On Saturday 21st June, with a spring-like weather, we left O Grove harbour at the usual time, 8:30 a.m.
In the route throughout the 'ria' of Arousa we managed to see five Eurasian oystercatchers, European shags, great black-backed and yellow-legged gulls. Once off Sálvora island, the first shearwaters popped up, with one Cory's shearwater (quite scarce this year) and some Balearics. A stormy (European storm-petrel) showed well at the chum, plus northern gannets, two common terns and, remarkably, two little terns, a not common species in the area.
About cetaceans, we saw both common and bottlenose dolphins, and a sunfish was enjoyed for all the passengers.
Here below is the species list, with highlights in
bold and approximate numbers in
italics:
SPECIES LIST
| Latin
name |
English name |
N |
Notes |
| Puffinus
mauretanicus |
Balearic shearwater |
6 |
|
| Calonectris
diomedea |
Cory's shearwater |
1 |
Scarce this year |
| Hydrobates
pelagicus |
European storm-petrel |
1 |
|
| Phalacrocorax
aristotelis |
European shag |
50 |
|
| Morus
bassanus |
Northern gannet |
86 |
|
| Haematopus
ostralegus |
Eurasian oystercatcher |
5 |
|
| Larus
michahellis |
Yellow-legged gull |
90 |
|
| Larus
marinus |
Great black-backed gull |
2 |
|
| Sterna
hirundo |
Common tern |
2 |
Spring record |
| Sternula
albifrons |
Little tern |
2 |
Not common in the area |
|
|
|
|
| Delphinus
delphis |
Common dolphin |
3 |
|
| Tursiops
truncatus |
Bottlenose dolphin |
22 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Mola
mola |
Sunfish |
1 |
|
An some pictures of the trip, (c) Xoán Diéguez and Gustavo Ferreiro:
