Little and Large

Over the years I have seen the Great Skua beating up seabirds for their food and I have heard stories about the picking on other seabirds no matter what size, but I have never witnessed it myself until the other day when I spotted a Great Skua on the water then all of a sudden it launched itself into the air and started to attack a Gannet.

The size of a gannet to a skua is a bit like little and large but this great skua was just thinking about its next meal and the size of the gannet never seemed to bother it a all.
I have said in a few posts before how I admire the skuas for their cheek but to take on a gannet I have to take me hat off it this wonderful bird.
It was a bit like watching Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson in the heavy weight title fight and we just knew Tyson would win but this time the tables had turned and the Gannet put up a great fight and deafened his corner. With skill and determination the gannet was not to give up his food for no seabird, no matter how strong they were and this time the gannet won and the skua was shattered and have to give up.

After watching the action for a while we were heading into choppy water, so I turned the boat and steamed back into calm waters and by then the gannet was gone and the skua was just getting its breath back. As we reached calmer waters I had a little smile on my face and could not wait to see the pictures of the fight.

I hope my pictures show you what I mean, so enjoy.

Thank you once again for reading our blog and I do hope you enjoy it...

OVER AND OUT

Sunset Cruise 2017

We have now finally had our last sunset cruise for the season and boy was it a beauty. We had finished a week ago but the weather was not the best so when we saw the forecast for Tuesday we decided to give it another go and hopefully we will finish with a bang.
This season has been very mixed weather wise but the sunset cruises have sometimes been the best part of the day and this is one of the reason why its a special trip for me.
This season has been a little bit better as I have had a new crew member joining me twice a week for the sunset cruises and a few other trips of course and he is new to everything from boats to the seabirds. Teaching him has been a pleasure and he is very willing to learn too which is great and makes my job even more of an enjoyment. 
Our guests keep on asking where is he from as they don't want to their size nine's right in it. Yep he is an Ozzy and not from New Zealand and that's why most people ask first.
I keep on taking the piss and say that he got on the wrong boat but I think the best one he has had this year so far was a man asking him, how long have you been practicing the Ozzy accent. He just replied 27 years mate... To this day I think the man still thinks he was taking the piss out of him.

So with a new crewman on board the sunsets have been really kind to us and he has been blown away with some cracking ones this season and yes our last one was a mega one too.

We could not have finished on a higher note than we did. We had some lovely guests on board with first timers to the farnes and some locals too. Its really nice to see locals on board and I think more locals should come on board just to see whats its like. I would like to thank everyone who has joined us this year on the sunsets and a bigger thank you to all the people who have recommended their guests, friends or family to join us too.
I would also like to thank my Facebook and Twitter friends who keep on sharing my sunset pictures as if it where not for you people might not know we do it, so thank you.

Okay I have talked enough now so i will finish of with some of my favorite pictures from the season and please let me know which one you like the best. Mine are number 6 and 21.

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Thank you once again for reading this blog and I hope I have wetted your appetite for next season.