Scilly Seabirds - Part Two 25th August 2018

I awoke at 7.30 this morning feeling refreshed and good about life and lay for a while in bed relishing the opportunity to reflect on yesterday's events and its hectic and exciting finale of a seabird pelagic that had fully lived up to my expectations. Both myself and Andy had reason to celebrate as the two of us had seen some very good birds yesterday and in Andy's case he had seen two species he had never seen before, namely the Citrine Wagtail on land and Wilson's Storm Petrel out at sea.

Before we parted last night we arranged to meet in the local Kavorna Cafe and Bistro at 9.30 after  I had breakfast at my accommodation. Andy would come down from the camp site to have breakfast in the cafe and we could both have a coffee and discuss the coming day and recap on yesterday's events. 

On getting down to breakfast I was surprised to meet the same lady who was on the MV Sapphire yesterday and had been so seasick. I was unaware she was staying in the same place as me but we got talking and I asked her if she was coming out again today but although she had planned to do just that, yesterday's experience had persuaded her that it might be best to go sightseeing on land instead. A father and his young son, down from London, were also in the breakfast room and overhearing our conversation told me they were coming on the Sapphire today and were none too sure about how they would react to seven hours on the sea as this would be a first time for them. There is little you can say to re-assure such anxieties except to say there is only one way to find out and recommend they take some sort of travel sickness medicine. I told them about the Citrine Wagtail, a species which both father and son had never seen, so to take their mind off any worries about the pelagic trip they hurried down their breakfast and headed off to nearby Lower Moors to see it.

The owner of my B&B came into the room to ask me about the tuna. She told me the whole island was buzzing about the events out at sea with the tuna which only served to increase my excitement about the fact, that soon, with any luck I would be repeating the experience.

After breakfast I got my birding things together and walked down the street to meet Andy in the cafe. It was pleasantly warm today and I felt a bit conspicuous dressed for sea in weatherproof clothing, with bins and camera bag hung round my neck and shoulders while everyone else seemed to be in tee shirts and shorts. You never know about going out to sea and from experience I know it is always better to be overdressed than the opposite.You can always remove clothing but if you do not have it you cannot put it on if the weather changes for the worse.

The MV Sapphire was due to rendezvous with us at Hugh Town quayside at 11am. One of the advantages of Hugh Town is, that being very small, everything is nearby, so it was only a walk of a few hundred metres to the cafe from my accommodation and then only another similar distance to the quayside. Hugh Town, I think it is fair to say, is a quintessential, small,  quaint seaside town that relies heavily on the tourist trade but still manages to maintain a semblance of a more traditional fishing and sea going past. I rather liked it and its small busy main street, many of the house's gardens full of exotic colour and plants, giving it a slightly 'continental' atmosphere. It is also a very trusting place. Bikes are left un-padlocked, the front door to my bed and breakfast accommodation was left open all night and the residents have a laid back and casual approach to life in general. This morning, as throughout our short stay, the town was bustling with life as was the quayside when we finally got there.

View from the quayside

The MV Sapphire

Last night had been windy, chilly and grey and I had thought of Andy in his tent high up on the exposed Garison Camp Site but he reported no problems and like me had slept well. This morning the weather was in complete contrast to yesterday as a gentle wind and full sunshine was now the order of things which would make it very pleasant to be out at sea. Despite this pleasing prospect it would not be so good for attracting storm petrels as, with no or little wind, the scent from the fish oil slick would not be picked up by the petrels. Well I guess you cannot have it all ways and there was still the alluring prospect of seeing the frenzied tuna and attendant large shearwaters, amongst other delights, so we we were not too concerned.

The MV Sapphire set sail with what looked to me like most of the birders from yesterday on board plus a few newcomers. Bob gave his talk again and told us we would be going back to the same area as yesterday as that was where the tuna were and where the tuna were, there would also certainly be lots of birds. Again there were no complaints from anyone on that score.

Bob Flood at the door of the Sapphire's wheelhouse

It takes about an hour to get nine or ten miles out to sea so we sat on the wooden slats of the benches, enjoying the sunshine while we passed over a sea that was now calmer and a deep blue, as was the sky above us and my spirits soared to be out on the sea in such lovely conditions. We passed a lighthouse and then, moving beyond the shelter of St Martins and out into the open ocean, the swell became more pronounced and the full power of the Atlantic became apparent as Gannets began circling the boat. 

Adult Northern Gannet

Immature Northern Gannet

We were heading for another milling throng of seabirds visible above some distant churning white water and spray, that Bob and Joe had sighted, indicative of feeding tuna. With the calmer sea the hunting tuna were much more obvious and the churning water or 'boils' as they are known, were very obvious from some distance away.

We approached slowly and with the engine idling sat watching an awe inspiring natural phenomenon as the hunting tuna hurtled around at high speed, sinister and grey, just below the surface of the sea, like torpedoes and with similar murderous intent, creating huge surges of water and spray as they charged at and decimated the shoals of small fish they had rounded up. The tuna are huge, almost terrifying in their power and size, their shining, silvery grey backs occasionally cleaving the surface of the sea as their spiked dorsal fins rise and slice through the white disturbed water at high speed and indicating their progress.

It was carnage on a grand scale for the unfortunate small fish, and those that escaped the onrushing tuna were so stunned and disoriented they were just as vulnerable to the hordes of seabirds congregating to prey on them. The Gannets did not even bother to dive for them as it was just as easy to sit on the churning sea amongst the tuna and seize the small dazed fish, lying helpless on the sea's surface.

Atlantic Blue Finned Tuna c Andy

Gulls, Gannets and Tuna

All this was happening just fifty metres from the Sapphire and Joe would skilfully manouevre the boat so we all got the best possible view of both the tuna and the sea birds. For a while it all went quiet as the tuna sought out another shoal of fish and then more white spray would be sighted further off, we would follow and the performance would be repeated and so it went on for around an hour until even the tuna seemed satisfied and had either ceased their hunting or could find no more fish to terrorise.

Bob pointed to the sea beside the boat and we could see myriads of fish scales floating on and below the surface like some inverted firmament, all that remained of the shoals of small fish and testament to the destructive power of the tuna.

While the tuna were active gannets, large gulls and shearwaters were literally everywhere you looked, often sitting in the heart of the churning waters or fearlessly flying into the spray to snatch a fish. In their frenzied enthusiasm to seize a fish they looked to be in danger of collision with the charging tuna but their supreme flying skills lifted them away from danger. Single  Great Shearwaters sat amongst rafts of smaller Manx Shearwaters and Joe would try to get the Sapphire as close as possible to them. Fortunately for us Great Shearwaters are less inclined to fly away than are the more timid Manx Shearwaters and we got very close to one in particular that was playing with a fish that the tuna had missed. We spent some time moving around it, getting ever closer so everyone on board had an opportunity to photo this supreme shearwater species as it played around with the fish, obviously not hungry. Individual tuna occasionally rose in a huge, unexpected swirl of white turbulent water near to it but it seemed fearless, entirely at home in the sea, its natural home, no matter how rough or dangerous.

Great Shearwater

Shearwaters have a curious habit when apprehensive about us getting too close to them whereby they hold out their wings, at half mast so to speak, as if to anticipate a sudden requirement for take off  should it be necessary, which sometimes happens and sometimes does not. All the shearwater species we encountered do it. They also use their wings in a similar manner when rising from the sea unalarmed, turning into the wind blowing across the top of the gentle waves, spreading their wings and allowing the uplift to raise them from the sea and once they feel the uplift, they assist their lift off by briefly pattering their webbed feet across the sea until fully airborne.

The sun was now pleasantly warm and in between the various encounters we sat and chatted amongst ourselves. 

Two seafaring Oxonbirders

A lady accompanying her husband stretched out on one of the benches and slept in the sun. We all relaxed and some of us took the opportunity to have a snack and a drink while awaiting the next encounter.

We slowly cruised along as Jim cast pieces of stale bread off the end of the boat.This was to attract a following of gulls which in turn might attract a rarer gull such as a Sabine's Gull or even some skuas. Sadly no Sabine's Gull joined the squabbling gulls in our wake but an Arctic Skua did, very briefly, and a number of Great Skuas also investigated us.

Great Skua

For the next five hours we spent the time cruising round looking for feeding tuna and/or rafts of shearwaters on the sea. We located a trawler but it was not fishing and consequently had little birdlife behind it but we did find a very nice group of twelve Great Shearwaters and six Sooty Shearwaters at rest on the sea.

A raft of Great and Sooty Shearwaters

An immature Little Gull flying around with a group of Arctic Terns caused much excitement with the locals as it is a rare bird in Scilly waters. Andy and I would rather it had been a Sabine's Gull but it was not to be.

Although there was little wind we did try chumming for an hour to see if we could attract some storm petrels but it was pretty hopeless as the wind had virtually died to nothing. After floating with the engine turned off on the gentle swell the inevitable happened as another of our shipmates started to be sick over the side but no one seemed too concerned and after a while it was all quiet again as the unfortunate victim seemed to recover. Not one petrel responded to the chum although we had seen quite a number amongst the feeding frenzies around the tuna,  so we gave up and went in search of more shearwaters.

We found a huge raft of Manx Shearwaters floating on an almost glass like sea and in amongst them were some Great and Sooty Shearwaters. The Sooty Shearwaters seemed to me to be the most wary of all the shearwater species we encountered, often flying away at some distance from us and it was hard to get a good photo of one.

Manx Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Great Shearwater

An Ocean Sunfish appeared near to a watchful Great Black backed Gull, its round, dustbin lid shaped, circular body  just visible below the water as it progressed on its side, trusting to the ocean currents, its pectoral fin waving distinctively in the air above the surface of the sea.

Greater Black backed Gull

A couple of pods of Common Dolphins came in to join us, at times jumping clear of the water and Joe powered up the Sapphire so they could come and bow ride with us but they soon departed.

It was time to head for Hugh Town and we eventually found ourselves on the quayside with the rest of the late afternoon and evening to do as we wished. Our plan had been to go to a place called Porthellick Pool at the back of Porthellick Beach and within easy walking distance of Hugh Town to look for a Spotted Sandpiper that had been there for the last few days, parading up and down in front of one of the two small hides overlooking the pool but frustratingly it had left overnight. Nevertheless we decided on doing a bit of birding in that area, a place familiar to me from when I twitched an American Cliff Swallow there  a few years ago. We dropped off most of our gear at my B&B, bought some fish and chips which we ate whilst we sat  overlooking Town Beach, the sea in the bay now absolutely still and with a quiet calm descending on the island and then went on foot to Porthellick but here it was very quiet birdwise, just nine noisy Greenshanks on the pool which flew off to the nearby beach, their mellifluous calls ringing out as the early evening light settled on a scene of utter tranquility. We decided on walking the coastal path to a place called Giants Castle and then onwards to complete a circuit which wouldeventually bring us back into Hugh Town.

Scenes from the coastal path around Porthellick Beach

Bright yellow, juvenile Willow Warblers flitted about on the tops of bracken fronds, their minute bills snapping audibly at insects and at the top of a steep path a family of European Stonechats hopped on the large rocks and then flew down onto a dense and beautiful mosaic, a carpet of purple heather and yellow gorse. The strength of the colours was really remarkable and an absolute picture illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.

We followed the track up to the end of the unfenced airfield runway at Church Point where there is a rudimentary two light  system in operation to halt you while a plane lands or takes off. At this late juncture there were no planes and the light was green so we walked across. Two or three Northern Wheatears flew about us. Bouncy and upright as they landed on a prominent rock. Smart and svelte in their fresh, fawn brown and buff white plumage, their black and white tail pattern startling as they spread their tail in flight.

We were descending down towards Porthminnick Beach, discussing how we had not seen any bird of prey, not even a Peregrine when Andy looked up to the top of a large rock formation towering above us and located a small falcon sat on the top. At first we were uncertain what it was. A Kestrel? Surely too early for a Merlin? However it looked very much like a Merlin. We took a photo and enlarged it on the camera's screen. It was a Merlin. An immature or female judging by its plumage. Quite remarkable. We were to learn later, from Bob Flood, that it had been present all summer moving amongst the various islands but had not been seen by anyone for quite some time.

We returned via the road, first on a steep climb up a rise and then down the other side and into Hugh Town. A quick visit to the Co-op for food and drink for tomorrow's pelagic  and to top up Andy's inordinate stash of snacks and then it was time to say goodnight again, me to head for Westford House and Andy to the Garrison. Tomorrow was going to be interesting as the forecast was dire, rain and wind were predicted all day.

Wet weather gear it was then and an 8am start which meant no breakfast for either of us.

This is what we saw on this pelagic

Great Shearwater 80+
Sooty Shearwater 40+
Manx Shearwater 2000+
Northern Gannet 700+
Great Skua 15+
Arctic Skua 1
European Storm Petrel 30+
Arctic Tern 15+
Little Gull 1

Common Dolphin 20+
Atlantic Blue finned Tuna 40+
Ocean Sunfish 3


Also seen but not counted

Greater Black backed Gull
Lesser Black backed Gull
Herring Gull
Kittiwake
Fulmar Petrel
European Shag

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