The past week I was one of an adventurous group of 10 seabirders participating in the Challenger expedition to the British Continental shelf, 160 km SW of Scilly, in search of the Madeiran Storm-petrel, conceived and meticulously organised by Scott Reid.

A good selection of seabirds on this evening’s sharking trip included this Pom Skua - photo Joe Pender. Also numerous foraging groups of Cory’s and Greats over Bluefin Tuna and SB Common Dolphin. Other notables were a Wilson’s Stormy, Arctic Skua, Sabs Gull, Sooty Shear,

Totals for this evening- photos Joe Pender: • Wilson’s Storm Petrel – 1 • European Storm Petrel – ~50 • Scopoli’s Shearwater – 1 (plus) • Cory’s Shearwater – 80 • Great Shearwater – 40 • Sooty Shearwater – 4 • Grey Phalarope – 10 • Long-tailed Skua – 2

Two unbelievably confiding Long-tailed Skuas gave a prolonged performance -adult and first-summer.

The season’s Birder Special Pelagics culminated excitedly this evening with at least 1 Scopoli’s Shearwater in this feeding frenzy over Bluefin Tuna (BoC Paul French). VAR pending on several others suggesting a mini influx. But there was much more…

Pelagic birding at its best! Cory’s - 350 and Great - 250 Shears on view start to finish. Six Sabine’s Gull, 2 close for 30 mins in slick, 2 following boat. Superb ad Long-tailed Skua for 10 mins. Six Grey Phal, 2 being confiding. 3 Wilson’s & 100+ Euro Stormy. Photos Joe Pender

Sensational views of Sabine’s Gull during today’s Scilly Birder Special Pelagic.

Exhilarating being among 1000s of shearwaters wheeling about in strong wind: at least 300 Great, 200 Cory’s, 4 Sooty, many Manx. Skuas were a brutish 1S Pomarine & juv Long-tailed & Great. C200 European Stormy & 3 Wilson’s at point blank range. A Grey Phalarope, too. Sensational!

1st trip of final weekend of Birder Special Pelagics barely passed by Eastern Isles when 2 Grey Phalaropes were found, 1 very confiding. At sea, large shears abounded with 150+ Great, 100+ Cory’s, 3 Sooties. Five Wilson’s & 40+ European Stormies showed well. Photo Joe Pender

Large shearwaters were all around us this evening with 200+ Cory’s, 150+ Great and 3 Sooty, plus a good showing of European Storm-petrel. Photos Isaac Ogden

24 gram European Storm-petrels in Beaufort 7 off Scilly this evening.

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Winds turned W & strengthened. Mon & Tue eve very productive with 5 & 9 Wilson’s respectively. Cory’s & Great Shear increased. Arctic & Great Skuas were seen. Isaac Ogden took this dramatic photo of Wilson’s on a big sea.

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Sat & Sun Birder Special Pelagics produced excellent sightings with my star bird this adult Sabine’s Gull (photo Joe Pender). Sat birds: 5 Wilson’s & 25 Euro Stormies; 60 Great, 4 Cory’s, 10 Sooty, 2 Balearic Shears; 3 Sabs Gull. Sun birds similar but more Cory’s (25), 1 Wilson’s

4th Scilly Birder Special Pelagic weekend featured cetaceans: Fin & Humpback Whales, Risso’s & Common Dolphins. An ad Sabs Gull gave a stellar performance, a Wilson’s Stormy raised a cheer. Also 8 Great and a Sooty Shear. Very enjoyable evening. Video Bob Flood, photos Mark Baker

Strong E persisted into Monday but we dug out 2 Wilson’s and a showy Great Shear. This eve E dropped off and birds picked up a bit with Black Tern, Arctic Skua, 2 Wilson’s and a few Great, Cory’s and Sooty Shears. Bluefin Tuna made welcome return. Photos Joe Pender & Isaac Ogden

Wind from the east strengthened again for today’s pelagic and sea state averaged 2.5 m. Three days of easterlies blew away our shearwaters but we managed tremendous views of 12 Wilson’s and 150 European Stormy.

The easterly wind strengthened further to F6 gusting F7. Despite this we found 9 Wilson’s with ex Ellen’s views in our oily slick. This is the 35th consecutive trip for Wilson’s! Also c80 Europeans. A Cory’s showed well over the slick, 3 more flew by along with a Sooty. Photo Joe Pender

The wind turned east and picked up to F4. Not ideal but we did OK. Five kms SW Bishop Rock we found 8 Wilson’s Stormy, c50 European, a couple of Cory’s (one with features better suiting Scopoli’s) and a Sooty. Photo Joe Pender

With a F5 E, y’day evening we headed to Pol Bank, 5km SW Bshop Rock. Despite the wind direction we still found 5 Wilson’s Stormy and 50 Europeans. Also sensational views in the wind of c45 Great Shear, 8 Cory’s and 5 Sooty. A ringed 2cy Bonxie was notable. Photos Joe Pender

On Sunday, a F2 W swinging E was not ideal so we employed several chumming tricks. Success with 15 Wilson’s and c150 Europeans. First Grey Phalorope. Shearwaters: 8 Cory’s with 2 following close behind, 5 Great and 6 Sooty. The CEFAS weather boy 8 km west housed c20 Common Tern. #seabirds

Today’s Birder Special Pelagics was all about Wilson’s Stormy. We steamed 11 Miles SE, F3/4 WSW and found 41, plus c200 European. Large shear nos were down with 25 Great, 8 Cory’s & 6 Sooty, some of which showed well. Photos iPhone video Bob Flood #seabirds

Wind dropped to F2/3 W. Headed to Pol Bank 5km SW Bishop Rock on 1st of 4 weekend Birder Special Pelagics. Highlight 2 adult-like Long-tailed Skua. Plenty Wilson’s with 19 plus c150 European. Ace views 50+ Great Shear, 9 Cory’s, 6 Sooty. Swung by lighthouse. Photos Isaac Ogden #seabirds

A shared sharking/birding trip to 7.5 miles south once again found Wilson’s Stormy common with 33 birds plus c150 European. No concentrated feeds in the area though c30 Great Shear and 9 Cory’s were tallied. Photo Joe Pender

F4 W & misty rain. Day 3 Oriole Birding focussed on drifting and chumming, wind dispersing smell of chum, which lured in tubenoses. Results excellent with 16 Wilson’s Stormy. Manoeuvring boat gave unbeatable views, plus c40 Euro Stormy. Shearwaters: 34 Great, 10 Cory’s, 6 Sooty.

Fantastic Scilly pelagic trip with many Shearwater including Sooty, Great and Cory’s as well as Wilson’s Storm Petrel. @scillypelagics.bsky.social #birds

On Scilly Pelagics, what we see depends on what we do; what we do depends on weather. Day 2 of Oriole Birding 2025 charter weather had calm NW F2. No wind for drifting & chumming so we steamed around and found many tuna-based feeding frenzies. Video Bob Flood, photos Joe Pender

20th year of Oriole Birding Scilly Pelagics charters. This eve was a cracker. In a brisk F4 NNW, we steamed 8 miles S to tuna feeds with c200 Great Shears, 20 Cory’s, 30 Sooties, c1K Manx & 2 Balearics. A 1-hour chum attracted a Wilson’s & c100 Europeans. Pix Isaac Ogden & Joe Pender

On this eve’s shared fishing/birding trip to Pol Bank, 5km SW of Bishop Rock, F3 NW, Wilson’s Stormy were common with 13 birds, & c250 Europeans. For shears, Greats remain steady with 28, Cory’s scarce with 5, & 2 Sooties. Also, Arctic Skua & Yellow-legged Gull. Photo Joe Pender #seabirds

This eve’s pelagic visited Pol Bank, 5 kms SW of Bishop Rock, wind F3 NW. European Stormies were abundant with on avg 4-6 birds arriving per min, 50-80 at one time in the slick, total c500, plus 11 Wilson’s. Large shears again modest: 12 Great, 3 Cory’s, 1 Sooty. One Arctic Skua. #seabirds

The penultimate JNCC Charter and the Espins turned to a brisk northerly. Not ideal. After a slow start we found 9 Wilson’s and C50 European Storm Petrel. Winds did not favour large shears with only 3 Cory’s. A 1S Bonxie harassed the gulls and a Sanderling flew by. Photo Joseph Pender

The 10th JNCC Storm-petrel research charter found 12 Wilson’s and C100x European. Other sightings included 1 Great, 20 Cory’s and 200 Manx Shears. A 1S Sabines Gull showed very well. #seabirds

The 9th JNCC Charter for storm-petrel studies found 35 Wilson’s and 200 Europeans. A gannet feed that passed by produce a flurry of Cory’s, with a total of 15 over the evening and 2 Great Shears. #seabirds

The Friday evening JNCC research charter found 6 Wilson’s and 80 European Storm Petrels, plus single Great and Sooty Shearwaters. Several large feeding frenzies were spotted but not investigated due to research protocol.

This is the 26th year of Scilly Pelagics & never before has Wilson’s been ‘common’ over such a prolonged period. This eve we tallied 51 of them. 350 Euro Stormies were counted, too. Again, large shears were scarce: 6 Cory’s, 1 Sooty. Wind SW F4, sea state 1.5m. Photo Joe Pender

JNCC storm-petrel research charters continued y’day eve. Wind dropped to F4 SW, sea state to under 2m. No chum initially for control data. Once deployed, storm-petrels rushed in with 8 Wilson’s & 140 Europeans in 90 mins. Still no large shear influx with 4 Cory’s and a Great. #seabirds

iPhone video from this evening’s pelagic: 1S Sabs Gull

iPhone video from this evening’s pelagic: Wilson’s Stormy

iPhone video from this evening’s pelagic: European Stormy

Westerly winds at F5 & swell over 3m for this eve’s JNCC storm-petrel research charter. This year’s ‘Wilson’s 100% hit rate’ continued with 18 birds, plus c80 Europeans. Two 1S Sabs Gulls graced the slick & followed us home. Also, 18 Cory’s & 2 Great Shears. Photos Joe Pender #seabirds

The wind blew SW & increased to F6 for this evening’s pelagic 10 km S of St Mary’s. Highlight was a 1S Sabine’s Gull. The Cory’s influx remained modest with 14 seen. Storm-petrels were common with 20 Wilson’s & 120 European. Also, 12+ SB Common Dolphins. Photos Joe Pender #seabirds

The forecast was correct, the wind shifted from east to southwest during afternoon. The evening research pelagic with JNNC found 7 Wilson’s and 70ish European Stormies. As predicted, Cory’s started to arrive, 8 were seen on steam home. A 1c Bonxie harassed gulls. Photo Joe Pender #seabirds

Reminder 2025 Birder Special Pelagics fully booked except for a few places on Mon 24 Aug & Mon 1 Sep. Bookings for 2026 Birder Special Pelagics go on sale at ScillyPelagics.com start Sep 2025. If keen to join next year then book early & secure accommodation at same time. #seabirds

Light easterly winds the last few days so didn’t expect much on this evening’s JNCC research charter. Eight Wilson’s and about 50 European Storm-petrels was a pleasing result. The wind swings southwest and strengthens over next few days and should stir things up. Photo Joe Pender

Streaked Shearwaters from last months pelagic trips off Miyako, Japan youtu.be/yEryh3ir_B0 #seabirds