Feeding frenzies

There were massive seabird feeding frenzies seen from pelagic trips out of the Isles of Scilly the day before my arrival and the day after my departure for three trips out on the Sapphire earlier this month. I might have felt a bit cheated but for the fact that we encountered our own on the return journey on Scillonian III on the Sunday evening. We were approaching the mainland not far from the Wolf Rock lighthouse when Manx Sheawaters and Short-beaked Common Dolphins started appearing in large numbers.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin  - this one was taken on a pelagic on 5th August

Common Dolphin from Scillonian III

One from earlier in the day on the Sapphire

Views of Great Shearwater from Scillonian III were exceptional

A steady stream of Great Shearwaters crossed our bows as we headed for Penzance

There are five Great Shearwaters in this shot alone - the view for several hundred yards ahead of us was similar

Sooty Shearwater from Scillonian III

Manx Shearwater from Scillonian III

Cory's Shearwater from Scillonian III

Manx Shearwater

We disturbed several rafts of Manxies as we steamed through, and on close inspection some of the rafts appeared to contain more Great than Manx Shearwaters. The odd Sooty and Cory's were also present. There were birds on the water as far as the eye could see and when dolphins started to cause the surface of the water to boil it felt like we were approaching the centre of the action. This was confirmed shortly afterwards when a whale appeared to blow some distance ahead. I readied the camera as we approached the spot and managed to get a few shots of a Minke Whale surfacing close to the ship.

First view of the Minke was quite distant

A dolphin surfaces behind the Minke Whale as Manx Shearwaters track it in the air

The next time the Minke Whale surfaced it was much closer to the ship

Several flocks of Arctic Terns were seen at sea

Arctic Tern

Fulmar is a frequent companion on pelagic trips

Gannet with rising Moon behind

Great Skua was seen on all three pelagics

Close scrutiny of photos revealed this to be an adult Long-tailed Skua

Sooty Shearwater with Bishop Rock lighthouse behind

Lucky thirteen

When I went on my first Scilly pelagics in 2013 with Bob Flood and Joe Pender on the Sapphire, seeing Cory's Shearwater, and photographing one well, was one of the things I was hoping for most. Ten trips later and I had yet to see one, let along photograph one - not that I'm complaining, having seen many other spectacular birds and other marine wildlife on these trips. Cory's Shearwater, named after an American ornithologist, is a large tubenose which breeds in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic but passes through our waters at this time of year, and with reports of 250+ in a feeding frenzy the day before my arrival on Scilly, hopes were high for a close encounter.

While two individuals lumbered past distantly in the fading light of Friday 4th, on Saturday 5th we again drew a blank with this species despite spending 7 hours at sea. Sunday 6th would be my thirteenth pelagic, and my last opportunity this year to get close to my target species. As we headed south out of St Mary's, I saw a huge Gannet feeding frenzy some distance off to the west. This was enough to persuade skipper Joe Pender to head in that direction, and soon enough Cory's started appearing around the boat. For the next hour or so we were treated to close views as birds came in to check the chum slick emanating from our stern.