The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each othert Penzance South Pier, I stand in line for the Scillonian ferry with a few hundred others as the disembarking passengers come past. They appear tanned and elated. They are shouting greetings and saying goodbyes from across the barrier. It’s You Again! “See you next time!” Many people have returned to the park with their dogs.
Maddy is with me and we don’t have our dog. Wilf, the fell terrier, died just before we left. I’m hoping that a wildlife watching trip to the Isles of Scilly can distract us from his loss.
Someone in the queue is greeted by a passenger who has just disembarked with a pair binoculars, a cockapoo, and a pair a cockapoo. “We saw an fin whale,” he says. “Keep your eyes peeled.”
This is a very exciting piece of information. The Scillonian ferry is reputedly a great platform for spotting cetaceans and it’s a perfect day for it – the sea is calm and visibility is superb. Land’s End is a dramatic promontory from the deck. It’s a different experience than it would be on dry land. There are several experienced and knowledgeable people armed and equipped with scopes and sighting devices. Only the animals are missing. There is not a single dolphin to be seen, let alone the other summertime favorites: humpbacks (or humpback whales), sunfish, baskings sharks, and increasingly bluefin tuna.
Scilly is worth the journey by ship: wild headlands with savage rocks and white sand, as well as a turquoise sea interspersed between the bronzed prints of kelp. It can be a thick mist or squalls but the islands do their best Caribbean impression. Hugh Town, St Mary’s capital, is located on a narrow isthmus, between two rocky outcrops. It’s an independent, quirky town with traffic levels that our grandparents might recognise.
The terrace of the hotel is located on the hill. Star Castle Hotel, we see all the islands scattered around us. And a lady and her friendly labrador give us a concise summary of each. St Martin’s: “Beach life.” Tresco: “The Royals love it.” St Agnes is “arty.” Bryher, “Wild and Natural.”
Bryher, our wildlife destination is Bryher because we plan to rent kayaks and paddle into the uninhabited areas. Samson islandIt is a wildlife protected area. Now that the whales haven’t shown up, I’m betting on Samson to provide wildlife. But first, we’re going explore St Agnes together with Vickie. Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.
After a quick ferry ride from St Mary’s Quay, we walk around St Agnes, and then across a small sand spit called a “tombolo” to Gugh, its neighbor. Vickie takes us up the hillside, past a stack of pink granite rocks. She tells us that St Agnes and Gugh had a problem with rats. “There were an estimated 4,000 that had destroyed the breeding populations of both Manx shearwaters and storm petrels. We’re fairly sure that they’ve been eradicated now and bird populations are growing fast.”
She leans on a small hole under a lichen covered rock and sniffs. “Yes, that’s storm petrel – they have a distinctive aroma.” She uses her phone to play a series cackles and screaks into the hole. No response.
Vickie, I want to know about the endemic plants and animals of the archipelago. The Scilly bee? “Hasn’t seen in years.” She laughs. She laughs. There are no grey squirrels or foxes. These absences are significant.”
Flora makes up for what they lack in fauna. St Agnes is a stunning sight with its lanes, paths and gardens. Agapanthus and honeysuckle are everywhere. There are also huge spires and smooth succulent Aeoniums that come from the Canary Islands. This frost-free climate allows all sorts of subtropical plant life to flourish, making these islands unlike any other in the British Isles. Artists’ studios and galleries, pubs and community halls are scattered amongst all this fecundity. There’s also a display of shipwreck-related souvenirs such as East India Company muskets, silk skeins, porcelain, and perfume.
On St Mary’s we spot a seal and swim. If we think our luck will change, it won’t. We are at the quayside the next morning bright and early, waiting for the boat. The ticket seller tells us that the boat has left. “We did change the tickets last night.” Very low tide. “Had to leave 15 minutes earlier.”
When is the next one?
“There isn’t one.”
It should have been obvious to me that the islands are governed by tides. Be careful.
We jump onto the Tresco boat without any thought. Another passenger shows sympathy. “Last Thursday, we missed the ferry from St Martin’s. We had to stay the night.” It was fantastic.”
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I am relaxed. She’s right. Unplanned travel is the best.
We land at Crow Point on the southern tip Tresco. “Last return boat at five!” The boatman shouts. We walk towards a windbreak of trees. Tresco Abbey Garden. Augustus Smith, eccentric owner of the Islands in the mid-19th Century, was determined that the ruins from a Benedictine Abbey would become the finest garden of Britain. His gardeners planted a Monterey-pine protective belt, then introduced an array of unusual specimen plants from South Africa and Latin America, as well as stately palms and dandelions three and a quarter metres high. Smith then added red squirrels, golden pheasants to complete the surreal look.
It’s time to make the decision. I look at the map and point north: “It’s wilder there and there is a marked sea cave.”
We left. Tresco has two settlements – New Grimsby & Old Grimsby – both with attractive stone houses decorated with flowers. A craggy coastline surrounds a barren, rocky moorland with bronze-age cairns. On the north-eastern point, we find a cave perched high up on a cliff. The low tide has now come to our advantage. We climb inside using our phone torch. We descend into the Earth’s bowels on a ramp made of boulders. To our surprise, we find a boat with a paddle where the water starts. The water shimmers behind it, echoing into the darkness.
We enter and begin. We can see the white disc that marks the cave’s entrance behind us. The sound of the water is amplified. We reach a shingle-like beach after about 50 metres. How cool is that? “How cool is that?” says Maddy. “An underground beach.”
We leap out and continue deeper into the cavern, which becomes narrower until it ends. Someone has placed the joker playing card on a large rock.
Rafe is the boat trip manager for the Star Castle Hotel. We meet him later that day after we have made sure we don’t miss the last boat. He feels sorry for us because we don’t have any wildlife. Come out tomorrow morning on my boat and let’s see what we find.
Rafe will keep his word. We tour St Martin’s then head out for the uninhabited Eastern Isles. Rafe shows us kittiwakes, fulmars. But when we reach the Innisvouls rock, there are seals perched like bronze-age altar stones. Rafe says, “They lay down as the tide drops.” “These are Atlantic greys and the males can be huge – up to 300kg.”
As impressive as seals may be, the islands’ birds are even more spectacular, and they regularly produce rarities. Later, I discover that more observant observers had spotted American Cliff Swallows drifting across the Atlantic. They also spotted various shearwaters and a South Polar Skua.
The weather is perfect for whale watching the next day. People are poised with binoculars and scopes, sharing tales of awesome previous sightings: the leaping humpbacks, the wild feeding frenzies of tuna, and the wake-riding dolphins. Nothing happens. Just a little bit, I lament our lack of luck with wildlife. Maddy is playing a game with a pair terriers. She says, “Wilf was never unhappy with anything that happened.” I recline on the wooden seat on the portside, soaking in the wind, the sun and the sound of the waves. I channel the spirit of Wilf. Be happy. Whatever. Whatever. So I missed seeing the fin-whale off starboard.
It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. Star Castle Hotel St. Mary’s has double rooms from £249 half-board off-season to £448 in summer; singles from £146 to £244. Woodstock Ark This secluded cottage in Cornwall is perfect for Penzance South Pier (sleeps two from £133 a night). The Scillonian ferry runs March early November from £75pp. Kayak hire on Bryher £45 dollars for a half-day, starting at Hut 62. Visit the for additional wildlife information. ios-wildlifetrust.org.uk
