A day trip to the Isle's of Scilly.
We decided on Saturday to take a day trip on the Scillonian over to St Mary's. With the ferry not leaving until 10:30, we decided on a lazy morning so sat down for breakfast at 7:30, before the short journey to the ticket office to see if we could get tickets, which, as suspected, was not a problem.
Not long after departure a drake Common Scoter was found, before Martin Bevan found a couple of Harbour Porpoises. As we passed along the Cornish coast, Martin picked up a male Harrier which we all go onto but it only showed briefly, enough for us to sex it, but not enough to id to species level.
The only seabirds of note on the outward leg of the crossing were singles of Pom Skua, Sooty Shear' and Storm Petrel (the later only seen by Bevan and Gaze). Seadog Phil managed to get to within 40 minutes of docking in St Mary's before disposing of his breakfast - partly over those sitting on the lower deck!
With only just over a hour in St Mary's before the return leg, we had a quick walk up to the football field on the Garrison. Highlight of this short visit were several violet blue jellyfish in the harbour.
Just before leaving St Mary's a Common Tern flew low over the ferry to reveal a satelite tracker strapped/glued to it's back. Phil decided to spend the return journey below deck, trying to get some sleep, so he wouldn't be ill. It appeared to work a treat as he looked quite fresh after disembarked at Penzance.
Birding wise, highlights were a single, distant Bonxie and a 1st winter Puffin (Martin and Rob again). The only other wildlife were 2 Sunfish.
On landing, it was off for a Pasty then off to Marazion were we failed to reconnect with the Citrine Wag.
We decided on Saturday to take a day trip on the Scillonian over to St Mary's. With the ferry not leaving until 10:30, we decided on a lazy morning so sat down for breakfast at 7:30, before the short journey to the ticket office to see if we could get tickets, which, as suspected, was not a problem.
Not long after departure a drake Common Scoter was found, before Martin Bevan found a couple of Harbour Porpoises. As we passed along the Cornish coast, Martin picked up a male Harrier which we all go onto but it only showed briefly, enough for us to sex it, but not enough to id to species level.
The only seabirds of note on the outward leg of the crossing were singles of Pom Skua, Sooty Shear' and Storm Petrel (the later only seen by Bevan and Gaze). Seadog Phil managed to get to within 40 minutes of docking in St Mary's before disposing of his breakfast - partly over those sitting on the lower deck!
With only just over a hour in St Mary's before the return leg, we had a quick walk up to the football field on the Garrison. Highlight of this short visit were several violet blue jellyfish in the harbour.
Just before leaving St Mary's a Common Tern flew low over the ferry to reveal a satelite tracker strapped/glued to it's back. Phil decided to spend the return journey below deck, trying to get some sleep, so he wouldn't be ill. It appeared to work a treat as he looked quite fresh after disembarked at Penzance.
Birding wise, highlights were a single, distant Bonxie and a 1st winter Puffin (Martin and Rob again). The only other wildlife were 2 Sunfish.
On landing, it was off for a Pasty then off to Marazion were we failed to reconnect with the Citrine Wag.
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