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

c2K Manx, 250 Great, 30 Cory’s, 30 Sooties. Imm Long-tailed Skua was star bird. We towed chum for hours to attract Wilson’s Stormy, finally 1 entered the oily wash, soon followed by another 2. Arctic Terns are moving with 35. Also, 3 Bonxie, 13 Ocean Sunfish, 10 SB Common Dolphin

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

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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

YouTube video by Robert Flood Streaked Shearwater, 23 June 2025, Miyako, Japan

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

Most recent evening pelagic news comes from JNCC charter to gather storm-petrel flight data - 12 study pelagics during Sun 6 to Wed 23. This evening we saw c80 as well as 3 Wilson’s Storm-petrel. The steam back was serene with at least 600 Manx off Annet. Photos Joe Pender

Yesterday evening 8 Miles South of St Mary’s, Wilson’s still present in good numbers with at least 12. Also,
20 European Storm-Petrels, 50/60 Common Dolphins at various locations, 12 Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna and 1 Blue Shark tagged and released. Photo collage by Joe #seabirds

NEW PUBLICATION Shirihai, H., Bretagnolle, V., Olmos, F. & Flood, R.L. 2025. The Murphy’s Trindade Island Expedition. Expedition to the remote Trindade Island and Martim Vaz rocks, South Atlantic to research the Trindade Petrel and the endemic frigatebirds www.researchgate.net/publication/...

From Iberia apparently

We have an ID of one Orcas from Iberian catalogue, known as Freyja (spelling?). Freyja is from Vega pod and Guilherme Estrela, who works closely with Iberian animals, says this C pod is very mysterious - they show up unexpectedly then disappear again.