Marine wildlife spotting 'best on Scilly crossing'

Nearly 500 common dolphins were seen throughout the year

The crossing between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall has been called the best ferry route for spotting different wildlife in the UK.

For the second year in a row, the Scillonian III crossing between Penzance and Scilly has been named the UK’s "highest diversity ferry route" for wildlife spotting by charity ORCA.

A total of 645 individual animals were spotted by volunteers from the decks of the passenger ferry, with common dolphins recorded on almost every survey.

It comes as ORCA - dedicated to studying and protecting whales, dolphins and porpoises in UK waters - completed another season of cetacean monitoring surveys on board.

The islands are about 28 miles (45km) off Cornwall.

Marine mammal surveyors conducted 13 surveys from the vessel, run by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, between March and November 2023.

Spotters saw 234 more animals than in 2022 – including whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and fish.

Common dolphins were the species recorded most frequently, on almost every survey, with 495 animals seen throughout the year.

Four times as many Risso’s dolphins were seen this year compared to last year, which may be due to their prey, cephalopods, being more abundant in the area, conservationists said.

More than 5,000 individual animals have been recorded since the surveys started in 2009, with 16 different species seen.

These include killer whales, humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins, basking sharks, seals, tuna and leatherback turtles.

Lucy Babey, ORCA’s head of science and conservation, said: “2023 has shown once again why the surveys we do in this part of the world are amongst the most diverse in all of the regions where we collect data on whales, dolphins and porpoises.

She added that they were “so proud" of their work on the crossing to "monitor the amazing animals" that they see there.