a bike ride and when I got back the wind filled in beautifully so I headed across to the beach with my kit. It was windy enough for a 5m sail and my wave board so I headed out perfectly powered on smallish kit.
The wind was SSW so I was sailing out to sea and going a fair way out. Not only was I the only person on the water, but I was treated to some pretty extreme bird-watching too. Blasting along over the choppy waters I was surrounded at one point by loads of Manx Shearwaters flying just above the water all around me. Not only that but there were quite a few Gannets about too, some of them diving into the water just a few feet from me as I passed by. Quite impressive and a little more exciting than watching through a telescope from the shore!
I wish I’d taken my camera with me really as it would have been good to have stopped out there and got some photos of them. Although, if I had they probably wouldn’t have come so close.
