Below are the totals from a groundbreaking expedition undertaken by 8 intrepid birders on board the motor yacht Challenger to British waters on the continental shelf 160- 180 nautical miles southwest of Scilly from 9th-15th September
2 Madeiran storm-petrel* (10th & 13th)
4 Barolo shearwater (10th(1), 11th(2), & 12th(1))
1 Desertas petrel (12th) (photo)
192 Wilson’s storm-petrel
741 European storm-petrel
576 Great shearwater
627 Cory’s shearwater
35 Sooty shearwater
255 Manx shearwater
326 Fulmar
6 Great skua
11 Pomarine skua
4 Arctic skua
1 Long-tailed skua
30 Gannet
44 Arctic tern
1 Common tern
1 Black tern
3 Sabines gull
2 Black-headed gull
85 Lesser-blacked gull
1 Great black-backed gull
88 Grey phalarope
1 Auk sp.
2 Dunlin
1 Ringed plover (W)
4 Whimbrel
5 Grey heron (N)
*(Madeiran storm-petrel record on 10th Sept may have involved as many as three individuals observed over a three hour period during an eight mile drift across the Dangaard and Explorer Canyons. Whilst it is generally considered that the sightings involved two individuals, it cannot be ruled out that all three observations involve the same bird, therefore only one has been recorded for this date. Another individual was observed on 13th Sept over deep water c.20 miles to the southwest of the canyons).
Cetaceans:
5+ Fin whale
39 Pilot whale
26 Striped dolphin
15 Bottlenose dolphin
378 Short-beaked common dolphin
2 Probable beaked whale sp.
Fish:
9 Blue shark
1 Atlantic bluefin tuna
1 Ocean sunfish