So far in this series we have explored how you can pinpoint your position with stars and combine this a feeling of the swell to gauge what’s happening around you. But with anything in natural navigation, a single clue can be an anomaly. The trick is to use your five senses; touch, taste, feel, sound and smell, to take in multiple clues - as a general rule when three are telling you the same thing, it is safe to act upon. One of these clues that navigators around the world have used for millennia is not reliant on their own senses, but those of birds. In short, birds are our eyes in the sky.
You should never underestimate the navigational prowess of birds. While being locked down in Weymouth Harbour over the winter of 2021, my five-year
