Auk spotted in IR camera on Marinus buoy

One of the unexpected pleasures of running offshore monitoring kit is what turns up in the footage you weren't specifically looking for.

During a routine review of thermal imagery from the Marinus monitoring buoy, the team picked out a clear infrared signature gliding low across the water: a guillemot, captured diving in the buoy's IR feed.

It's a small moment, but a useful one. Seeing a guillemot resolve so clearly on thermal is a good practical confirmation that the buoy's camera system can pick out individual seabirds against open water, not just larger or more conspicuous targets. That kind of detection performance matters as we continue to build out reliable, low-impact tools for understanding how marine wildlife uses these environments.