I drove down to Bodmin Moor to my usual off the A30 sleeping layby on Tuesday evening. I set an early alarm call to allow me to finished the final hour of the journey to Penzance for my nineth ORCA survey to the Scillies. I met the rest of my team and we were quickly onboard. It proved to be a calm crossing with a gentle swell of under one metre, but mist was problem in the majority of the outbound crossing. Finally, the mist cleared as we reached the Scillies. Sightings were sparse, but one of the other surveyors saw a Sunfish and we all enjoyed views of a pod of four Short-beaked Common Dolphins, just before I was about to end the survey as we passed Old Town Bay. While we don't survey for Birds on the ORCA surveys, it would have been rude not to spend a few seconds looking at a Sooty Shearwater and a Cory's Shearwater as we approached St Mary's. Chatting to some Seabird surveyors on the back deck, they had seen another fifteen or so distant Cory's Shearwaters earlier in the crossing, but we weren't there to look for Seabirds.
The predicted drizzle didn't materialise which allowed me to wander around some of my old Birding haunts along Porthloo Lane, Lower Moors and the Old Town churchyard. There were a few common migrants around, with a Pied Flycatcher in Porthloo Lane as the highlight.
We were quickly back on the bridge and it was clear that the return crossing was going to be more of a challenge with a stiff South Easterly wind. It was a warm wind, but there was no respite for the surveyor on the starboard wing. Fortunately, the port surveyor could get out of the wind by sheltering near the bridge superstructure, while the recorder enjoyed the shelter within the bridge itself. Unfortunately, we didn't record any Cetaceans on the way back and my Avian highlight was an Arctic Skua which belted South.
Sadly, this is my last scheduled ORCA survey for this season. So, unless I get offered a late notice backfill opportunity for an ORCA survey or I end up going down to Scillies for a day trip to see a rarity later this Autumn (a showy Wilson's Snipe or Ovenbird please), this will be my last crossing on the Scillonian III. Next season she is due to be replaced with a new ship, which will have an enclosed bridge. This might mean we get a more-pleasant crossing whilst surveying, but I will miss the 'Old Girl'.
I would like to thanks the two skippers that I've travelled with, Dave and Vicky, as well as, their wonderful crews, for the welcome they have given to the ORCA teams while I've been onboard. I will miss the Scillonian III.