Scilly Pelagic - Petrels and Shearwaters

I never thought I'd see myself on one of these again.  My last experience of the legendary Scilly Pelagics was tortuous, the relentless lilting of the inky seas twisting my equilibrium into depositing the contents of my dignity into the deep blue depths of the south-western approaches.

There was a nagging regret though of having missed out.  Firstly, on some of the finest target species these early autumn trips have to offer, and secondly, just the feeling of spending a few hours in one of the remotest locations in the UK.

Dosed up on Sturgeron©, Seaband ginger capsules©, and my holistic pressure wristbands - I'd covered myself as much as I could in dignity protective remedies.

It gets into your head - but the feelings of defeat can only be dispelled by the taste of victory.

The Sapphire skippered by Joe Pender with the great Bob Flood trundles around 5 miles south west of the Isles of Scilly archipelago.  At this point, the engine is cut, and the boat then drifts a further 2-3 miles, not that you have any concept on-board of these sea-current-driven distances.

The sea was choppy, some decent swells on the journey out - but high anticipation (mixed with a little anxiety).  There had been a decent haul of some classic rare oceanic specialists over the previous few days.  This could well be the evening to see something special.

It was also great to have Scott Reid on board - a brilliant birder and now almost a veteran of the open seas on these pelagic trips.

A noxious oily cocktail of fishy detritus is then spewed out over the side of the boat to entice seabirds from miles around to come and inspect the situation.  It works a treat.

The birds started arriving.  Gulls were following the boat with a few gannet soaring past.  Manx shearwater skipped across the swell.  A couple of sooty shearwater set things alight one making a low pass starboard side.  A great skua then came marauding in.  The gulls don't like them at all - mighty thugs of the seas.  I love them. 

Then the big boys started to arrive.  A cory's shearwater flew in close but then veered away into the sun on the starboard side providing frustrating views with another distant bird portside.  Another a short while later while distant again provided much better views of its lilting flight and underwing.  A few european storm petrel then appeared followed by some incredible views of great shearwater gliding low past the boat on either side.

These were of course amazing to see - but when the wilson's petrels started to arrive, there was a sense of completeness to the evening.

The weather was perfect, the selection of birds on display were incredible - up to nine wilson's petrel, ten great shearwater, three cory's shearwater, and then capped off by two sabine's gull that spent around five minutes flying round the boat.

During the seabird spectacular, this incredible blue shark was pulled in by the fisherman, GPS tagged, measured and released in the blink of an eye.

The journey back to the quay took over an hour, but with the sun setting and conversations with some of the lovely people on board - this turned out to go far beyond my expectations.  And I wasn't sick!!!