All Aboard

The morning of the eighth saw my brother and I boarding the Scillonian for its voyage across to the Isles of Scilly. Happily the weather looked very good and the risk of seasickness seemed remote. While waiting for the ship to set sail we picked out a female Eider in the harbour and also several Sandwich Terns as well as a few Shags.

Eider and Shag.

Once out of the harbour we began to see Gannets, these were a feature on both the outward and return journey. A small flock of Kittiwakes was a welcome sight, the immatures look rather attractive particularly when viewed in flight. Soon after this my brother spotted a small group of four or so Common Dolphins travelling in the opposite direction to the ship. Another passenger picked out a slightly larger group minutes later and these were actively feeding giving us the chance to get longer views. Their activity had attracted a reasonably sized flock of Manx Shearwaters as well as more Gannets and the shearwaters were seen from then onwards on both legs of our boat trip. Small numbers of Razorbills were also picked out.

Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits.

There followed a period of relative dullness until a shout from the passengers near the bow of the vessel drew our attention to a Minke Whale. I was delighted to see what was my first ever one and even the knowledge that there had been two rather than the single that we saw did not ruin the occasion. The rest of the trip passed uneventfully and we disembarked at the islands capital of Hughtown with a bit of time on our hands before returning to Penzance.

Peacock and Holly Blue.

A walk around the surrounding area produced a few good birds of which a small flock of four Crossbills were the highlight. Second billing went to a little group of waders at Porthloo beach that included four Bar-tailed Godwits, a Knot and a Whimbrel. Rock Pipits were also seen along the beach and another interesting passerine noted was a Wheatear. Not a great many insects were found and the small selection of butterflies was made up by Peacock, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, Small and Large White as well as Holly Blue. Dragonflies fared even worse with just a few Common Darters seen at Lower Moors. There was enough time for a couple of pints in the Mermaid before we had to head back.

Speckled Wood and Painted Lady.

Our return journey was rather less interesting and it seemed as if the decent weather may perhaps have had an effect on the variety of seabirds though we did at least add Fulmar and an Arctic Skua to the list. Cetacean highlight was a group of four or so Common Porpoises noted near the Cornish mainland. Three species of cetacean in a day is pretty good and in my mind at least this made up for the lack of seabird goodies.

Cheers!

This morning (the 10th) dawned grey and rainy so we abandoned any plans for further wildlife spotting and headed back to Northants.