by At the Penzance South Pier I stand in line for the skillonical ferry with a few hundred others because the wear passengers come by. They look tanned and enthusiastic. People scream greetings and farewell movements about the barrier. “You are again!” “See you next year!” Many people seem to be repeated visitors and brought their dogs with them.
I am Maddy with my daughter and we don’t have our dog. Unfortunately, the Fell Terrier died shortly before our excursion. I hope that a wild trip to the islands of Scilly could distract us from its absence.
A distribution of passenger with a cockapoo and binoculars welcomes someone in the queue. “We saw a flow of flowers,” I hear him say. “Keep your eyes open.”
These are exciting information. The skillonical ferry is said to be a great platform to recognize Cetaceaer, and it is a perfect day for it – the sea is calm and the visibility is excellent. From the deck from the deck, the fountain, which is the country is an end, actually appears dramatic and special that it is not from a dry country. There are several people armed with scopes and sights who are clearly experienced and attentive. The only thing missing is the animals. No single dolphin occurs, no matter that the others who are regular frames: hump, minke, solarfish, field sharks and increasingly blufin tuna.
Arrival in Scilly by Ship is worth the intersection: wild land tongues, wild rocks, white sandy beaches, turquoise -colored ocean
The arrival in Scilly by Ship is worth the crossing: wild land tongues, wild rocks, white sandy beaches, sudden stripes transcendental turquoise -colored ocean, which is interspersed with the bronzed pawprints from Seang. Of course it can be thick fog and gusts, but we are lucky, the islands make their best Caribbean imitation. Hugh Town, the capital of St. Mary’s, is based on the narrow landing between two rocky enclosures. It is a quirky, independent city with the type of traffic levels that our grandparents would recognize.
On the hill, from the terrace of the Star Castle Hotel, we can all spread around us around us, and there is handy, there is a lady with a friendly Labrador who gives us a robust summary of everyone. St. Martin’s: “Strandleben”. Tesco: “The Royals love it.” St. Agnes: “Arty”. Bryher: “Wild and of course”.
Bryher is our big wildlife goal because it is planned to rent kayaks there and paddle to the uninhabited Samson Island, a protected wild animal area. Now that the whales did not appear, I am on Samson for wild animals, but first we will explore St. Agnes with Vickie from the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.
After a short ferry from St. Mary’s Quay, we walk through St. Agnes and a short sand spit, a raffle to his neighbor Gugh. Vickie leads us up a heather hill next to an impressive stack of pink granite rock. “St. Agnes and Gugh used to have a rat problem,” she tells us. “There were an estimated 4,000 who had destroyed the breeding populations of Manx Shearwater and Storm Petrels. We are pretty sure that we have now exterminated and the bird populations rise quickly.”
It leans over a small cave under a braiding rock and sniffs. “Yes, this is Storm Petrel – you have a characteristic aroma.” With her cell phone she plays a number of Gackers and squeaks down the hole. No answer.
I ask Vickie about the endemic types of the archipelago. The Scilly bee? “Not seen for many years.” She giggles. “What makes the islands special is often what we don’t have. There are no magpies or buzzards, no foxes or gray squirrels. These absences are important.”
What you don’t have in relation to fauna, you will certainly make it out in Flora. The alleys and paths of St. Agnes are an adorable spectacle: Agapanthus and Geißblatt, huge echo and smooth lush Äonia from the Canary Islands. In this frost -free environment, all types of subtropical plants thrive and make the islands somewhere else on the British Isles. Under all this fertility there are artist studios, galleries, a pub and a community hall in which there is a wonderful exhibition of shipwrack souvenirs: Muskete parts of the East India Company, Silk Train, Porcelain and Parfüm.
Back in St. Mary’s we swim and discover a seal. But if we imagine that our luck will change, it is not the case. The next morning we were at the quay, bright and early for the boat to Bryher. “It just left,” says the ticket seller. “We published the change last night.
“When is the next?”
“There is none.”
We round off the rock and suddenly there are seals everywhere that sit on rocks such as altar stones from the Bronze Age
The islands I should know are led by the tides. Be warned.
Without thinking, we jump on the Tesco boat. A passenger colleague offers sympathy. “Last week we missed St. Martin’s boat and had to spend the night there. It was great.”
I relax. She is right. The best travel adventures are unplanned.
The ebb means that we land on Crow Point, the southern tip of Tesco. “Last return boat at five!” Shouts the boatman. We hike to a tree belt, the wind protection for the Tresco Abbey Garden. The eccentric owner of the islands in the middle of the 19th century, Augustus Smith, was determined to make the ruins of a Benedictine abbey in the best garden in Great Britain. After his gardeners had planted a protective belt from Monterey Pine, he presented a confusing selection of rehearsal plants from South Africa, Latin America and Asia: dandelion that are three and a half meters tall, cabbage trees and stately palm trees. In order to complete the surreal aspect, Smith added red squirrels and golden pheasants that are now thriving.
Now the moment is the moment of adventure. I examine the map of the island and point to the northern end: “It looks wilder up there and a sea cave is marked.”
We make our way. Tesco has two settlements: New Grimsby and Old Grimsby, both claws from attractive stone huts decorated with flowers. Beyond is a rugged coast that surrounds a barren Moorland, which is littered with Cairns from Bronze Age and Long -abandoned fortresses. At the northeastern tip we discover a cave on the cliff. Now the ebb is in our favor. We climb with our telephone burners. A ramp of boulders leads us into the intestine of the earth, and to our surprise where the water begins, there is a boat with a paddle. The water shines behind it and echoed in absolute darkness.
We climb in and make our way. Behind us and above the white pane of the cave entrance disappears behind a rock wall. The sound of water is reinforced. After about 50 meters we come to a shingle beach. “How cool is that?” says Maddy. “An underground beach.”
We jump out and make ourselves deeper into the cave, which becomes narrower and finally ends. Someone has placed a game card on a rock: the joker.
People are with binoculars, parts of stories about great sightings: spring humps, feeding from Frenzien von Thunfisch and Wake-Riding Delfine
Later on this day, after we had ensured that we did not miss the last boat, we meet Rafe, the boat trips for the Star Castle Hotel. He feels pity for our lack of wild animals. “Come on my boat tomorrow morning and we’ll see what we can find.”
Rafe is as good as his word. We tour St. Martin and then make our way to the uninhabited eastern islands. Rafe refers to Kittiwakes and Fulmars, but finally we round the rocks in Innisvouls and suddenly there are seals everywhere that sit on rocks like altar stones from the Bronze Age. “They lie down and the tide falls off,” says Rafe. “These are Atlantic grays and the men can be huge – up to 300 kg.”
Related: A car -free adventure on the islands of Scilly,
As impressive as the seals are, the islands are better known for birds and regularly appear rarities. While we are there, I later discover that acute observers have discovered American cliff swallows who went through the Atlantic, various unusual Shearwater species and a South Pole Skua.
The next day our return to Penzance and it is perfectly watching. People are equipped with binoculars and scopes and share stories about great earlier sightings: the jumping humps, the wild feeding Frenzies of Thunfisch and the Wake-Riding Delfine. Nothing shows up. I complain, just a little about our lack of wildlife happiness. Maddy plays with two terriers. “The thing with Wilf was that he was always satisfied what happened,” she says. I sweep myself back on the wooden bench on the backback side and enjoy wind, sun and noise of the sea. I channel the spirit of Wilf. Be happy. Whatever. It’s a nice trip anyway. And so I missed the viewing of the fin whale from the taxboard side.
The Star Castle Hotel on St. Mary’s has double Room from £ 249 half board outside the season up to £ 448 in summer; Singles from £ 146 to £ 244. Woodstock Ark is a remote cabin in Cornwall, practical for Departure from Penzance South Pier ((sleeps two of £ 133 per night). The Skillonian ferry running March In early November from £75 pages. Kayak rent on Bryher £45 for half a day, from Hütte 62. You can find more wild animal information in the iOS-wildlifetrust.org.uk
