Wheeling suitcases we joined a migrating shoal of people hurrying along a deserted Penzance prom as a blood red sun hovered just above the horizon in a crystal-clear pale blue sky.
It was 5.45am and my wife Jenny and I were heading for the quay where the sturdy passenger and supply ship MV Scillonian III was waiting to cast off on her two-and-a-half-hour voyage to the Isles of Scilly where we were planning to have a wildlife adventure.
For this stunning archipelago of the five inhabited islands of St Mary’s, St Martin’s, Tresco, Bryher and St Agnes, some twenty-eight miles out in the Atlantic beyond Land’s End with their turquoise seas at low water and dazzling white sand bars make the perfect place to watch wildlife.
But the adventure began earlier than expected when Scillonian master Dave Redgrave advised us to start keeping a sharp eye open for all the wildlife which was so often spotted around the ship.
“We are always seeing pods of dolphins, porpoise and Minke Whales and through August and September they are joined by tuna and the much larger Risso’s Dolphins,” he explained.
Alas it was not our lucky day and after stepping ashore on St Mary’s we and our luggage were quickly transferred to the sturdy launch Sea King for a twenty-minute salt spray on the lips ride over the waves to St Martin’s where we were staying at The Karma Hotel perfectly situated overlooking the Lower Town Quay.
Lunch in the garden was certainly a mini wildlife experience with cheeky sparrows hopping onto our table hoping for a crumb from our crab sandwiches and the occasional blackbird and thrush hopping about close by.
That afternoon we set out for a walk along the shell strewn shoreline of a long and almost deserted shimmering white sandy beach where Ringed Plovers often choose to nest.
We learned this from a small notice and map provided by the Scilly Wildlife Trust showing all the nesting sites around the islands and urging dog owners to keep their pets on a lead for fear of driving this now declining species away.
Wildlife watchers wanting a rare opportunity to look beneath the waves as well as spotting all the seabirds skimming across the surface all around them, need look no further than the St Martin’s based Seaquest.
This glass bottomed boat skippered by islander Joe Williams enables small parties to peer down into the shallows and view the amazing seagrasses, the only protected flowering plant that grows in a marine environment.
They are the breeding grounds for small sea creatures including the tiny long and slender Pipefish and the often brightly coloured Wrasse.
But Joe was also able to tell us all about the sad last remains of a whale which we spotted on the rocks just beyond the completely deserted Great Bay on our walk around the island the following morning.
She and her brother Ryan had gone out to investigate after its huge bulk was washed ashore and came to the conclusion that it was likely to have been one of the Humpback or a Fin Whales that were now often seen around the islands between December and March.
The unexpected highlight of our wildlife adventure came the following morning when we took a launch over to St Mary’s and were walking along the quay when we spotted a family poised to board the launch Crusader and embark on a two-hour bird and seal spotting expedition.
“Have you got room for two more?” we shouted down to skipper Dave Hooper. “Yes, hop aboard, “he invited.
Thirty minutes later we were bobbing up and down close-up to the small island of Minicarlo amid The Northern Rocks with Puffins skimming the waves all around us.
A sulking sun suddenly burst through the clouds bathing the whole scene in light as a host of other seabirds including Guillemots, Razorbills and Fulmars swooped and soared all around us while two Atlantic grey seals dozed on nearby rocks.
It was indeed a most memorable moment agreed Dave aged forty-two who first fell in love with the islands when he came over for a holiday job, helping out on the Bryher campsite and later married a local girl.
While the puffins arrive on Scilly between April and July before spending the rest of the year far out at sea, the Atlantic grey seals resting close by were among around four hundred who lived out their lives of up to forty years on rocks around the islands, we were told.
Visitors to these islands also have the opportunity to link up with Scilly Rock Pool Safaris and join a small group following the falling tide and go foraging in the crystal-clear waters for starfish, blue eyed clippers and a host of other tiny sea creatures.
The safaris are run by husband-and-wife team Scott and Samaya Reid who liked nothing better than to go out rock pool foraging with their three young children around their home on St Mary’s and suddenly spotted a business opportunity.
Island ornithologist Will Wagstaff was fifteen and already an enthusiastic birdwatcher when he first arrived in Scilly on holiday with his parents and saw a Hoopoe a highly distinctive and colourful bird normally found across Africa, Asia, and Europe and an annual, but scarce visitor to the islands.
So, after completing a degree in biology and geology, he could think of no better way of spending part of his gap year than to pitch up on Scilly with his tent in July 1981 to watch the whole of the autumn migration.
Needless to say, he never went back but stayed to work in the local hospitality industry with plenty of time to indulge his passion.
Then in 1985 he got the opportunity to take over from the former resident ornithologist and launch Island Wildlife Tours with the Hoopoe as its emblem and has now spent forty years in and around the islands
I met Will on the last Friday of our holiday when he came ashore at Lower Town Quay conveniently just below our hotel and I joined him and a group of bird watching enthusiasts for a wander around the western end of St Martin’s.
But while looking for birds was top of the agenda, Will was also a mine of information about the fauna and flora and ancient history of the island.
“Besides having a grandstand view of the many species migrating in their thousands from July through to October and then spotting them again on their return in the spring, Scilly is particularly fortunate for the number of rare visitors these islands can receive,” he explained.
“This is because patterns of stormy weather can blow birds completely off course while on their migrations south from Canada and the northern climes to Central and South America,” he added.
For further information please visit the websites for Scilly Rockpool Safaris, Island Wildlife Tours, Seaquest glass bottom boat trips and Crusader Island Boat Trips by clicking on the links highlighted.
