Scilly Pelagic Birding - Great Shearwaters put on a show (Day 3)

Monday dawned with beautiful weather yet again, and our hopes were high as we set off from Hugh Town at around 5pm. With (thankfully) no Wilson’s yet again on Sunday, this was our last chance to connect in what had so far been a disastrous year for sightings. With the previous latest sighting being the 17^th July, no one was really sure what was causing the absence of birds, although one theory was that the seas were a touch too cold. Close fly-by views of Great Shearwaters yesterday had us hoping they would put in a repeat performance tonight, and luckily we weren’t disappointed.

In a brilliant sequence of events unfolding over around 60 seconds, the call went out of a Bonxie sat on the sea, which the boat began to head towards. This plan was swiftly abandoned however, as a Sooty Shearwater zoomed past the side of the boat at close quarters. With everyone reaching for their cameras, a second shout 10 seconds later came from Scott of “Great Shearwater!” Having picked up his camera he had looked up expecting a Sooty Shearwater, but instead had laid eyes on a Great that had come out of nowhere! Fantastic!

We watched for several minutes as this large shearwater gave several circuits of the boat (all thoughts of the Sooty were long forgotten by now!) and we took in the diagnostic dark cap, dark and white tail and the extremely dark upperparts. Much larger and agile than a Manx Shearwater, the difference in size and flight style was obvious, and the pale underwings with dark smudges were also clear to see.

In total, we eventually had an estimated 5+ birds (told apart by the difference in pattern on the underwings) and several in particular gave absolutely breath-taking views, coming to within 7 metres of the boat (they were so close my lens wouldn’t focus!). One in particular kept diving below the surface right in front of us to feed on the fish remains thrown overboard – a behaviour I wasn’t aware of in Great Shearwaters. Everyone watched in awe as the bird performed spectacularly, making circuits around the boat and giving a show that none of us would forget in a hurry. What a way to see a lifer!

Sadly as the light faded, we unfortunately just couldn’t make a Cory’s or Wilson’s materialise, and despite the best efforts of everyone on board, it just wasn’t to be this year!

Just a week later, 3 out of the 4 pelagics managed to connect with a Wilson’s, whilst the Sunday pelagic scored absolutely incredible views of a Fea’s Petrel soaring around the boat – the ultimate in pelagic birding and one which we will hopefully connect with on future trips! Whilst we had been a week too early for the Wilson’s, this may have been a blessing in disguise, as not booking on the Sunday pelagics would have resulted in heartbreak had we been there a week later and missed the Fea’s!

Checking past records, the second week in August has traditionally been the best for Wilson’s, with a 54% score rate, while Fea’s can turn up at pretty much any time. The fact that both this years and last years bird turned up within a couple of days difference between dates could indicate that anywhere around the 16^th and 18^th is ideal – boding well for next year’s trip falling between Monday the 15^th and Saturday the 20^th.

Exploring the islands on our final day before the ferry back gave us an opportunity to admire the subspecies of Speckled Wood found on the Scilly Isles (subsp Insula). Slightly more orange than our individuals on the mainland, whilst the difference is only slight, fluttering around the trees the butterflies were noticeably more orange. 

We also got great views of a number of eels in the streams surrounding Lower Moors Nature Reserve- another new fish for me and a species I have been wanting to see for a good while.

Lower Moors itself is renowned for attracting a whole host of megas over the years, including a recent overwintering Northern Waterthrush and a Black and white Warbler found frequenting the lichen covered trees on the outskirts of the boardwalk trail! Whilst not as productive in recent years as in its heyday in the 80’s and 90’s, hopefully these beautiful islands can soon start producing the goods again in terms of mouth-watering American vagrants.

Lower Moors trees - once home to a Black and White Warbler

With next year’s trip already booked, fingers crossed that we are able to time it right to connect with Wilson’s next time around, and maybe even secure once in a lifetime views of that most mythical of petrels like the lucky few on the Sunday’s pelagic – bring on the Fea’s! 

Scilly Pelagic Birding - the quest for large Shearwaters and Wilson's Storm-petrels (Day 1)

With a wealth of fantastic seabirds regularly reported from the Scilly Pelagics each summer, me and Alex booked ourselves on to a weekend of the famous birder special pelagic boat trips running from St Marys harbour on the Scilly Isles. Organised and run by seabird expert Bob Flood, we were hoping for breath-taking views of majestic large shearwaters, with an outside but very realistic chance of a glimpse of one of the tantalising Wilsons Storm-petrels regularly seen from the boat.

Running from 2000 onwards, the Scilly Pelagics offer some of the only chances of seeing this scarce species in British waters, and Wilsons Petrels are regularly and reliably recorded during the weekends. Offering the highest success rate (54% connection rate) on the second week in August, we thankfully booked well in advance, as the trips soon become fully booked with no spaces available as the year progresses. With records of Fea’s Petrel on some years, as well as mouth-watering sightings of such monsters as the first British records of Scopoli’s Shearwater and Madeiran Petrel, there is always the very real prospect that something magical could unfold from over the horizon.

Staying in Penzance overnight and getting the early 9:15am ferry crossing to Hugh Town, the near 30 mile journey resulted in my first two lifers of the trip before I had even reached the Scillies! A Sooty Shearwater cruised past, its huge wings cutting through the waves as it soared by, the gorgeous soot-black plumage framing the silvery patches on the underwing whilst a number of European Storm-petrels fluttered past at regular intervals, gracefully darting over the water’s surface and reminding me of small swallows of the sea. Whilst distant, I wasn’t too worried, as the evening’s pelagic was guaranteed to provide much better views that night.

There also appeared to be a steady stream of Manx Shearwater passage taking place near to Penzance, and 3 dusky Balearics amongst the many crisp black and white Manxies were excellent spots, and our only ones of the week.

Arriving almost 3 hours later in a torrential downpour and feeling a little worse for wear after seasickness took hold (which didn’t bode well at the prospect of 17 hours at sea over the weekend!) there was no real opportunity to explore the islands before our first pelagic of three began that evening.

With evening trips taking place on Friday and Monday night and day trips on the Saturday and Sunday, the weekend offers a back to back opportunity to get to grips with the bird and marine life of the Scillies. We’d booked ourselves on to the Saturday 7 hour day trip and the two evening excursions (apparently the most successful for Wilson’s), so were definitely in with a fighting chance of seeing our main target bird. Having already seen Storm-petrel and Sooty Shearwater on the ferry, our other main targets now were the two large shearwaters (Cory’s and Great), and we were hopeful of getting good views after two Cory’s were seen the night before.

Setting off from the harbour, the boat left behind an enticing trail of bread and popcorn as we steamed through the water, attracting a number of gulls, Fulmars and Gannets that quickly approached from all angles. Several more Manx Shearwaters also provided great close up views as the boat cruised past, and I had my best ever views of these beautiful seabirds.

With a touch of wind, we headed over to a reef system to begin drifting and chumming – the boat stationary as a manner of fish pieces were thrown overboard hoping to attract large numbers of Storm-petrels, and hopefully our Wilson’s. Using Pollock caught that night, scraps of fish and oil were thrown off the back of the boat and it wasn’t long before our first inquisitive visitors were drawn in.

Using the wind to carry the scent, the tubenoses are attracted from all around the area to take advantage of this abundance of food. Eventually, around 50 Storm-petrels were swarming around the boat, dipping in to the water to feed on the scraps, and providing a great show for everyone on board.

Extremely agile and with the light now fading, they were especially hard to photograph, and a rocking boat on a choppy sea certainly didn’t help matters!

A Sooty Shearwater also made a brief appearance, investigating the boat at close range before flying off out strongly to sea, offering much better views than the flyby on the ferry over.

The classic silver markings on the all black underside are clear to see

As well as birding, the pelagics also offer a great chance for fishermen to explore the seas around Scilly, with many fishermen on board to take advantage of the pickings whilst the boat is stationary. The Sapphire is also involved in a Blue Shark Tagging programme, where individuals are logged and tagged if caught, before being released back in to the water. Luckily, a Blue Shark was caught whilst we were on board, and we were able to watch the process of landing the catch, all the way through to the tagging and releasing. 

It was fascinating to watch this magnificent beast on board, and having never seen a shark before it was an interesting opportunity to get some close up views of one of the species that can be found in British waters. With Blue Sharks often caught on the trips, as well as the occasional Porbeagle, the pelagics offer a great opportunity to get close to creatures that you otherwise wouldn’t see.

However, with time now pressing on, and sadly no Wilson’s in sight, it was soon time to head back to shore, the sunset providing a fitting setting to end our first taste of pelagic birding and with hopes high for the following three days.