On an adrenalin high after seeing the South Polar Skua we had returned to the tent last night in high hopes of a restful night. Maybe it was the excitement or all the pasties and pastries I had consumed during the day but I could not sleep as.I lay inches from the cold ground realising that I am just too old and not cut out for camping
I am too used to home comforts.In a business career travelling the world I had the luxury of top hotels to stay in with every creature comfort known to man and its too late to change.
I have only been in a tent three times in my life.I am therefore not savvy about camping like most of those around us in similar tents who seemed perfectly content and able to cope but they of course were experienced and had brought everything needed to make life in a tent more than bearable. I on the other hand had for example no torch for night time excursions to have a pee and even forgot to bring a pillow.
I awoke the next morning not in a good way through lack of sleep but rejoicing that having lain awake most of the night worrying about waking the others as I exited the tent to relieve myself I could now get up and get outside.Graham awoke with a moan and informed me he had been bursting for a pee but did not want to wake anyone.I said he should have just gone outside and found the hedge that I was all too familiar with!
Our pelagic sailed at 9am, so after an abortive visit to Porth Cressa Bay looking for the Gull billed Tern on behalf of Graham we paid a visit to the Coop to stock up on danish pastries and other junk food to sustain us whilst out on the MV Sapphire.Meanwhile Andy and Rich collected pre-ordered pasties from a small shop off the main street. The shop had not made any vegetarian pasties so I had to get a vegan pasty from The Lavorna Cafe but ordered two vegetarian pasties from the small shop to be collected when we returned from our pelagic.They would do nicely for tomorrow's excursion.
All of us naturally hoped we might see another South Polar Skua but Andy also needed Scopoli's Shearwater and myself a 'Fea's' type petrel if you please. Again my chances were minimal but who knows. Andy had a much better chance with Scopoli's as a number of them had been picked out from the flocks of Cory's Shearwaters on earlier pelagics. The best way to identify them is to photo the underwing pattern of white on every Cory's you see as this is the most obvious diagnostic difference between the two.The white on the Scopoli's underwing primaries extends further down the wing towards the tip.
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| Cory's Shearwater |
Today we headed out for the same place as yesterday but the large numbers of shearwaters had for the most part moved on as had the tuna. At ten it began to gently rain and after an hour showed no sign of stopping contrary to the forecast. The rain was not hard enough to be uncomfortable but enough to be annoying.
As before bread was distributed off the back of the Sapphire to attract a following of gulls of which there were a lot more than yesterday. Some way out Rich,who is something of an expert on gulls let out a yell.
Caspian Gull!! At the back of the boat!!
I was somewhat taken aback by the response from the locals on the boat as they rushed for the back of the Sapphire.Apparently Caspian Gulls are something of a mega on these Scilly pelagics. In Oxfordshire, where I live I regularly see them at my local reservoir. I stood back as a crowd formed at the back of the boat to photograph the gull..In the end the gull remained wih us for over an hour circling the boat and feeding on the bread along with all the other gulls so there was plenty of time for photos.
As Caspian Gulls go this was a classic bird showing all the diagnostic features and judging by its size a male.
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A strange, white disk like shape appeared in the sea amongst the squabbling gulls off the back of the boat. Resembling a very large dustbin lid it lay on its side with a fin occasionally feebly flapping above the sea's surface. It was an Ocean Sunfish, a curious creature that traverses the high seas following the sea currents.It sailed with purpose right through the crowd of gulls on the water which showed a mild interest but decided it was far too large to tackle or eat.They can grow to an enormous size and this individual was not particularly small.
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| Ocean Sunfish |
Shortly after the excitement of one unlikely Scilly mega in the form of the Caspian Gull, another two megas arrived in the guise of two, moulting adult Black Terns flying above our wake and which got Bob further energised as these are also very rare on a Scilly pelagic.They passed us and headed further south.This year I have seen several at my local Farmoor Reservoir so again it was strange to see people getting so animated about them
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| Black Terns |
Probably the best birds to arrive at the boat were three adult Sabine's Gulls which followed us in the rain for a while before they too headed further out to sea
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| Sabine's Gull - adult |
A Puffin came speeding past us and an immature Pomarine Skua circled a few times before departing. Later an Arctic Skua was chasing gulls high in the sky above the wake of the boat.
The small number of Cory's Shearwaters present meant there was little chance of finding a Scopoli's but each Cory's that arrived was dutifully photographed just to make sure. I have seen a Scopoli's in Scotland so was not too concerned about their absence. My hope was for a 'Fea's' type petrel but miracles rarely happen twice and I settled to be content with the South Polar Skua, my only new tick so far this year but very welcome nevertheless and bringing my species total for Britain to 537.
The familiar wait by our chum slick brought in only two European Storm Petrels and as the light began to fade Joe turned the Sapphire for home and we hunkered down for the hour it took to get back to St Mary's.
Once on land it was back into The Atlantic for a beer but we were all very tired and soon it was time for the wearisome trudge up the steep hill to our campsite and to endure one last night of mental and physical camping torture with the tent.The night was predictably hellish but I eventually got some sleep.
Seen from MV Sapphire
0900-1600hrs
Next morning Graham and myself stared in a daze at each other and without prompting chorused Never Ever Again!!! It was nice to know it was not just me that loathed camping but on the bright side it was over now and we could say au revoir to our canvas home of horrors forever.
However bad news came when we learnt The Scillonian had encountered mechanical problems yesterday on its way to Penzance. There was doubt if it would sail back to St Mary's today and if it did not we were stranded. Not so bad for me being semi retired, apart from the prospect of another night(s) in the tent from hell but the other three had work to go to tomorrow.
Serious anxiety assailed us all as we had no way of knowing what was going on at this early hour on a Sunday.
We took all our bags down to the quay where you can leave them in a large room especially set aside for luggage.We would collect them when we returned from our pelagic and boarded The Scillonian, assuming it sailed.
The weather was grey and almost windless this morning which was meant to be a bad omen for seeing seabirds However once well out to sea we found good numbers of Great Shearwaters, although mainly sitting on the sea in large rafts, there being no wind. Bob became quite emotional about the 'Great Shears', saying the rafts of them sitting in close company on the sea were a wonderful sight and the largest he had seen for some time. The birds themselves showed little alarm at our presence and were so close you could hear them calling to one another, the call reminiscent of a Kittiwake or the sound a child's toy trumpet makes.
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| Great Shearwaters with the occasional Manx Shearwater in their midst |
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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| Great Shearwater |
A Short beaked Common Dolphin bow rode the Sapphire and I leaned over the prow to watch the dolphin effortlessly speeding along with us in the water below. Further out we encountered many tuna boils, the huge fish, as per usual, carving through the sea at great speed, even at times becoming airborne and all the while attended by gulls and shearwaters circling over the mayhem they were creating.
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| Bluefin Tuna |
Some skuas came in to check the swarm of attendant feeding gulls with no less than three Arctic and one Pomarine Skua joining them briefly. Terns too were more in evidence and one Arctic Tern and a flock of twenty five Common Terns came to investigate but did not linger.
Even stranger a Common Kestrel passed over us miles out to sea as did a Ruff.
We stopped for the customary spreading of chum and waited. Our pasties were retrieved from bags and consumed during this quiet spell of waiting but nothing came to join the gulls which Bob said was not unexpected as there was little wind to distribute the smell of the chum to distant petrels.
He added there was also little chance of a Wilson's Petrel turning up as we floated by the slick and of course one promptly arrived. It's getting late in the year to find a Wilson's in Scilly waters and on seeing this straggler Bob opined that miracles do happen after all. Certainly some birders on the boat were prepared to believe in miracles this being an unexpected lifer for them, achieved at the very last moment.
We returned to port in time to catch the crippled Scillonian which had been deemed to be seaworthy and it slowly made its way out of St Mary's quay and set course for Penzance.
We commandeered our usual spot at the back of the ship and had a good spell of bird and dolphin action throughout the trip back to Penzance.Most bizzare was an encounter with a small passerine that was picked up by Andy flying towards the ship when we were well out to sea.No one was quite sure what it was until it got closer and we saw a white rump. It was a Northern Wheatear, looking very vulnerable but it did not, as expected, seek sanctuary on the ship but carried on flying low over the waves and passing us.
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| Northern Wheatear migrating off the port side of The Scillonian c Graham Jepson |
A tiny scrap of feathers it steadfastly flew on across the hostile sea and the last I saw, it was still flying strongly towards Cornwall and comparative safety. Here before my very eyes was evidence of the wonder of bird migration and the hazards it entails.
I do hope it made eventual landfall.
I do not think I will ever look at a migrant wheatear in the same way ever again
The End
Seen from MV Sapphire
0800-1430hrs
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