Petrel stations

It must be tempting to look at the cripplingly good photographs of Storm Petrels taken over the years by the likes of Brian Thomas and Joe Pender and conclude it must be easy when the birds clearly come so close to the boat. Take it from me, it is anything but. First you have to find them, which generally involves chugging out of High Town for an hour or two, then drifting and chumming for another hour or two before the petrels pick up the scent and arrive to check out the oily slick created by the fish guts and mealworms laid on for their delectation.

Then you have to photograph them - and shooting these rapidly moving, tiny birds from a small vessel, bobbing (if you are lucky) on the open sea whilst holding down lunch is probably one of the greatest photographic challenges I have undertaken. The failure rate is therefore extremely high but after much fiddling with camera settings, and a bit of hit and hope, some reasonably sharp images were possible. The European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus is easy enough to see on these trips but the Wilson's Petrel Oceanites oceanicus is much rarer in British waters and a particular target of late summer pelagics out of the Isles of Scilly. It has been a good year for them and one or two of this species were seen from the Sapphire on each of three trips I made over the long weekend recently.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Wilson's Petrel shows a plain underwing...

 ...a straight trailing edge to the wing...

...toes protruding beyond the tail...

...yellow webbing between the toes...

...and a pale band along the upper-wing coverts

Wilson's Petrel patters on the surface as do other members of the family

A tiny bird compared to the gulls around the boat but...

...still visibly larger than European Storm Petrel (left)

European Storm Petrel has a plain upper-wing compared to Wilson's...

...and a diagnostic white bar on the under-wing

Note also the legs do not protrude beyond the tail

This Storm Petrel was so close to our stern it was practically being hand-fed mealworms

Another view of the distinctive under-wing pattern

European Storm Petrel - incredible how these tiny birds survive in their hostile ocean habitat

Stormy weather

The first of four pelagics out of the Isles of Scilly last weekend saw us heading south out of St Mary's on the MV Sapphire into the glorious sunlight and stiff breeze of Friday evening. These are theoretically ideal conditions for such trips as, when foul-smelling chum, a heady mixture of fish guts, fat and oil, is deposited over the stern, the whiff is carried in the wind acting like catnip for seabirds, and particularly Storm Petrels. These tiny, free-spirited birds spend their life on the high seas, coming in to land only to breed, and then generally under cover of darkness.

Storm Petrel: not your typical bird in either appearance and behaviour

European Storm Petrel shows a white rump and white band on the underwing

An extremely difficult bird to photograph in flight

The European Storm Petrel, for which the Isles of Scilly is one of only two English breeding sites, is virtually guaranteed on a Scilly pelagic at this time of year. Its larger cousin, Wilson's Storm Petrel, comes with no such guarantee, despite being one of the most abundant species of bird in the world, as they breed in the southern hemisphere, and are unlikely to be seen in this country unless from a pelagic trip. In fact, as we set out, one had not been recorded in British waters this year.

They patter on the surface of the water when feeding in the chum slick

This picture shows the boiling sea whipped up by strong winds

Backlit on the sunny side of the Sapphire

I was optimistic that my new camera and lens would help me improve on my earlier best efforts at photographing Stormies on a similar trip two years ago. But I had forgotten just how difficult it was to capture these fast moving and erratic subjects pinging around a boat whilst rolling in a heavy swell and trying not to hurl. It took an age to get my eye in, another age to be confident I had selected the right camera settings, and another to finally get something respectable. To the extent that many of the most presentable shots were taken in the dying embers of the light.

I stood at the back of the boat next to Shropshire birder and photographer Jim Almond, as catching them coming around the stern with the sun behind us seemed the best approach

An absorbing pursuit, petrel photography...

...in which you end up content even if the results are imperfect

Just as they seemed to have died out completely (at 2034 hrs to be precise) up went a shout: 'Wilson's!'. It was time for the expensive consumer electronics hanging off my shoulder to earn their keep. Selecting a shutter speed I though would freeze the action, and dropping the ISO to Auto, I fired away. The Wilson's was surprisingly easy to pick out even without bins, being larger and having a totally different, more direct flight style with longer glides thrown in by comparison to its European relative. This also made it slightly easier to follow and thus photograph. The results were never going to be great in view of the lateness of the hour and the ISO being pushed to 16000, but I was pleased to get anything recognisable as a Wilson's Petrel, and not sure I would have been able to do so with my old 7D. An auspicious start to what became a memorable weekend in the Petrel department.

The straight trailing edge to the wing, protruding feet and pale grey upperwing bar are diagnostic of Wilson's Petrel

The square-ended tail appears forked when kinked and the white rump wraps further around the body than in European Storm Petrel

An additional diagnostic feature - yellow webbing between the toes - is obviously best seen when they are spread, but even here a hint of yellow colouration is apparent

Petrel heads

Wilson's Petrel is one of the most sought after birds on the Scilly pelagics, four of which I had the pleasure of slurping about on earlier this month. Soon after we boarded the Sapphire for the first time though, our leader Bob Flood was doing his best to manage expectations about seeing one, there having been only three records in Britain so far this year, and one of those being in spring.

European Storm Petrel - the latin name Hydrobates pelagicus underlines its ocean going existence

So we concentrated on getting our eye in on European Storm Petrel, of which there were plenty, and hoped for the best. I think we had been seduced by stunning photos from the likes of Bryan Thomas from previous pelagics into thinking that Stormies would be permanently dancing in the chum slick just feet off the stern.

In European Storm Petrel the broad white bar on the underwing is diagnostic

It wasn't quite like that, and it took until our third trip on the Monday evening to attract a group to the chum slick which made repeated passes off the back of the boat, allowing the photographers on board to get in position. If rolling with the swell while trying to keep lunch down can be described as a 'position'. In the circumstances, I was pleased to get any kind of shots.

Storm Petrels patters on the surface while picking up morsels of food

By the end of our first day we had seen plenty of European but no Wilson's Storm Petrel. No matter, a full day trip lay ahead, and although the weather was set fair, a stiffer breeze was forecast, normally better for seabirds. After another seven hours at sea we were about to head back to St Mary's empty handed when a big shout went up and an 11th hour Wilson's Petrel made a distant pass off the port side. It was too quick to attempt to photograph but fortunately it came back for another pass, still a good way out but with the sun behind us the views were pretty good.

This shot of a European Storm Petrel conveys just a little of the harsh environment in which these tiny birds spend much of their lives

I couldn't get a clear shot over the heads of others so adopted a stance which, with hindsight, the local government officer in me feels might have benefited from a more thorough risk assessment, involving as it did a leggy straddle between two of the boat's slippery central bench seats. Only later did I realise I was hovering over the shark fishing rods and hooks which could have done me quite a mischief in the event of a slip.

Wilson's Petrel - Oceanites oceanicus in case you hadn't got the idea with the whole oceanic thing

Happily, no bones were broken and of about 20 frames rattled off, one of the bird banking, showing the pale covert band on the upperwing and legs protruding beyond the tail, came out reasonably sharp. A good photo tick for me and one of my main targets for the trip.

We saw a second Wilson's Petrel, a moulting bird, in gloomier conditions on an evening pelagic a few days later

I've now seen and photographed the Petrel, the Phalarope and the Snipe named after the great Scottish pioneer of American ornithology, Alexander Wilson. Perhaps, if they have the internet wherever he is, and he's reading this, he'd be good enough to give up his Warbler this autumn?