Saturday 12 August 2017

Scilly Pelagic no 3 - Great Shearwaters

The banner on my twitter page has been occupied by a Great Shearwater for the past two years! I'm loathe to change the 'head on' shot which constantly reminds me why August and the open sea off the Isles of Scilly is where I want to be! Despite losing out to Cory's in the counts today, you couldn't fail to be in awe of the 90 birds which came our way. Here's some moments from todays amazing Great Shearwater show...

From my limited experience you seem far more likely to encounter them on the water than Cory's!


Maybe preening?


Or just loafing around...


 But sooner or later, they'll be off!






Majestic and effortless flight...






And my favourite moment - picking out one which looks as though it might make a close pass? Will it, wont it?


Yeeesssss, it will!


This (to me) is what pelagic birding is all about :-)




 Next up, largely ignored, a few Manxies...