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
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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.
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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.
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Saphire |
The trips were mainly south of the islands passing the Bishop Rock Lighthouse.
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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.
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Great Shearwater |
The icing on the cake however was this Fea's Petrel that was seen on the Friday evening, a lifer for me.
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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.
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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