31 Jan 26 - ORCA Canaries Cruise - Birding On La Palma

There was no time for any surveying as we approached our third destination in the Canaries: the island of La Palma. This is one of the two most Westerly islands and as such it receives a lot of rain. Consequently, the island has lush Laurel forests, where they haven't been clear for agriculture.

We were berthed next to the elegant-looking Wind Star: She can carry just under one hundred and fifty passengers

A map of La Palma: I was heading to locations in the North East of the island

I wanted to make the most of my time on La Palma and so I left the ship soon after the gangplank had been connected and we were allowed to disembark. The car hire company was next to the quayside and within a few minutes I was heading off to my first destination of the Laurel forests at Los Tilos. There are forest trails at Los Tilos and I rightly suspected that there would be limited parking. My plan was to find somewhere I could watch the forest slopes, rather than walking the trails, and I found a convenient viewpoint next to the entrance hut to the reserve.

A view over the forest at Los Tilos: This looked to be a good place to look for Laurel Pigeons. There are occasional eBird records of Bolle's Laurel Pigeon from here, but the only species I saw for certain was the commoner White-tailed Laurel Pigeon

White-tailed Laurel Pigeon: This monotypic species occurs on the Western Canary islands of La Palma, La Gomera & Tenerife

White-tailed Laurel Pigeon: All the Laurel Pigeons seen were flying around the upper slopes of the forest. Therefore, it seemed unlikely I would have bumped into them on the trails

White-tailed Laurel Pigeon: White-tailed Laurel Pigeons have uniform upperwings, whereas, Bolle's Laurel Pigeons have paler grey coverts

Buzzard: This is the insularum subspecies which is restricted to the Canaries. I saw a Marsh Harrier at Laguna de Barlovento, which has been seen there on a few occasions. Otherwise, the only other large Raptor I saw on the Canaries were Buzzards

After about an hour at Los Tilos, I was ready to move on have seen one of the two Laurel Pigeons species. The forest around Laguna de Barlovento looked to be a better location for Bolle's Laurel Pigeon. After another three-quarters of an hour of driving I arrived at the site. It is a massive and nearly empty concrete reservoir and frustratingly it was fenced off, so it wasn't possible to see if there were any Birds on the relatively small amount of water in it. There were plenty of extensive Laurel forests surrounding it, but the forest wasn't as close as it had been at Los Tilos. Unfortunately, it was not late morning and that isn't a great time for Pigeon activity.

The forest around Laguna de Barlovento

A view of Mount Teide on nearby Tenerife

I tried a number of viewpoints over the forest, but I failed to see either of the Laurel Pigeon species. After a while, I drove back to a campsite and ornamental lake next to the reservoir as Birds are often tamer at campsites. I did manage to finally get some reasonable photographs of a Canary Island Chaffinch.

Moorhen: This is the nominate chloropus subspecies which occurs from the UK to Europe, North Africa, the Canaries & Madeira, East through Asia to Sri Lanka, the central Malayan Peninsula, China & Japan

Blackbird: This is the cabrerae subspecies which is restricted to the Western Canaries & Madeira

Canary Islands Chiffchaff: This monotypic species is restricted to the Canaries

Canary Islands Chiffchaff: The song is similar to a Chiffchaff, but different enough to be immediately obvious

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Male. This is the palmae subspecies which is restricted to La Palma. There are another three subspecies on the Canaries

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Male. It is interesting that all of the Chaffinch species on the Canaries are much bluer than our Chaffinch

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Male

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Female. The females look more similar to a Chaffinch in the UK

Canary: This monotypic species is restricted to the Azores, the western Canaries & Madeira

Canary: They were a commonly seen species in grassland areas

I had seen very few Butterflies so far in the Canaries, but there were a few Butterflies flying around the grassy edges to the forest at Laguna de Barlovento. They were flighty and I only had a couple of opportunities to take some quick photos, as I was focusing on looking for flying Pigeons. It was disappointing to find that the two species photographed were regular visitors to my UK garden.

Red Admiral

Small White

It was now around one-thirty. I figured I wasn't likely to see any Bolle's Laurel Pigeons at Laguna de Barlovento and I might as well head back to the Spirit of Discovery for a late lunch. On port days, it's possible to get a late lunch as long as it's ordered before three.

The island has a much larger population that Lanzarote and the houses are very different to the traditional houses on Lanzarote

I stopped for a few scenic photos and at one of these stops, I bumped into a feeding Monarch. At last a Butterfly species that isn't on my garden list, albeit I have seen pukka individuals on the local Winspit patch back in the 90s.

Monarch: The Canaries population is believed to have originated from North American migrants to Mexico which were blown into the Atlantic and were lucky enough to have arrived on the Canaries, where one of it's food plants, Tropical Milkweed, has been commonly introduced

The lower slopes of La Palma are covered in small fields

After about an hour's drive I was back in the city of Santa Cruz de la Palma.

Replica of Santa Maria: This replica of Columbus's ship is actually a naval museum

Replica of Santa Maria: Had I realised it was a museum, I would have stopped for a look at the exhibits which are within its hull

Heading toward the main town

I like the way this old tree has been used to provide shade for this cafe

A breaching multicoloured Humpback Whale

We departed at five and managed to get about ninety minutes of surveying in before we lost the light. I saw a couple of Dolphins, which were too brief a sighting to be possible to identified.

The coastal edge of the island was very heavily scarred by valleys

An atmospheric sunset: With all the storms we weren't going to get the lovely orangey sunsets I had seen on the previous two Saga cruises

It was time to head off for dinner, followed by booking a hire car for our next Atlantic island of Madeira. I will cover that in the next Blog Post.

7 May 25 - A Spring Day Trip To St Marys With ORCA

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.

Passing close to Peninnis on our approach to Hugh Town

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.

This sailing ship was moored just outside of Hugh Town Harbour

Great Northern Diver: This is only the second summer plumage Great Northern Diver I've photographed, albeit the first was hardly a summer date given it was 26 Oct 15

We had sailed a few minutes early and arrived about fifteen minutes early thanks to the calm seas.

The ORCA survey team: Myself, Julie Bunt and Sarah Matthews. The photo is published with Sarah's permission and the copyright for the photo remains with Sarah

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 island's climate allows many sub-tropical plants to thrive

Old Town Church: I've spent a lot of time looking in the Old Town churchyard trees, but I think the only goodie I've seen in the trees was a Red-eyed Vireo back in the 1980s. Additionally, I did see my first White-speck in the churchyard in Oct 23

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.

Coot: Adult with small youngster, whilst nervously watching two Herring Gulls on the pool

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.

Lower Moors: The trail passes through some great-looking trees

Lower Moors: It's never this dry in October

Moorhen: Adult with small youngster

Moorhen: Adult with small youngster

Part of the Lower Moors trail leading to the road at Porthloo Lane

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.

Harry's Walls: I will have to return for a longer look on a future visit

It's hard to believe this excellent-looking Porthloo garden is in the UK

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.

The luxury cruise ship Le Bellot: She had to moor in the channel and ferry passengers ashore

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.

13 May 23 - A Day Trip To St Mary's With ORCA

This was my second Cetacean for ORCA in May 23. The previous week had seen me surveying from Roscoff back to Plymouth. This survey was going to stay within the UK with a day trip to the Isles of Scilly on the Scillonian III. The weather looked mild & sunny with light winds and hopefully calm seas. This turned out to be the case. I drove down in the early hours of the morning & fortunately, I didn't stop until the Long Rock McDonalds on the edge of Penzance. After some food, I planned to head into Penzance. But the car wouldn't start as I had a flat battery. I contacted the team leader for the survey, Mary to let her know & asked if she could pick me up. I knew She was staying near to the Hayle & would be coming right past me. Fortunately, she picked up my phone call & arrived about fifteen minutes later. We were soon parked up in Penzance. Ian, the third member of the team arrived before we needed to join the queue to board the Scillonian III.

The view from the bridge wing

We were allowed onto the bridge, once we were clear of Penzance Harbour. The Scillonian III has a small bridge and there isn't room for us to survey from inside the bridge. However, there is plenty of room on the bridge wings with a walkway in front of the bridge. We had been warned to wear warm & waterproof clothing as we would be exposed to the weather on the crossing. Fortunately, it stayed dry, however, thanks to the wind chill it was far from warm, despite the sun.

Gwennap Head & Porthgwarra Valley

Despite our best efforts, we drew a blank on Cetaceans on the crossing to St Mary's. The Bird highlights were: three Storm-petrels, thirty-three Manx Shearwaters, a few Gannets, some Razorbills & Guillemots and four Puffins. There were a couple of Seals around the Eastern Islands, but they were too far away to do anything other than record them as Seal sp., even though we suspected that Grey Seal was the more likely species. I was focusing on watching for Cetaceans and I didn't have time to do much photography, other than when I was the recorder. We carried on surveying until just before we could see Hugh Town.

The walkway in front of the bridge

Survey over & Mary is enjoying the view of St Mary's

The top end of St Mary's

Telegraph at the top end of St Mary's

We docked just before 12:00 and had about three & a half hours for a shore run. This allowed us to be back on the quay an hour before the Scillonian III's schedule departure to ensure there were no last minute problems getting aboard. We all split up to do different things. My plan started with a walk to Porthcressa Beach in the hope of being able to scan over to St Agnes and Gugh. At high tide, the beach between the two islands is flooded, but at low tide it is possible to walk across to Gugh from St Agnes. There was a Laughing Gull that was hanging around a Lesser Black-backed Gull colony on Gugh.

Porthcressa Bay

I've seen a couple of Laughing Gulls in the UK and many more abroad, so I wasn't fussed enough to jump on an inter-island boat over to St Agnes to try to see it. Plan B was to see if I could see it from Porthcressa Beach. The answer was no: I hadn't bothered taking the telescope with me, but there was too much heat haze anyway. I spoke to a local Birder who did have a scope, but he said the Laughing Gull often dropped into the colony & disappeared out of sight & he hadn't seen it since he had started looking before I arrived.

Porthcressa Bay

Looking into Porthcressa Bay from Peninnis

I wasn't too fussed about hanging around & carried on, over Peninnis Head to look around the Old Town Church & Lower Moors, followed by walking around Porthloo Lane. These are some of my favourite parts of St Mary's. Not surprisingly, there weren't any migrants, but it was good to have a gentle walk around some of my old October haunts from the past.

Moorhen: Chick. Lower Moors, St Mary's

Song Thrush: They are always a favourite for visiting Birders as they are much tamer than elsewhere in the UK

Porthloo Beach

The Scillonian III: A sight that will be familiar to all the Birders who have visited St Mary's

Finally, I ended up back in a Hugh Town cafe to top up the caffeine levels before heading back with plenty of time to meet Mary & Ian on the quayside.

Hugh Town harbour

The inter-island boats return in time to connect with the Scillonian III's departure

We sailed on time and it was a better crossing.

Gugh: This photo was taken from the Scillonian III & Gugh was a fair bit closer that from Porthcressa Bay. But trying to pick out the Laughing Gull would still have been a challenge

My personal highlight on the return crossing, was finding a pod of three Risso's Dolphins heading straight for the Scillonian III, before passing down the port side. Frustratingly, I didn't manage to get any photos. When surveying, the initial priority is to note the vertical distance of the Cetacean from the horizon when it is first seen. We use binoculars which have a vertical graduated marking in the left eyepiece which allows that to be measured. Next you have to measure the angle from 12 o'clock (i.e. the direction the ferry is travelling) to the Cetacean.

These two measurements are useful as they allow the ORCA head office computer to calculate the distance from the ferry to the Cetacean. The maths also needs to know the height of the bridge above sea level (which is a known height for each ferry). The ships heading, speed, position, time, sea state, weather & visibility are also included in the calculations. Finally, the direction of travel and what the Cetacean is doing is also noted. All this information helps the ORCA head office computer to provide an estimate of the number of Cetaceans seen along each of the survey routes and ultimately the population numbers along each ferry route.

Risso's Dolphin: These Risso's Dolphins were photographed from the Plancius on the West African Pelagic between Cape Verde and the Canaries (3 May 18).

Once these measurements have been determined, the next thing is to identify the Cetacean involved. But I had already done that on the first sighting based upon their colouration, size & high dorsal fin. Finally, I could lift the camera to try & get a photo. But I hadn't seen them till they were fairly close, we were closing rapidly on each other and they weren't spending a lot of time on the surface. Think that's enough excuses for the lack of photos. They were only my second UK sighting, although I've also seen then on the Atlantic Odyssey, the West African Pelagic and Banda Sea Cruise.

Manx Shearwater: I saw thirty-three on the crossing to St Mary's and just under three hundred on the return journey

Half an hour later, Ian picked up a very close Minke Whale, but I was the recorder & had to head straight into the bridge to note the time, location, course & speed. Once I had noted them, it had already detected our presence & dived for good. C'est la vie. There were more Manx Shearwaters and a few each of Fulmars, Gannets, Razorbills and Guillemots. But no more Storm-petrels or Puffins. Eventually, we reached Mousehole, before starting the turn into Penzance Bay.

The Wolf Rock Lighthouse off the Cornish coast

Mousehole

St Michaels Mount in Penzance Bay

The second survey of the day was over and to get a relatively calm crossing on the Scillonian III is always a big bonus. It had been a lot of fun & I'm hoping I get selected for another Scillies survey.

Rock Pipit: This Rock Pipit greeted our return from the seawall of Penzance Harbour, while we were waiting to disembark

Fortunately, we managed to jump start the car when Mary dropped me back at it. It was then a straight-forward drive home in one go. I managed to bump start it on the Monday & got the car into the garage. They confirmed that the problem was an end-of-life battery and not anything more serious or expensive like a dying alternator. A new battery & I was back on the road again.