The Unfortunate Isles - From Sea Watch to Bay Watch! - Day 3

An old Clipper navigates The Roads on its approach to Hugh Town harbour.

After last night's festivities in the Scillonian Club where we enjoyed a fair few drinks, live music, ridicule from a drunken local and free power to charge our mobile phones, it was a struggle to wake up too early this morning. There was another pelagic planned for today but this time Bob Flood had advised us that instead of the usual tactic of drifting off Poll Bank the Sapphire was going to infiltrate an armada of French trawlers that were positioned north east of the Islands. None of us could summon up too much enthusiasm for the trip based on yesterday's sightings but dare we not go? It was a huge gamble but in the end the decision to stay on St Mary's and save a combined £135.00 was unanimous.

So after an expensive breakfast we made our way up to The Garrison and decided to find our own seabirds off Morning Point. The trouble was that the conditions for sea-watching were not ideal, zero wind in any direction and glorious sunshine. Around the Point family parties of Sandwich Tern were resting on the rocks during low tide along with a few Oystercatcher and Ruddy Turnstones. Further out at sea it was not too long before I spotted our first Basking Shark of the day.

Sea-watching off Morning Point, St Mary's.... sea is pretty much all that we watched!

Who needs Johnny Depp when you've got Archie Sparrow on the case?

With nothing more to interest us than the usual Laridae, a 1st winter Kittiwake and a distant Manx Shearwater it was little wonder that our concentration started to wain. Whilst Mike and I enjoyed butterflies and macro moths and discussed the unique biology of the plant Anagallis arvensis, Stevie filled up his time by scoping semi-naked posh women sunbathing aboard their yachts. Kids hey? It was time to clear our minds of birds and make the most of our time on St Mary's. It was time for a dip in the sea.

An arty shot of a pretty wooden rowing boat on Porthcressa Beach.... check out the rich folks in the distance.

Heading back to camp to retrieve our swimming gear we made our way to Porthcressa. Whilst strolling down to the beach a Hummingbird Hawk-moth was spotted feeding on a Buddleia near the old coastguard buildings. It is always a cracking, little creature to connect with during the Summer months. Within seconds of hitting the beach I was in the water with no hesitation, quickly followed by Mike. After the initial heart stopping shock of the bitterly cold Atlantic Ocean it is amazing how quickly your body aclimatises to its surroundings. I looked around for Stevie but he was nowhere to be seen. He soon confessed to having a phobia of the sea but after a bit of coaxing him around he eventually summoned up the courage to take a paddle. It was amazing to think that he had never even dared do that before in his thirty odd years on this planet. Despite him shrieking like a petrified Alan Carr as a bit of seaweed brushed past his leg and despite his camp little Julian Clarey style run back to the beach, we were both very proud of him indeed. Kids hey?

A pleasant afternoon was topped off watching an impressive Manchester United beat the rent boys in the Charity Shield followed by a new Scilly tick - Common Swift. A mixed flock of around 30 birds gathered together with around15 Barn Swallows near the football pitch briefly before dispersing and continuing their migration south.

Now comes the horrible bit and proof that the curse continued. News eventually filtered through regarding the pelagic that we ignored. The good news was that no WILSON'S PETRELS were spotted again however the bad news for me was that a single Great Shearwater showed well for a while. This is a species I have always failed to connect with in British waters so I was slightly gutted... but then again I had saved myself £45.00.

The Beastie Birders - Licensed To Ill....No Sleep Til Bedtime!

The Scillonian Curse Continues.... from Pelagic to Paraplegic! - Day 2

I awoke all snug in my cosy sleeping bag this morning to snatch a phrase of comedy gold. From the pitch next to me I heard Stevie pouring his heart out to Mike. There had been a shower of rain during the early hours and whilst Mike and I were well protected in our Blacks 'double skin' tents it was a completely different story for the unprepared Mr Dunn in his Happy Shopper special. Everything inside his tent was as soaked as his tear stained cheeks. He even ranted that he had already had enough and was going to forget the pelagic and head back to Cornwall later that day. Kids hey?

HMS Sapphire - the favoured mode of transport for our pelagic trip off the Scilly Isles.

The comfortable surroundings on board the Sapphire.

With a WILSON'S PETREL being seen from last night's pelagic we were all pretty positive about our trip out to Poll Bank on this fine Saturday morning. Salty seaman Bob Flood gave us the itinerary for the day and it was then full steam ahead out of Hugh Town harbour. From St Mary's we took a route north of St Agnes and then slipped south between 'Aggie' and the island of Annet. It was here that we enjoyed our first highlight of the trip as a Basking Shark fed unconcerned around the boat for a while (see below). It was great to see the look on the face of self-confessed 'jawsaphile' Stevie Dunn as he added a lifer to his 'fish list'. in the same area a number of Atlantic Grey Seals loafed around on the rocky islets.

What lurks beneath...... the dorsal fin of a magnificent Basking Shark breaks the surface of the Atlantic Ocean just yards from our boat.

Once away from the islands we continued at pace through the choppy waters towards Poll Bank. At this stage I had a quick chat with one of our 'chummers' for the day, former Staffordshire birder and Belvide regular John 'Higgo' Higginson. Whilst discussing the love life of fellow ASBO birder Ian Moore and the recent FRANKLIN'S GULL at Chasewater I received the shock of my life as a medium sized Whale species breached well out the water just ahead of the boat. Unfortunately only a few of us on board caught a glimpse of the huge beast and the identification was not clinched. It was during this period of rough seas that I made the mistake of standing up to see if I could relocate the mystery cetacean. This coincided with the crest of a huge wave hitting the underside of the boat and knocking me off my feet. For the rest of the journey I was in pain with a suspected twisted ankle.... but I didn't complain too much.

As we arrived in position it was time for the part of the pelagic experience that every birder dreads, the 'chumfest'. The fishy mixture that was thrown off the back of the vessel for the seabirds was not too bad, however the festering concoction that was bagged up to attract the Sharks was an entirely different story. Imagine opening a hundred tins of Whiskers cat food, throwing it into a bucket, then leaving it out in the sun for a month... well that is nowhere near as bad as this stuff whiffed. It is what I imagine hell to smell like. To make matters worse guess what loser opted to buy a tuna and sweetcorn sandwich from the Co-op before we boarded?

As the stench increased so did the number of birds flocking around the Sapphire. Joining the usual Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were a few Gannets as well as a small group of Fulmar. Soon afterwards our first charismatic European Storm-petrels were attracted to the bait, doing their walking on water trick close by. It is just one of a million types of different bird behaviour that is always awesome to witness. Despite the Petrel numbers increasing there was still no sign of a WILSON'S PETREL amongst them. Our attention however was soon drawn to a rather bent looking fishing rod and an angler struggling to prevent himself from being pulled overboard. After about ten minutes of hard graft a gorgeous Blue Shark was finally hauled out of the sea and slammed down on deck. The writhing, streamline of pure muscle fought back hard at it's two burly handlers but after a short while it was measured , tagged and released back into the Ocean completely unharmed. At the same time a Sooty Shearwater drifted by, our one and only of the whole trip.

'Higgo' puts in the boot in order to calm down an angry Blue Shark!

This beast measured 72 inches in length and was estimated to have weighed around 48 pounds.

As we drifted along we at last picked up our first year tick of the trip as an adult Grey Phalarope flew in. The bird fed on the chum slick for a short while before continuing its journey south. The only other species of note were a couple of Great Skua, the odd Kittiwake and a few Manx Shearwater but another highlight from beneath the water suddenly appeared. It lifted my spitits no end as a trio of Common Dolphin played with us for a good forty minutes, 'bow riding'. It was an amazing sight to witness and no video footage or photographs can ever convey the feeling of privilege you receive when such a beautiful wild creature decides to interact with you in this way. As we headed back to St Mary's our second Basking Shark of the trip was encountered just outside Porthcressa Bay. So all in all a pretty disappointing trip aviform wise but when you get to experience some of the other natural delights Britain has to offer then who cares? Not me!

Three Common Dolphins helpfully escort us back to the Islands.

Pure class!

STOP PRESS: My stumble onboard the Sapphire resulted in a four hour stint in the A&E department at the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton on Wednesday night. The diagnosis is torn ankle ligaments and I will be out of 'birding action' for around THREE weeks. How will I cope?