Shearwaters
Members of the Petrel family. Shearwaters are vast roaming, fast flying, pelagic seabirds. Medium sized with long wings. Several species pass our shores on migration. One breeds on a few of the UK's western isles.
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The photos for the first three species (below) were taken off the Scilly Isles in August 2020, during a 'Scilly Pelagics' weekend of boat trips.
Balearic Shearwater - A threatened mediterranean species. Some pass our south-western coast in late summer, early autumn. Medium sized for a shearwater. A fast flyer. Quite an indistinct bird. The picture was of my only sighting to date. It barely qualifies as a 'record shot', but it's better than nothing. Proof to myself that I saw one.
Great Shearwater - Another large shearwater species, as you'd expect from the name. Again a rare'ish visitor to the south-west coast on late summer passage. A striking and elegant bird, with it's dark cap and long wings for gliding.
Manx Shearwater - Breed in large numbers on a few of our remote western isles, spending spring and summer in our waters. They're a relatively small shearwater. They only come ashore under cover of darkness, to avoid predation. Not easily seen close-up, until they start to raft together as the light fades. Waiting until it's safe to come inland. They are virtually incapable of walking, so would be easy prey to large gulls and skuas by day. They are almost black above and white below.
Sooty Shearwater - Regularly seen on UK coastal waters during their summer/autumn return migration, moving southwards. Above they are uniformly dark brown coloured, but with a pale underwing stripe. Typically fast flying, with intermittent wing beats and soaring. The photos here are birds seen off the N.Yorks coast in Sept '23.
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Isles of Scilly - Aug
