Before getting on Scillonian lll, a check of the harbour wall rocks produced 5 Purple Sandpipers on their high tide roost site.

Once on board, interested passengers were given good views of the male Common Eider in the harbour and 3 Sandwich Terns overhead. 

The conditions were overcast with a cold SE wind and a sea state 3-4. Between Penzance and Wolf, we saw 1 Manx Shearwater, 91 Gannets, 40 Guillemots, 1 Puffin, 3 Herring Gull, 1 GBB Gull, 3 Common Dolphins and 3+ distant unidentified dolphins. 

From Wolf to St Mary's: 21 Gannets, 2 Guillemot,1 Manx Shearwater, 2 Razorbill, 6 Auk species. 16 Great black backed Gulls, 1 Lesser black backed Gull,  a seal was seen  several miles off the islands.

On board waiting to depart I discovered a male Long-tailed Duck diving in the St Mary's harbour.  As we passed St Agnes over 150 Shags were in feeding parties also 2 Great Northern Divers. Sailing to Wolf Rock we saw 14 Guillemot, 1 Razorbill, 6 Great and 2 Lesser Black- backed Gulls, 14 Gannets, 11 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Fulmar and 1 Sandwich Tern.

On arriving at Wolf Rock the sun came out for a while, with the south easterly wind moving around to a more south/ south westerly. This may have triggered the increase in some species from the morning producing 225+ Manx Shearwaters, a surprising 41 Puffins, 12 Guillemots, 5 Herring Gulls, 75 Gannets and 4 Fulmar. They were all heading west and the vast majority were seen between the Lands End peninsular and Mousehole, coming from across Mounts Bay.

No reported Barrel Jellyfish or Basking Sharks seen earlier in the week were noted

 Brian Craven & David Curtis

RSPB Wildlife Guide Volunteers.