I was scheduled to be leading a team of ORCA surveyors from Penzance to St Mary's on 23 Apr 25. Unfortunately, the survey had to be postponed at the last minute, due to a weather warning which predicted three metre seas and thirty knot winds around the islands. Thanks to a hectic period of passenger bookings around the Easter and May Bank holidays, it took a while before the Scillonian could host us, but, we were finally on for the first Weds in May. Fortunately, one of the original surveyors, Sarah Matthews, was still able to support the survey and Julie Bunt stepped in at short notice as the third surveyor. It was a quiet crossing with favourable seas and weather, but no Marine Mammal sightings and low number of Seabirds. This was something that the skipper Dave mentioned had been a feature of the last two weeks of mainly Easterly winds. Still it gave the team the chance to setting into the paperwork side of the survey, as well as, following the survey protocol itself. The reality is a survey with no sightings is always useful training and useful data.
I finished the survey a few minutes later, as we were getting close to our final approach into Hugh Town. This allowed us to get out of the bridge and stand out of the way on the bridge wing. As we were getting approaching the final turn, we saw this nice looking sailing ship. I pointed out a Shag on the water and then raised the bins to have a quick look at it. A good job I did, as it was actually a cracking summer plumage Great Northern Diver.
We had sailed a few minutes early and arrived about fifteen minutes early thanks to the calm seas.
Our departure time had been brought forward from 16:30 to 15:00. Therefore, there was no time to lose once we got ashore to have a wander around St Mary's. Sarah and Julie were planning to meet up with a friend of Sarah's who lives on St Mary's. My plan was to head to the Old Town Churchyard, walk along Lower Moors and have a quick look at Porthloo Lane, if time permitted.
The next stop was a quick look at Lower Moors. The pool from the first hide was quiet, except for a pair of Coots feeding three youngsters.
I carried on along the Lower Moors. The trees and reedbeds were looking great, with singing Warblers, including, a Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, a few Reed Warblers and Blackcaps. Finally, I reached the screen by the Shooter's Pond, where a pair of Moorhens were feeding a couple of youngsters.
I still had a bit of time to wander down Porthloo Lane. I tried to cut through on the footpath to Porth Mellon beach, but I lost the path and ended up at Harry's Walls. Despite all the days I've spent wandering around on St Mary's in the 1980s, it was my first visit to the site. Harry's Walls are the remains of an unfinished artillery fort, started in 1551 by Edward VI, which was started to defend St Mary's. There was time for a quick photo, before I had to retrace my steps and find the road to Hugh Town.
I had time to grab a coffee before getting back onto the quayside for 14:00. Julie and Sarah appeared soon after and we were quickly back on board the Scillonian. As we were departing Hugh Town there was time for a quick photo of the luxury cruise ship, Le Bellot, that was also visiting the islands that day.
We departed on the route between the islands and the skipper pointed out the regular location where they see Seals in the water around Menawethan, the final island of the Eastern Islands. On range these are going to be Grey Seals, but the four we saw were too far away to specifically confirm their identification, so they were logged as probable Grey Seals. About half way back to Cornwall, Julie and Sarah saw another Seal at sea which was a nice sighting to get. I was surveying from the other bridge wing and missed it. They joys of surveying is you aren't always in the right place to see everything. However, I did pick up a pod of three Short-beaked Common Dolphins as we were close to Mousehole and fortunately, Sarah saw them as well from her bridge wing. It's always good when everybody in the team gets to see at least one sighting on a survey.
I would like to thank the Captain Dave, First Officer Matthew, Purser Gail and the rest of the crew for making us so welcome on the Scillonian. It had been a successful and enjoyable survey.
