Friday 12th/Saturday 13th
My first ever trip to Scilly,
with Carl Cornish and Stuart Davenport, started with an overnight drive from
Newark to Cornwall, sleeping (or attempting to) for a few hours in the car next
to the Hayle before daybreak. Arriving at the airport at Land's End, we
discovered that our flight was cancelled because the airstrip (which is grass)
was waterlogged. So we were bussed back to Penzance and took the Scillonian
across to St Mary’s. This was a bit frustrating, but did allow some seawatching,
with a fly-past Great Northern Diver
the best bird (although a Grey Phalarope was called from the other side of the
boat at one point).
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| Leaving Penzance |
Arriving in High Town, we had
time to dump our bags before me and Carl caught the boat to Bryher, in order to
see the Solitary Sandpiper which had
taken up residence on a muck heap. This gave great views in front of a crowd of
newly-arrived birders, and was a good opportunity to take in the finer ID
points of this species.
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| Solitary Sandpiper on Bryher |
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| The Solitary Sandpiper and its companions |
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| Solitary Sandpiper in flight |
We then spent the remainder of
our time on the island having a look for the Blackpoll Warbler that had been
seen again that morning, but came up empty-handed, making do instead with a Hooded Crow, 8 Pink-feet (in
flight over Tresco) and a couple of Coal
Tits – apparently rarer than Blackpoll Warbler on Scilly over the last 15
years!
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| Coal Tit on Bryher |
Sunday allowed me to have a
first proper look at St Mary’s, with a circuit of the island; we headed first
to Porth Hellick where I finally caught up with a Rose-coloured Starling, allowing me to fill that embarrassing hole
in my list! It was feeding on its own in bramble and bracken, and although a
bit distant, allowed some decent views.
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| Rose-colored Starling at Porth Hellick |
Also at Porth Hellick, a 1st
W American Golden Plover was present
in the bay, and a Richard’s Pipit
turned up in a horse paddock whilst we were in the area (which necessitated
some doubling back) – not a bad little spot.
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| Richard's Pipit at Porth Hellick |
Monday 15th
The following day, Carl headed
back to Bryher for another go at the Blackpoll Warbler, which he eventually saw
well; having seen one before, I decided to stay on St Mary’s with Stuart. It
was a bit quiet, with an evident exodus of birds present yesterday, and few new
birds in, although we did see a few new species including Whitethroat and Willow
Warbler, had another look at the American
Golden Plover, and missed a Short-toed Lark by seconds (the only real dip
of the week).
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| American Golden Plover at Porth Hellick |
Tuesday 16th
Tuesday produced a few more
birds, and we twitched a putative Hume’s
Warbler in the Dump Clump. This looked quite bright to me (with pale legs
and bill base), but didn’t call like a regular Yellow-brow (I’m not familiar
enough with Hume’s to say it definitely called like one of those, but that was
the consensus).
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| Hume's Warbler in the Dump Clump |
A Red-breasted Flycatcher was found along the track to the Old Town Cemetery
(an area I’d walked through a few hours earlier on a pre-breakfast stroll...),
feeding high up in some elm trees, but not especially easy to see.
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher near Old Town Cemetery |
Other birds included the Solitary Sand which had relocated from
Bryher to a muddy pool in Old Town, 5 Whimbrel,
a fly-by Great Northern Diver off
Pelistry Bay, a Ring Ouzel and a Manx Shearwater off Porth Hellick Down.
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| Ring Ouzel on the north side of Porth Hellick Down |
Some late excitement involved
3 Ring-necked Ducks reported over
the radios flying over the island, and landing on the pool at Lower Moors. Carl
headed back to see these (enjoying good views), whilst me and Stuart didn’t;
however they took off again after about 10 minutes and we had distant flight
views of them as they headed further up the island.
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| Pelistry Bay on St Mary's |
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