Scilly Pelagics, Isles of Scilly – July/August 2022

In the early hours of 31st July, I started the long drive down to Penzance, arriving at Drift Reservoir at around 7am. The main target here was the Least Sandpiper which had been around for a few days previous; the bird showed relatively well but always at some distance, but enough to discern all classic features of this American wader. A juvenile Garganey and several Green Sandpipers were also present.

I left here, met Ian and Jake briefly, before continuing onto Pendeen to do a short 2-hour seawatch before having to leave for the Scillonian. It wasn't too bad, with a few Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters, European Storm Petrels and of course heaps of Manx Shearwaters piling past.

It was then time for the Scillonian crossing to St Mary's. I met Ian and Jake at the quay and during the crossing we recorded the following:

Ocean Sunfish - 1

Risso's Dolphin - 6

Common Dolphin - 1

Cory's Shearwater - 3

Great Shearwater - 1

European Storm Petrel - 1

On Scilly, we stayed at the Rocky Hill Chalets, roughly a 20-minute walk from Hugh Town. During the course of the seven days I was on the islands, I did four pelagics, had a full day on Tresco and St Martin's and generally just chilled out, swam in the sea and eat as much as I could. Land birding was fairly poor expectedly for the time of year, with just a handful of common early autumn migrants and the Lesser Yellowlegs on Tresco.

The pelagics, organised as ever by Scilly Pelagics, were excellent and on each outing we encountered a number of large shearwaters, a few Wilson's Storm Petrels, but maybe best of all, were the Porbeagle Sharks rising to the service to check us out. We even caught a couple of 200lb+ sharks which were tagged and released, add to this the Blue Sharks too and a couple of Bluefin Tuna! One evening in particular stood out... after observing and catching many Porbeagle Sharks, our journey back in saw hundreds of European Storm Petrels in the slick with a decent sunset in the background. 

Pelagic Highlights

Wilson's Storm Petrel - 8

Great Shearwater - 25

Cory's Shearwater - 25

Sooty Shearwater - 10

Long-tailed Skua - 1

Blue Shark - 5

Porbeagle Shark - 10

Yellow-legged Gull - 5 juvs

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Porbeagle Sharks

Great Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Long-tailed Skua

Manx Shearwater

Yellow-legged Gull

Lesser Yellowlegs on Tresco