Wildlife Cruise along the
Jurassic coast from Exmouth to Charmouth.
Sunday 20th May 2007
It was interesting, different
and there were not too many birds. It was primarily a geology trip, and I learnt
a lot about tilts, uplifts and strata. I have walked the coastal path and
looking at the area from the sea gives a quite different perspective; walking you can not
see below you, and are often surrounded by trees. I now know why I struggled so
much on some of the hills. It is a 95-mile strip of land, very narrow, that is
designated as a World Heritage Site.
There has been a lot of
erosion, and the large old caves are nearly worn away, but Swifts still nest is
some of them, but we did not see any. We did see one Swallow, though!
We saw several Great
Black-backed Gulls, being ostracised by the other gulls, as they
are not friends. They lay their eggs after the Herring Gulls, so that when
their chicks are hatched there are plenty of Herring Gull chicks for them to
feed to their young. Are you surprised they are kept at a distance?
It was lovely to see a colony
of Kittiwakes. It has been formed recently, and unlike other colonies, it is
growing. They are attractive seabirds, with black legs and their wings look as
though they have been dipped in black paint. We also passed a colony of Fulmar.
They are more closely related to the Albatrosses than Gulls, and fly with
straight stiff wings. I believe that if you get too close to them when they are
nesting, they spit at you, and it is very smelly. Not very pleasant.
I saw one Gannet, the largest
British Seabird. It was white and shining in the sun. They nest in
It was a fun day, and I would
not have thought of going to see the coast from the sea, and it is a very
important site, which living close to, I have not really appreciated before.
Thank you to Rod Lawrence for his commentary and to Richard for
organising it.
Ann Crawford
Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order
BOU order
Shelduck
Mallard
Fulmar
Fulmar
Mallard
Shelduck
in BOU order