This week there have been amazing bait balls forming around the Gulf of Corryvreckan. Bait balls form when predators such as porpoises, razorbills and guillemots find a shoal of fish and force it up to the surface corralling it into a tight ball. These bait balls can become so dense that you can see patches of black from the surface and all the seabirds come in from above to fill up.
A gull diving for fish in at baitball at Gulf of Corryvreckan.
A gull emerges with fish from a baitball near the Corryvreckan Whirlpool.
These pictures show a black back gull just dipping its head into the water and coming up with a beak-full of sand eels. These sand eels are the staple diet of lots of seabirds and also porpoise, whales and dolphins, large bait balls indicate that the seas are healthy and that there is lots of food for all our wildlife. It’s a wonderful time to be out on the boat, great weather and superb sightings, book at reception and get a discount on our trips.
David Ainsley www.sealife-adventures.com