Pirates off Penzance

Skuas provide menace in the supporting cast on pelagic trips with their piratical feeding behaviour, scaring the living shfish out of other seabirds. We saw two species on our mid-August trips out of St Mary's. The most likely to appear, Great Skua (#211), didn't disappoint, and we saw these every day, as they often came in to harass the gulls following in our wake.

Much rarer in our waters is the Pomarine Skua, of which we saw two - a fine, fully-spooned up adult which flew distantly between us and the islands one evening, and a 2nd summer with shorter spoons and stripey underwings which came straight over the top of the boat.

I managed to miss the spring passage of Pom Skuas past Portland despite spending a day there so this was a good one to get back for the photo year list (#213).

Not a skua, obviously, but a final surprise on the day we saw the Fea's Petrel was a diminutive Black Tern following a fishing boat - very well spotted at some distance by Antony Griffiths, it eventually came in close enough for a photo (#214).

Daring to dream

While the focus of this blog is generally faithful to the subjects in the title - 'wildlife', and, to a lesser extent, 'Peter Moore' - I occasionally confess to an interest in football, something of a Marmite subject among birders, I've noticed. Even if you feel about football how I feel about Marmite - i.e. ill-disposed - read on, it's as much a morality tale about loyalty and disappointment as about the beautiful game per se.

Jamming in on the Citrine Wagtail which graced Portland Obs for half a minute on Sunday would have been too much to ask - I was nearby at the Bill where this Pom was some consolation

My references to football are generally in the context of the Wareham Rangers Under-11s for whom my eldest regularly turns out (congratulations to them in their promotion season, by the way, which would have ended with a parental chorus of 'going up as Champions' but for some dubious refereeing decisions at a certain seaside town which shall remain nameless, but about which, being good middle class mums and dads, we had to bite our tongues at the time). Premier League football has never been an all-consuming passion, but out of boyhood loyalty I have followed the progress of Liverpool FC with fluctuating degrees of interest.

You'll never walk alone: not when there is a chance of a good seawatch at the Bill. Most seawatchers were standing in the lee of the lighthouse in a fierce westerly.

Like anyone who supports a team which has ever won anything but isn't from the place where the team is based, I have been accused of being a glory hunter. A bit harsh, as I actually declared my allegiance while lying on the floor of the school playground being punched by the school bully as he demanded to know what team I supported. Our nearest Football League side to the Forest of Dean was probably Bristol Rovers at the time (this was before the heady days of the Cheltenham Town insurgency) but we were brought up to mistrust Bristolians - so impossibly distant and exotic - so I blurted out 'Liverpool' as it was the only other team I'd heard of. While this no doubt had something to do with the fact that they were winning just about everything in the late 1970s, the declaration of support was, in truth, borne more out of ignorance of the alternatives than any transient hunt for glory.

Just the one drake Garganey left at Swineham this weekend having peaked at five last weekend.

Despite constant references to my fickle relationship with Swineham via this medium, loyalty is one of my more enduring faults, so the allegiance to Liverpool has stuck. All was well for the rest of my childhood, perms and mullets notwithstanding, as they continued to sweep all before them. I still have my Umbro replica shirt with Steve Heighway's number 9 on the back (I regarded new signing Dalglish as something of a Johhny Come Lately at the time). Then after the tragedy of Heysel, my enthusiasm waned and I developed other interests, but maintained just enough of an attachment to enjoy the odd highlight. Principal among these was the 2005 Champions League final, which I watched on my own while wife slumbered upstairs with bairn, in a holiday let on the Isles of Scilly where we spent a week in May (birding highlight of the week: Garganey. Yes, it was that bad). Like so many others, I almost switched off at half-time but fortunately persevered to witness one of the great footballing comebacks of all time. If only all 3-3 draws could end so well.

Sedge Warblers continue to entertain around Swineham and Bestwall

Having enough to be neurotic about these days, I try to avoid getting emotionally involved in Liverpool's prospects, but this season it all started to look on again, and, at the risk of resurrecting the glory hunter accusation, I inexorably got more and more bothered about the chance of them winning the Premier League. Predictably it all ended in tears yesterday. Thus was learnt a valuable lesson in daring to dream which I shall be passing on to Wareham Rangers Under-12s right-back before he gets too carried away about next season's prospects. At least I didn't post anything prematurely triumphalist when they were 5 points clear. And at least with birding there is usually some consolation even if you don't secure the big prize, as a trip to Portland proved this weekend.


Wood and spoons

The lure of Portland proved too strong again this afternoon. A family outing to the Bill, via a Black-winged Stilt at Lodmoor, started disappointingly when it seemed we might have left it too late to catch up with the earlier passage of Pomarine Skua. A small crowd of seawatchers at the Bill dispersed as news filtered through that a flock of 21 Poms which had been on the sea, and which they were hoping would make their way past us, had flown high and probably over the island.


Wood Warbler, Portland Castle

The Wood Warbler's white underside glowed against the dark backdrop of a dense conifer

The grounds of Portland Castle have proven to be an excellent migrant trap

A burst of song from the Wood Warbler

After a pleasant hour during which I found a Puffin and James Lowther picked up a Black Tern, the only other remaining birder's phone rang with a tip off from Chesil Cove that another Pom was on its way towards us. Armed and ready, it duly appeared soon after at the back of a flock of Manx Shearwater, and gave probably the closest fly-past I have enjoyed of this species.

Pomarine Skua with distinctive spoon-shaped tail feathers

Small flocks of Manx Shearwater headed east past the Bill

A single flock of Common Scoter also buzzed past

There was just time to twitch a singing Wood Warbler at Portland Castle on the way back. Elusive it first, a few pius and shimmering trills eventually gave it away and, despite kids (not mine) running and shouting under its favoured trees, it performed well for the camera in difficult light conditions. We have an English Heritage family membership card which I have been lobbying Claire to ditch in the interests of our finances, but I was glad of it this afternoon as it gave me access to the inner sanctum of the castle grounds where the Warbler showed best.

Kittiwake, Portland Bill

A very distant Puffin at Portland Bill

And an equally distant Black-winged Stilt at Lodmoor

YouTubenose

Millions of Egyptians concluded recently that democracy is not all it's cracked up to be. After the low turnout in my recent poll, it's tempting to agree with them. But then who am I to resist the will of the people who voted in their drove (singular) for more tales of seasickness and seabirds from my recent Scilly Pelagics out of St Mary's. So at the risk of subjecting the rest of you to the tyranny of the majority, here goes. Other posts to follow as promised.

Species of the trip has to be the Wilson's Petrel seen on Sunday 11th August. Bird of the trip though was probably this Great Shearwater which flew around the boat in good light and allowed a close approach thanks to some careful skippering by Joe Pender.

Difficult to get a sharp flight shot from a moving boat despite plenty of opportunity

This shot shows how the wing does actually shear the water

Shearwaters are meant to be seen in flight, but it was still good to get close to one sat on the sea

Note the pink legs which can be seen under the water

A close up of the elegant tubenose: shearwaters drink saltwater and therefore need to excrete excess salt, doing this via a salt gland which produces a saline solution that drips out of the nostrils, sometimes giving them a 'snotty-nosed' look. Not this one though, he'd just wiped.

I spent about 25 hours in total at sea on Sapphire, but it wasn't all snapping close-ups of Great Shearwaters. Long periods were spent steaming to likely locations or drifting and chumming while not much happened. As the boat sloshed around in the swell and the sun bore down I had a barely suppressible urge to start singing Farewell and Adieu to you Fair Spanish Ladies as per Robert Shaw in 'Jaws'...Next in the photo round-up, the three other species of Shearwater which were also seen.

Manx Shearwater - by far the commonest Shearwater encountered...

...Sooty Shearwaters were seen in small numbers, this one banking to reveal the silvery underwing...

...and Balearic Shearwater, taking off to reveal the typical pot-bellied profile

During one lengthy period of inactivity, I thought I must have imbibed too much seawater myself as I was sure I could hear the theme tune to 'Pirates of the Carribean' coming from the bows. Then someone punctured to hallucination: 'Phone's ringing, Joe'.

This Balearic was with a raft of Manxies just off St Mary's one evening

Balearic Shearwater

A Manx taking off from the same raft

And a Sooty in amongst the Manxies

Speaking of pirates, piratical is a word often used to describe members of the Skua family, two species of which were seen - Great and Pomarine. Only one Pom, but Greats often turned up when there were large flocks of Gulls to be harassed.

Great Skuas - a.k.a. 'Bonxies' - were seen fairly regularly

A bulky presence

Unfortunately this much rarer Pomarine Skua was almost past us before I got the camera on it - the 'spoon' on the tail can just be seen though

All told I thoroughly enjoyed the pelagics, and more than I thought I would. I'm an impatient seawatcher, but there's not much else to do when you're out there, so I was a captive audience for once.

Gannets often followed the Sapphire, especially when we dragged a bag of fish guts along behind

They would typically announce their arrival with a raucous call before stalling and plunge diving into the wake

Gannets of all ages and plumages were seen

We didn't see everything we had hoped to see - Cory's Shearwater being the main gap in the trip list - but we saw everything else very well and at least I have a good excuse to go again some time. The family also enjoyed being on St Mary's with all the shops, cafes and bars open - it's all got a bit 'ghost town' during our normal half-term holiday in October.

Fulmar - another tubenose, this one sporting the snot-nosed look to good effect

Fulmars were often alongside or following the boat

As these pictures suggests, we enjoyed a variety of light conditions, and I found a slightly flatter light better for many of the birds with contrasting dark and white plumages which might otherwise have been over-exposed by my sloppy technical abilities with the camera.

Great Black-backed Gulls were usually present among the larger flocks, although...

Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the commonest gull following the boat

Kittiwakes often followed the boat, most showing signs of moult and not at their usual smart best

I should close with a big thank you to tour leaders Bob Flood and Ashley Fisher, skipper Joe Pender, Higgo and other regulars whose names I didn't know but who helped out with chumming, bird-finding and all round general entertainment. These trips may not be for the faint hearted, but still come highly recommended.

Storm Petrels are closely related to Shearwaters...

..but much harder to photograph due to their small size and rapid, bat-like flight.