Dr Rob Lambert of the University of Nottingham and friend of Crebinick House reflects on summer wildlife tourism on the Isles of Scilly.
Whilst warm days in July & August might entice many to slow down, if engaging with Atlantic megafauna and adventure is your thing then head down to the Isles of Scilly. High summer is shark tagging and pelagic birding season out in the big blue. Your hosts Kevin and Kelly, ably assisted by their shark-wrangling son Will, are intimately connected into Scillonian wildlife tourism networks and can offer expert advice on how to plan your marine ecotourism experiences. Here is a flavour of what to expect. Monday and Thursday evenings 5pm-10pm, skipper and wildlife photographer Joe Pender takes his boat Sapphire around 5 miles offshore on shark fishing and tagging trips with opportunities for birders to tag along to see seabirds. With shark expert Paul Whittaker on board, this is a unique opportunity for you to witness oceanic citizen science in action, as well as get eye to eye with apex predators such a Blue and Porbeagle Sharks. Anglers Kevin and Will are likely to be onboard with you; marvel at Will’s tales of derring-do. “It was how big?” “We may need a bigger boat!” The sharks are taken onboard, measured, sexed and tagged and returned to the sea as part on ongoing scientific studies across the north Atlantic. Sunfish, jellyfish and oceangoing turtles may drift past. Seabirders are guaranteed intimate views of Storm Petrels, Fulmars, Gannets and Manx Shearwaters, plus a chance, depending on wind direction, of the Scillonian version of the African tourist ‘Big Five’; the Scilly ‘Big Three’: Wilson’s Petrel, Great Shearwater and Cory’s Shearwater, much sought after iconic pelagic birds. Throughout August, Joe Pender teams up with global seabird expert and author Professor Bob Flood to run Scilly Pelagics from Sapphire, an enterprise devoted to bringing birders up close with British seabird spectaculars. The team can read the ocean as we might read a road map, and with the use of a chum slick can bring foraging and wandering seabirds in close. It is must for any wildlife tourist. Raw and elemental. Something for landlubbers to brag about.
Use Crebinick House as the natural gateway to your adventures along the wild Atlantic edge.
For more information on offshore wildlife trips visit: Scilly Pelagics www.scillypelagics.com