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Another great season for wildlife sightings on Scillonian III
16
Nov
2011
Throughout the summer season, Cornwall Wildlife Trust has had a marine wildlife guide onboard Scillonian III. Wildlife expert Paul Semmens, who has worked with both Cornwall Wildlife Trust and The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust for over twenty years, was able to show the passengers the exciting marine mega fauna that can be spotted on the way to Scilly from Cornwall. This year these included dolphins, whales, basking sharks and sunfish, plus many more species.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust is the county�s leading wildlife conservation charity. The Trust has 14,000 members and over 85 Business Members, including Isles of Scilly Travel, and works to protect wildlife on land and in our seas. As part of their marine conservation programme known as �Living Seas�, Paul has been recording wildlife spotted as part of an on-going survey of what occurs in Cornish and Scillonian waters.
Paul Semmens says �It has been another great year on the Scillonian with an impressive array of sightings. The season got off to a slow start after the cold winter, with much lower than usual sea temperatures. This may have been one of the reasons for the low numbers of basking sharks seen around the country this year. However, things quickly livened up as large shoals of pilchards came close to shore. This also brought in large numbers of common dolphins and harbour porpoises.�
Paul continues �On one of my trips I spotted over 70 common dolphins whilst the Scillonian was still moored on Penzance pier! My personal highlights were a Risso�s dolphin that breached several times in our wake and a feeding minke whale. The whole head of the whale came out of the water with its mouth open wide as it fed on a shoal of fish. We were also lucky with some good seabird sightings such as pomarine skuas, sabine�s gulls and particularly large numbers of cory�s shearwaters.�
In total 1170 animals were seen (compared to 1291 last year), comprising of;
Continues����..
40 bottlenose dolphins
879 common dolphins
16 Risso's dolphins
192 harbour porpoises
17 minke whales
4 cetacean species
10 basking sharks
12 ocean sunfish
Jackie Hayman, Marketing Manager for Isles of Scilly Travel says �The whole team at Isles of Scilly Travel is delighted to support Cornwall Wildlife Trust again this year. We�re really proud that our vessel, the Scillonian III, is central to the important work that both Paul Semmens and the Trust do. Both the Scillonian III and Gry Maritha provide year-round lifeline services between the mainland and Scilly and this is a great example of how they�re used for a whole host of different reasons.�
As well as continuing the long term survey work for the Trust, Isles of Scilly Travel are again offering their ever-popular wildlife watching trips during 2012, with Paul Semmens as the guide. Throughout the summer season Paul will be working with both Cornwall Wildlife Trust and The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust onboard Scillonian III one Saturday every month.
These special trips sail from Penzance and take in the Cornish coastline as quaint fishing coves, the world renowned open air Minack Theatre, and the Land�s End peninsula slip quietly by.
The guided trips on board the Scillonian will be on the following dates in 2012:
Penzance St Mary�s
� Saturday 21st April 9.15am 4.30pm
� Saturday 12th May 9.15am 4.30pm
� Saturday 9th June 6.30am 5pm
� Saturday 18th August 10.30am 3pm
� Saturday 15th September 9.15am 4.30pm
� Saturday 13th October 9.15am 4.30pm
Adult day return trips on Scillonian III on any of the above dates are at a special reduced cost of �30 per adult (normally �35) when you quote WL001.
To book your place on a wildlife watching trip call 0845 710 5555 or for more details visit www.ios-travel.co.uk or www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/whatson.
Contacts:
Paul Semmens, Marine Wildlife Guide and Surveyor, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, 07899 872985, [email protected]
Ryan Martinez, PR for Isles of Scilly Travel, 01208 77900, [email protected]
Photograph:
Common dolphins spotted from the Scillonian III during 2011, photo by Paul Semmens
Editor�s Notes:
Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Cornwall Wildlife Trust is the county�s leading environmental voluntary body, with 14,000 members Including 2,500 junior members and 85 Business Supporters.
The charity manages 55 nature reserves all over the county, including a range of habitats such as woodlands, meadows, wetlands and heaths.
The Trust runs a number of marine and terrestrial based conservation projects, including education work in schools.
The Trust hosts the Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (ERCCIS).
The Trust relies on charitable donations, grants and the generous support of its members and the general public to raise more than �1.7 million every year. Money raised is spent maintaining our work for wildlife conservation and education in Cornwall, for present and future generations.
The Trust is one of 47 in the UK. Together, they make up the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust has Local and Specialist Groups based around the county. All play an important role in the Trust�s work and are always looking for more volunteers.
To find out more about Cornwall Wildlife Trust�s work, events and news visit cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk
Press contacts at the Trust:
Serena Pettigrew-Jolly, (01872) 273939 ext 205, [email protected],
Jasmin Appleby, (01872) 273939 ext 251, [email protected].
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