So finally, after the months of anticipation and anguish, as to whether the trip was to go ahead - the time had arrived for myself, Gareth B and Dylan Parry-Davies to head down to the south west for a long weekend on the Scillies to do three hopefully bird-filled pelagics.
We were all mega excited for what was to come, plus looking forward to a hard-earned break from work too. The weather forecast look set to be pretty lively towards the end of the week and surely promised to produce the goods.
The excitement however, turned to despair on the Wednesday morning, as I received the WORST of e-mails saying that the Friday ferry was cancelled due to the weather. I was at work and couldn't really find the time to try and formulate a back up plan. Gareth & Dylan did their best to look into plan B, but were also pretty tied up with their work too.
By the end of the day it wasn't looking good, but we still planned to head down on Thursday, with accommodation in Penzance already booked. While there were currently no more helicopter flights to the islands, there was also a strong possibility more were to be put on for Friday.
So as planned, we headed down on Thursday 20/08. Despite continually checking the website, frustratingly no helicopter flights came to fruition, despite the strong indication they would be. Still, we hung in there and did a bit of birding off Mousehole in the evening, in increasingly blustery conditions. Nothing crazy seen but several Med Gulls, Manxies, a couple of Kittiwake, Fulmar, Gannet, Sandwich Tern and Turnstone.
We decided to head down to Porthgwarra the next morning (Friday 21/08), for a stint of seawatching - after all conditions looked very promising. We continued to explore any potential way to get onto the islands although as it stood, there were no helicopter flights still and apparently just one ferry ticket available on the Saturday ferry - no good! Our luck really wasn't in and I promptly began the day by also reversing my car into another, outside where we were staying. Luckily next to no damage to their car, but it was just typical wasn't it!!
Despite the seemingly excellent seawatching conditions, there was little happening on the sea at Porthgwarra - of course there wasn't! Still, we sat in for a good look, seeing a steady trickle of Manxies and Gannets, the odd Med Gull, plus a few Grayling butterflies bombing around the headland - a decent surprise as not a species I get to see too often.
Time went on and still very little of note was coming through on the sea, although with the stunning scenery around us, it still very much beat being sat at my work desk! There was barely any free accommodation in Cornwall for Friday night, but we managed to eventually find a half decent place in Newquay to prolong our Cornish stay a little further. However yet more bad luck arrived, as a little later, we got a cancellation e-mail - they had somehow overbooked the hotel. You just couldn't write it, haha!
Dylan took another casual glance at the helicopter website once again for about the 400th time in 2 days - s**t there's flights to Tresco...for Saturday morning - panic!!!!
We had, a short while earlier cancelled our ferry tickets and informed our Scilly accommodation we couldn't get across. So now it was a frantic scramble between the three of us to secure the chopper tickets, re-book Saturday's accommodation and quickly grab our return ferry tickets. We managed all three - get in!!!
With nowhere to stay for that night, we agreed we'd just have to kip in the car and slum it for one night! We did also explore the possibility of getting the pelagic to pick us up from Tresco on their way out on Saturday, but understandably, logistically it just couldn't be done, so it would be one Pelagic out of the three for us! Considering we were resigned to not getting over there at all, we were made up to get the chance to at least get on one of them.
It seemed like our luck had turned a corner from that moment and immediately a few different birds headed past in quick succession, certainly particularly crazy by any means, but some variety at least - singles of Arctic Skua, Balearic Shearwater and a Storm Petrel seen briefly by Gareth.
After grabbing some dinner, we parked up overlooking St. Michael's Mount at Marazion for our night's kip - a short drive from the heliport. A good nip of whiskey and some cheap pillows from the nearby Sainsbury's, ensured it wasn't the worst sleep. It was also some view to wake up to, early Saturday morning...
After a slight delay in departing, the swift 15-minute chopper ride was good fun and went nice and smoothly. We zipped across to St. Mary's on the water taxi and got to our accommodation in Old Town to drop our stuff off and grab a shower.
The rest of the day was a very chilled wander around the island, on what was a very pleasant, sunny day. Highlights being a Pied Fly on the Garrison, some Autumn Lady's Tresses at Harry's Walls, 5 Wheatear, 9 Greenshank, common waders and good numbers of Swallows.
Sunday (23/08) was the day we'd been waiting for - it was Pelagic time - surely nothing could get in our way now!
We wandered down to the harbour at Hugh Town and hopped on the Sapphire, together with a good number of fellow birders, setting off just after 8am. The sea looked somewhat calmer than the previous two days. We were hoping this wouldn't hamper our chances of seeing good birds out there. Certainly the previous two days pelagics showed there should be plenty to see, with an amazing 500 Stormies and c30 Wilson's Petrels the previous day.
As we left St. Mary's, the guys began dropping food regularly off the back of the boat to create a buzz of gulls behind us. Before long, an increasing gathering had joined us at close quarters, together with the a few Gannet.
The islands grew smaller, as we headed out south into open sea. A very distant Balearic Shearwater was seen by all, together with a few Manxies, Sooty Shearwater, the first few Storm Petrels and some great views of the odd Bonxie too.
After a while, the vile chum and fish oil was now out of the bags and off the back of the boat. The boat engine was duly turned off and we began drifting, on the look out for Petrels several miles out to sea. This certainly brought in more Stormies and it wasn't long before we heard those hallowed words...'Wilson's!!' And there it was, our first Wilson's Petrel floating over the waves, with the notably smaller Stormies. Cue the beaming smiles - one of our main targets was secured! The Wilson's was actually surprisingly easy to pick out, with the obvious upperwing covert band, dark underwing, longer legs projecting beyond the tail, larger size and noticeable floatier flight. A very cool bird, that amazingly breeds on the Antarctic coast - mind blown!
More excitement followed as the call went up, 'small skua approaching'. It soon became clear it was in fact a crisp, juvenile Long-Tailed Skua! After several distant possibles, this was my first definite LTS so I was understandably very, very happy about it! It slowly cruised past at fairly close range, allowing top views for all, before it headed off into the distance.
There was barely time to catch our breathe and just 10 minutes later, yet another juvenile Long-Tailed Skua appeared - a pale bird this time. It circled a couple of times, before flying right over our heads at point blank range. Just unbelievable views - couldn't believe it!! This was turning into one hell of a day!
While we awaited the next surprise, I turned my attention to the handful of Fulmars that had gathered off the back of the boat. Certainly the first time I've ever seen Fulmars coming to bread haha!
We continued to enjoy regular views of Stormies and the odd Wilson's. Some 45 minutes later, the next excellent bird appeared. The shout went up of a small gull at some distance. In no time, it was right upon us - and revealed itself to be a 2cy(?) Sabine's Gull, flying right past us. The bird went on to linger for quite sometime amongst the gathering of larger gulls, as well as regularly feeding at very close range.
Amazingly, it was then joined by a spanking, pristine adult! It rarely came close unfortunately, but did hang around for a while. Almost simultaneously as the second Sabs, the first 2 Great Shearwaters appeared out of nowhere! However, unlike the Sabine's, they didn't hang about and were gone in seconds, zipping through into the distance. Exciting stuff!
Another skua appeared some 30 minutes later, giving us a pretty close fly-past. Straight away it felt like a Pom structure-wise, with a heavy chest and bill, however not seeing many, I was happy to be guided by those who do. There were suggestions it was in fact an Arctic which surprised us a little. However later on, talk on social media, did indeed point to it being a definite Pomarine Skua. Nice!
Some brief Common Dolphins appeared by the boat for a few moments. A further two Long-Tailed Skuas then passed through, taking the total to an impressive FOUR! Further views of Wilson's Petrel were had too - it was difficult to fathom how many we were seeing, but with birds seen regularly throughout the time we were drifting, it was probably quite a few. In fact later on, it was suggested as many as 14 were about on the day. Not bad at all!
The boat engines were then once again fired up, at which point we had the briefest of views of a Sunfish. As we began our journey back to Hugh Town, time was running out on seeing any Cory's, however at least I had seen them previously abroad. We were also hoping to gain some more prolonged views of Great Shears before the day was out. Thankfully, luck was on our side as a Great Shearwater appeared in our slick amongst the throng of gulls. It was promptly set upon by a Bonxie, which made for quite a sight! We then watched it in awe as it cruised about, sometimes super close to the boat, almost resembling a small albatross!
The rest of the journey back didn't produce anything new, however we enjoyed more close-up views of Bonxies...
...the last few Stormies and some Gannets.
That concluded a quite an amazing trip out. The thoughts of missing out on our other two Pelagics had all but been forgotten to be honest!
After a quick turnaround back at Hugh Town, we hopped on the Scillonian, back to the mainland, still with the hope of a few more seabirds. Dylan & I were lucky enough to catch a single Cory's Shearwater, however were disappointed that Gareth didn't, while on the other side of the boat. We did all see another adult Sabine's Gull, a Sooty Shearwater, c40 Storm Petrel and plenty of Manxies.
Having stayed overnight in Cornwall, the next day (24/08) was to be our journey home. We were staying adjacent to Stithian's Reservoir and so had a quick peek, seeing a few common wader species. Our next stop was in Devon, originally to see the Melodious Warbler at Dawlish Warren. However, due to it's overnight departure, we instead had a look at Bowling Green Marsh, Topsham. Good numbers of waders there, particularly Redshank & Black-Tailed Godwit, plus a couple of Spoonbill - one in particular was very showy in front of the hide. My first Whimbrel of 2020 was also picked out, amongst a large gang of Curlew from the Clyst/Exe estuary viewpoint.
There came to an end, our birding for the trip. A trip full of ups & downs, however all things considered, we did bloody well really!
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