Scilly - 7.10.25

 

Redstart

The day started off with a showy Redstart above Old Town beach followed by a Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat in Standing Stones field. It was then back to Porth Hellick where along the timeline on the beach we eventually had good if distant views of a juvenile Common Rosefinch. 

Common Rosefinch 

Up at Newford Duckpond I broke my record for the quickest time to see a Yellow-browed Warbler here with one seen within 5 minutes. At Trenoweth I picked out a Crossbill as it flew east. A Merlin harassed all the smaller birds at Pungies Lane.

I tried Porthloo beach again for Curlew Sandpiper but they’d gone. It was whilst sat on the bench the mega alert went off. As usual I thought it’d be for Shetland or the Western Isles but upon checking my phone I saw a back of camera shot of a Mourning Dove. Better still it was at Troy Town farm on St.Agnes! I shouted out to James Lidster who’d just walked by on the phone and showed him the photo. With this we headed towards the quay in the hope of a boat over. 

A boat was arranged and off we went. Another power walk was undertaken but we weren’t sure where to go as whilst the finder Keith Pellow was typing the news out onto the WhatsApp group the bird had flown and wasn’t seen in which direction it’d headed. The bird had been seen with a Turtle Dove so we concentrated on finding flocks of Collared Doves in the hope both birds had joined them. We did see the Turtle Dove but its American counterpart was sadly missing. The Hoopoe was seen again though.

Scilly - 6.10.25

Today I joined a 6 hour pelagic in the hope that the weekends storm had brought in something good.  As it was it didn’t but 9 Sooty, 5 Great and 15 Cory’s Shearwater were seen and 2 Storm Petrel made the year list. 

Scilly - 5.10.25

Today I headed over to St.Agnes where there were a few good birds to see. As we arrived news broke from back on St. Mary’s of an American (formally Buff-bellied) Pipit up on the Garrison but it’d gone missing possibly heading toward St. Agnes. 

Yellow Wagtail

The first interesting bird of the day was a monochrome Yellow Wagtail on the cricket pitch that had been found the day before and was mooted as a possible Eastern bird. As it was the call and lack of long hindclaw indicated that it was just a bog standard Western.

Hoopoe

On the nearby Periglis beach the Hoopoe was showing down to a few feet. I’d never seen one on the isles in my first 14 visits but this was my 3rd in the last 3 visits! I scanned the beach for anything else and found a Whinchat. 

Spotted Sandpiper

My next stop was St. Warna’s cove. Here I plonked myself down on the grass above the beach and as the tide was out I thought I’d be in for a long search for my next good bird. As it was I was in luck as there in front of me I picked out the Spotted Sandpiper as it hunted the numerous flies attracted by the rotting seaweed. After the Sandpiper had flown off to the waters edge I noticed 3 pipits chasing each other. 2 called like Rock Pipit but 1 was giving a call I didn’t recognise but I just couldn’t pin it down to take a closer look.

American Pipit

I headed back to St.Mary’s and briefly stopped off at Porthcressa where I saw a nice summer plumaged Great Northern Diver. I then went home for a shower only to see news of the American Pipit was again on the Garrison so a quick power walk up to Woolpack Battery saw me arrive in time to see it showing down to 10 feet. My 2nd on Scilly and 4th in the UK but after 5minutes of viewing it suddenly took flight and called as it went. It was then the penny dropped and the bird I’d heard on Aggy was an American Pipit.

Throughout my tip it was on Aggy and photos said that there were in fact 2 birds. Maybe I’d found one but we’ll never know!!

Scilly - 4.10.25

 

Short-eared Owl

My first full day started off with the news of a Short-eared Owl crouched down below a hedge on Peninnis escaping the strong winds that had stopped all transport apart from a few helicopters coming in. This was a nice year tick.

The wind was certainly making birding tricky and not much else was noted apart from a Ruff at Porth Hellick pool that joined the phalarope. My only other year tick was a brief Whinchat at Carn Friars.

Scilly - 3.10.25

Wilson’s Phalarope 

Somehow it was that time of year again where I head SW to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and for the second year running the weather leading up to the Friday was lovely then Saturday a storm hits and means travelling over isn’t possible so I changed my flight from Saturday to the boat on Friday. I wasn’t the only one as there were many familiar faces on the boat getting in a day early.

Soon after leaving Penzance my first year tick of the trip was seen with 2 Arctic Skuas heading west. That was about it until we got past the Wolf lighthouse which is the boundary between the Cornwall and Scilly recording areas. 30 Cory’s, 2 Great and 3 Sooty Shearwaters made my notebook and my year list.

After arriving back on Scilly and dropping my gear off at my accommodation I prepared myself for a long walk to Porth Hellick for my first potential Scilly tick of the trip. As it was I’d just got past the school when a message came through saying the bird had flown to Lower Moors which was much closer!

I entered the hide to be shown the juvenile Wilson’s Phalarope jus in front of the hide whizzing about like a clockwork toy. This was just my 3rd in the UK and by far the showiest. As I was leaving I heard the call of Yellow Wagtail and lo and behold 2 birds dropped in in front of the viewing screen. 

Up at Rocky Hills I had a look over a field and in the far corner I picked out my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year. A slew of trip ticks were added before I headed back to my accommodation. Here I bumped into James Lidster. He asked if I’d seen the juvenile Rose-coloured Starling yet to which I replied no. We went our separate ways but I’d only got about 10 feet away when he shouted there it is! And sure enough it was on wires with its commoner cousins but soon flew off. 

It was good to be back.