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Thursday 1 September 2022

August - Scilly Pelagics

 Earlier in the year I had booked a week on Scilly to coincide with Pelagic weekends at the end of August.

Staying overnight at the Union Hotel in Penzance before getting an early afternoon flight to St Marys



Union Hotel Penzance

After breakfast on the way to Lands End airport I stopped at Porthgwarra to look for Choughs of which I saw 2, also several Wheatears and some Grayling butterflies.

Isles of Scilly

Arriving in fabulous weather I checked into my accommodation "Minnehaha" a small 1 bed self catering unit in Smugglers Ride. That evening I took my first of several evening Pelagic trips aboard Joe Pender's Saphire.

Saphire

The trips were mainly south of the islands passing the Bishop Rock Lighthouse.

Bishop Rock Lighthouse

We looked for feeding frenzies of Gannets where the Shearwaters would be joining in.

Shearwaters in with Gannets

During the trips we saw 100's of Manx, Great, and Cory's Shearwaters plus a few Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters, Sabines Gull, Caspian Gull.

Great Shearwater

The icing on the cake however was this Fea's Petrel that was seen on the Friday evening, a lifer for me.

Fea's Petrel taken by Joe Pender.

During the daytime I spent my time walking around the islands, sadly dipped on a couple of Wrynecks and a Booted Warbler but did manage to see a Red-backed Shrike and a Pectoral Sandpiper.

Pec Sandpiper

Overall a very enjoyable trip but very disappointed with the photos from here and also the ones in July from Scotland - think its time for a replacement