We were hoping for a big sunset last night after all the news about volcanic ash closing UK airspace, however it was nice but not unusually so.  Earlier we were off the Isle of Man and a couple of Raven headed out across towards the mainland, I wonder if that is a regular commute?  This morning the sun rose over Liverpool as we made a transect along the north Wales coast.  As the light got better I could see several Guillemots scattered about and also a strung out flock of duck.  A few minutes later these flew off west and I could easily pick out a Velvet Scoter in amongst it’s more common cousins.  Views of Velvet Scoter tend to be distant and fleeting (off Titchwell usually) so a close fly past was a bonus.  The weather has been fantastic today (16th) with barely a breeze to ripple the sea, lots of birds just loafing about. 
I went on watch at 4 this morning (17th) to discover the ship was steaming north back to Belfast with engine trouble!  I went back to bed.  When I woke up we were in Belfast Lough and soon passing back through the docks where I saw an un-seasonal Little Auk.  That brings the cruise list to 24, hopefully we will be repaired and working again before the end of the day.