Sunday 20^th August 2000                                                                  

MV Scillonian III, Southwestern approaches Cornwall with Colin Martin 

Weather : Hot and sunny with light northerlies

Colin and I left home at around 12:30pm on Saturday 19^th with the idea of a three-hour run to Cornwall, some relaxed birding and maybe even a life tick. However life isn’t always like that. The traffic was horrendous and despite the odd ingenious short cut it still took nearly six hours to get to Gwithian. At least on the trip down we saw nine Common Buzzards at various intervals to keep us interested.

When we got to Gwithian, despite a good search of the area we failed to find the Woodchat that had been around for a few days. This was a pity but we did find five Wheatears, several Stonechats, five Whimbrel and a few other species in what looked to be some very promising habitat. As it was getting on we decided that there would just be time to yet again dip the Aquatic Warblers at Marazion. So we did, along with several others, although five roosting Little Egrets were very nice.

After shopping for a pelagic picnic at Tesco and finally finding a meal (fish and chips), all the pubs stop serving food at 9:30pm, we rounded off a hard day with a couple of pints at The Dolphin. A few hours uncomfortable sleep followed in the back of Colin’s van. NB: need earplugs next time.

At around 3:30am a procession of bleary-eyed, crumpled and some hung-over birders emerged from a multitude of vehicles and headed for the jetty to catch the M.V. Scillonian III. Even this early in the morning birds were around, apart from the obvious gulls, an Oystercatcher flew over and a Turnstone scratched for tidbits on the seawall. I watched a shooting star streak across a spectacular star-spangled sky, would this be a good omen.

We set sail on time and were lucky enough to get good seats where we drank coffee and dozed until daylight gathered pace. The first obvious birds were the Fulmars, which tracked the ship throughout the day, effortlessly on stiff wings. As we drew level with Land’s End the first Great Skua of the day flew by, we saw several Bonxies throughout the day and they were particularly prominent during chumming sessions. The first Storm Petrel was seen soon after and they were more-or-less ever present for the rest of the day. I never tire of seeing this amazing little bird and they are, for me, one of the best reasons for doing the pelagic. Much better than seeing black dots the size of wasps on land-based sea-watches. Gannets soon followed and were really good to watch spear diving into the sea after the disgusting scraps that were going overboard.  

Colin’s diet of Kwells and Ginger Nuts were holding his frail stomach together and the sea was like a proverbial millpond and the sun had become very hot indeed.

The first of only four Manx Shearwaters was seen early on. Then came the first rarer bird of the day, a Grey Phalarope, which was a welcome bonus. Odd juvenile Kittiwakes followed the ship at times but never any adults. A pale phase Arctic Skua that arrived near the ship gave an excellent demonstration of how to beat up large gulls just for the hell of it.

The first Sooty Shearwater appeared soon after and gave excellent close views. We had three others during the day and two together during a chumming session were brilliant to watch. A Sabine’s Gull was next and showed well passing fairly close to the ship in the company of larger gulls, a second was more distant and I couldn’t get on to it.

The next fishing boat to appear had a couple of Great Shearwaters in tow, they remained distant, but later in the day several more appeared in the wake during chumming sessions and gave very close views. Small groups of Common Terns also showed up as if from nowhere.

Then came the moment many birders had been waiting for, the first Wilson’s Petrel appeared and came very close to the ship. Two others were seen and gave the best views I have ever had, although I had seen them before in 1998 and 1999. We watched them for a long time and even first-timers became quickly proficient at separating them from the many Stormies.

The biggest surprise came as we left the Wilson’s Triangle; a passerine flew towards the ship, and then circled it, starting a debate as to its ID. It was eventually settled when the bird landed in the bow. The pelagic had recorded its first Garden Warbler! A wayward Meadow Pipit was also seen.

Of the non-avian wildlife I managed to see four Sunfish, a Porpoise, 23 Common Dolphins and a Leatherback Turtle (there were 6 on the trip). I finished the trip with a chat with Viv Stratton, which was most instructive. A lovely man and a pleasure to talk to. So the trip ended in a beautiful sunset with everybody happy, and although the volume of species was not as good as last year the variety proved excellent.

The less said about the drive home the better. 

© Mike King 2000