Isles of Scilly - August 2023

Several months back, Austin, Carl and myself booked a long weekend on the St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly, with the aim of going on a few pelagics trips. This was off the back of several reports of Scopoli's Shearwaters, though as the time grew nearer we hoped the Red-Footed Booby that had been lingering on Bishop Rock lighthouse would stick around!

Day 1 - Thursday 24th

We drove down early Thursday morning, setting off from Manchester at about 1am and arriving in Penzance just after 7am. I'd been to the Scillies only once before, last October to twitch the Blackburnian Warbler. I was already looking forward to the Scillonian crossing, the wildlife seems to start as soon as you leave the bay at Penzance! Within the first 30 minutes the numbers of Manx Shearwaters was already racking up, and the first of many Common Dolphins were showing extremely well close to the boat. As we entered more open water, I soon started to pick out my first Cory's Shearwaters - I shamefully remember photographing every blurred dot, oblivious to the mega views I'd get later on!

The first of many - perhaps 100 Common Dolphins were seen across the trip!

Distant, but my first Risso's Dolphins!

Nearing the Scillies, a shout of storm petrel alerted me to my first European Storm Petrel, which was distant but clear as it flew straight past the boat. My one and only Kittiwake of the trip also flew past. The highlight of the boat trip though was a small group of Risso's Dolphins - a mammal lifer for me. I picked these out a distance and noted the tall dorsal fins, powerful arched movement as they swan perpendicular to the Scillonian at a fair distance. Their ID was later confirmed by others on the boat.

After rushing off the Scillonian, we hopped onto the Sapphire that would take us straight to Bishop Rock. On the route, we passed more Cory's Shearwaters, some getting really close in! As we approached the lighthouse, a shout of 'the Booby's still there' was perhaps the best and worst sentence I'd heard for a while! The Red-Footed Booby is one of my best birds yet, but the first views of it were slightly underwhelming, as it largely slept at the top of the lighthouse. After watching the Booby for a few minutes, the boat made an arc into open water, where I was put onto my first Great Shearwater, again though I would have much better views!

It was a massive relief to connect with the Red-Footed Booby

After dropping our stuff off at the Garrison campsite, we headed right back onto the Sapphire for a pelagic combined with some shark research. The Red-Footed Booby was still present as we headed past the lighthouse, and we saw a few more Greater Shearwaters in addition to the masses of Cory's. Once about 5 miles south-west of Bishop Rock, the crew started chumming and before long there was a slick over the top of the water. Within 10 minutes the first European Storm Petrels and Fulmars showed up, coming close to the boat as they danced and swept across the chum. Then, a different looking petrel flew slowly past the boat - a Wilson's Petrel! This was a massive lifer for me and one of my most eagerly anticipated birds of the trip. Typically, I spent too much time looking through the bins to get any decent pics, but the ID features were clearly visible.

Typically out of focus, but my only Wilson's Petrel. It was surprisingly distinctive

Great Shearwaters were one of my favourites - super bold and aggressive

We were spoilt for choice with Cory's Shearwaters

The evening was capped off by the crew catching two Blue Sharks, a really cool experience to watch and made better to see it was for research, with both getting tagged in order to monitor their movements in a warming Atlantic Ocean.

This was the small shark!

Day 2 - Friday 25th

A mixture of sun and showers greeted us on Friday morning, and we decided to do a bit of birding on the island before a pelagic in the evening. There wasn't a huge lot of interest at first, though we did see the long-staying male Red-Backed Shrike. Even though it was my third of the year, it was still a really good bird to see. A couple of Pied Flycatchers were noted, as were a few Green Sandpipers, before reports of an immature Woodchat Shrike came through. We made the quick mile or so walk and got good, if slightly distant, views of the Woodchat Shrike, which was a lifer for me.

Shrikes have to be some of the coolest birds!

The Woodchat Shrike kept its distance and spent lots of time on the wires

On the evening pelagic we caught up with yet more Cory's, Greats, European Storm Petrels, a single Sooty Shearwater, the ever present Red-Footed Booby and some of the commoner sea birds. Then, just as the light began to fade, a shout of 'skua' rang across the boat. The bird was quickly picked up by all, flying directly perpendicular with the boat, purposefully powering overhead without a single glance towards the boat or swarm of gulls, Fulmars and shearwaters. I've seen a few Great Skuas now and it didn't strike me as one at all, and there were immediate suspicions of South Polar Skua from those who know much more than I do!

The few Sooty Shearwaters we saw remained more distant

The Storm Petrels came close, but didn't stay still!

We waited in the Mermaid pub afterwards until the news came out - a confirmed South Polar Skua! And the second of the pelagic season on the Scillies. Not a bird on my radar at all, but my eighth lifer of the trip!

Day 3 - Saturday 26th

Saturday was spent largely on the Sapphire. We didn't see anything particularly new except a couple of Arctic Skuas, but we did enjoy our best views of shearwaters, encountering several feeding frenzies with Bluefin Tuna and Common Dolphins which were awesome to watch.

My closest views yet of Arctic Skua!

Great Shearwaters on the sea!

Common Dolphins were an almost constant presence on the Sapphire

In the evening, we also managed to connect with a Wryneck, one of my favourite birds. It was moving along a hedge towards the back of a field, though remained elusive and eventually seemed to disappear. We re-visited the two shrikes, which were still present, and also noted a couple of Greenshanks.

Elusive as usual, but my best Wryneck views to date

Day 4 - Sunday 27th

On our final day we decided not to go on the morning pelagic, which my knees were certainly thankful for. I seemed to invent an odd kind of crouch resting position on the Sapphire which (mostly) seemed to allow to stand up, but gave me some pretty bruised-up knees! We went back to the site where the Wryneck was seen and, after a wait, it duly reappeared and showed better than the previous night.

We caught the Scillonian in the afternoon, noting another dark-morph Arctic Skua soon after we left the Scillies. We also spotted several Harbour Porpoise, in addition to masses of Cory's and Manx Shearwaters plus several Great and Sooty Shearwaters.

I left the trip with eight lifers (Cory's, Great and Sooty Shearwaters, European Storm Petrel, Wilson's Petrel, Red-Footed Booby, South Polar Skua and Woodchat Shrike). There was some great company throughout, meeting lots of friendly faces.