Identifying seabirds
Sailors have been watching seabirds for thousands of years. Early navigators in the Pacific used their knowledge of how far different birds ranged from land to judge when they were approaching an island. The white tern was known as the ‘navigator’s best friend’. Birds carrying fish back for their young will even indicate the direction to follow. European sailors on long voyages also noticed the birds but often viewed them in a more superstitious light. It was good luck to see an albatross but bad luck to kill one.
These days we watch birds for pleasure rather than navigational cues; sailing and birdwatching go very well together – for a start there are usually binoculars to hand, and there is little effort involved – just keep your eyes open. By getting out to sea we encounter many birds that are difficult to see for the shore-based birder.
As a child, it was one of the things I loved about sailing, whether anchoring close to a clamorous colony of blackheaded gulls in a Solent harbour or the occasional sighting of a shearwater skimming the waves when we headed further west. Being a sailing birdwatcher led to working on surveys of seabird distribution at sea. The highlight was fieldwork around St Kilda in the breeding season, but I still enjoyed going to sea and watching birds after weeks of counting little but fulmars in the North Sea in the depths of winter.
UK birdlife
The UK’s productive waters are internationally important for
