Cornwall + Scilly - 7.10.23

I had just over an hour to spare before I had to be at the airport for my flight so I decided to try for the female Black and White Warbler that’d been trapped and ringed at Nanjizal Valley a couple of days earlier and had been released at nearby Polgigga. The small group of trees on the map didn’t look much but in reality it’d be tricky to re find with 100 birders but there were only 3 of us there! As expected there was no sign of the warbler but 3 Firecrest were a nice consolation prize.

I arrived at the airport with lovely sunshine and blue skies but was then brought back to earth when I was informed that there was very thick fog on Scilly and flights were delayed. My 11am flight was cancelled about 20 minutes after it was due to go and so I thought it’d be Monday before I would get over but I went to speak with the lady at check in and said I just need one seat. She went into the office and came back out and said there’s one at 5pm so I said I’ll have it. Just 6 hours to wait 😩😂. 

By the time I arrived I had about 30 minutes of daylight left so headed to Porthcressa where 2 Greenshank were the highlight. But it was good to be back. 

Scilly - 8.10.23

Redstart

My first full day on the islands got off to a frustrating flier. I wandered the short distance from my digs up to Peninnis hoping to see the male Redstart that had been found the day before and as I approached its favoured field I noticed half a dozen birders all looking in my direction and pointing to me that it was perched on a gate. As soon as I lifted my bins it flew across the track and vanished.

I walked along the start of the Peninnis farm trail track to scan the field it’d headed towards and after a couple of minutes a bird flicked up onto the top of the hedge then flew to the corner of the field. I got it in my bins and noted it was a bunting sp. I got it in my scope and was amazed to see it was a Little Bunting! It sat there motionless but constantly calling for the next 20-30 seconds before it flicked over the hedge and promptly vanished never to be seen again. I put the news out on the radio and despite people arriving within a minute everyone left buntingless. A few minutes later the Redstart appeared and showed well.

Rose-coloured Starling

As time was ticking by and I had a boat to catch I walked down to Porthcressa beach where after a few minutes someone picked out the juvenile Rose-coloured Starling stood alone distantly on a rooftop. Popplestone Fields on Bryher was my next destination. For those who don’t recognise the name it’s where last years Blackburnian Warbler was but this year I was after a different, less stunning but still nice warbler. A good 10 minutes elapsed before someone picked it up and we all eventually had great views of only my 2nd Melodious Warbler and a Scilly tick to boot. 

Melodious Warbler 

A female Merlin flew over as we were watching the warbler and further along the island we had ridiculous views of a juvenile Dotterel as it fed amongst the stunted vegetation. 

Dotterel

Samson Hill was my next port of call where despite giving it a good go I failed to connect with the Red-backed Shrike in the horse paddock nor the Barred Warbler on the other side of the hill. Though I did manage to find a very brief Wryneck whilst dipping the warbler! Thankfully the Wryneck did show to others the following day. 

I finished the day back on Peninnis with another/same female Merlin and 73 Cory’s Shearwater past the headland.

Scilly - 9.10.23

 I started the day at Lower Moors hoping to see a Jack Snipe but I failed in that quest but I did see the female Pintail.

Pintail with Teal

Up at Peninnis the stunning male Black Redstart showed well perched near the top of the lighthouse and at Carreg Dhu I had 2 vocal and showy Firecrest.

Black Redstart

News of 2 Richard’s Pipits showing in a field south of the entrance track to Carn Vean tearoom had me walking up to Pelistry but when I was a couple of minutes away they took flight and thankfully flew over my head calling before landing in the field to the north of the track. Good views of my first multiple sighting of this species were had as well a Black Redstart.

Richard’s Pipit

Just up the road at Maypole a Wryneck was sat in a field but flew up to the hedge as soon as it saw someone looking at it. I revisited Lower Moors where this time I was successful in seeing the 2 Jack Snipe from the screen and hide.

Wryneck

At the far end of Carreg Dhu was a field covered in plastic sheeting and at the front edge was a Glossy Ibis that had probably never seen humans before as it performed to about 10 feet away! In fact us birders had to move back to be able to focus on it for photos! 

Glossy Ibis

As my stomach was rumbling I headed back to my digs to get freshened up before heading out for dinner but just gone 6pm a Great White Egret that’d been around for a day or two had been seen flying over Porthcressa Bay and landed in trees on the Garrison. I grabbed my gear and power walked down there and thankfully got onto the bird for a couple of minutes before it headed off over town. A nice Scilly tick to end the day.

Great White Egret

At the log the 3rd Banded Nycteolone moth for Britain had been brought along for photos and became the rarest thing I saw all week!

Banded Nycteoline

Scilly - 10.10.23

With my new found sea legs thanks to Phenergan tablets I decided to join the days pelagic hoping for a mega rare seabird. Sadly that didn’t materialise but I did managed 3 Scilly ticks. A 2nd year Pomarine Skua hung around for a few minutes and became my 200th species of the year. My 8th adult Sabine’s Gull of the year was the 2nd tick followed by the rarest bird in terms of Scilly listing that I saw all week when a 1st winter Caspian Gull was picked out and almost followed us back to the island. This was just the 5th record for the islands. 

Other highlights were a whopping 500+ Cory’s and 350+ Great Shearwaters, 2 Grey Phalarope, Puffin, 9 Sooty Shearwater and a Red-throated Diver off of Watermill Cove.

Pomarine Skua

A raft of Cory’s + Great Shearwaters

Grey Phalaropes

Caspian Gull

Back on dry land and I found a Spotted Flycatcher perched atop a tree adjacent to Old Town churchyard.

Scilly - 11.10.23

A fairly quiet day was interspersed with the odd good bird. The Great White Egret flew over me at Porth Hellick Pool, 2 Black Redstart were still at Pelistry and a year tick Pink-footed Goose was in a random field near Normandy.

Pink-footed Goose

Tolls island held 3 Whimbrel and the summer plumaged Red-throated Diver was still off of Watermill Cove with a fly over Peregrine. The only Yellow-browed Warbler of the week was heard at Higher Moors and a Ruff at Porthloo was another year tick. Another Black Redstart was on Porth Mellon beach and when walking to dinner a couple of Golden Plover were heard calling from the darkness. At the log Ralph Parkes brought along a whopping Convulvulous Hawkmoth for people to see.

Red-throated Diver

Convulvulous Hawkmoth

 

Scilly - 12.10.23

 Today I paid only my 2nd ever visit to St.Martin’s hoping to see both Rustic Bunting and Arctic Warbler. My first and only visit had been back in 2002 when I managed to tick Citrine Wagtail from the boat as it fed on Higher Town beach! A couple of hours staring into a field at Perpitch saw everyone fail to see the Bunting despite it being their first thing. As I walked past the warbler twitch it hadn’t been seen for a couple of hours so I decided to get the first boat back to St.Mary’s which of course meant the warbler was seen soon after! A quiet day.

Scilly - 13.10.23

Pallid Harrier

The morning started dry and in some style. News of a possible Pallid Harrier broke from St.Martin’s but soon went cold but as I was walking past the entrance to Old Town churchyard the radio burst into life saying that the now confirmed harrier was over Lower Moors. I quickly joined a handful of birders in the Standing Stones field but here was no sign. Once again the radio announced its presence perched in trees opposite the ISBG hide. A quick walk and I got into position at the end of the viewing screen and had fantastic views of the juvenile female Pallid Harrier as it sat preening before flying off towards town after 5 minutes. My 6th Scilly tick of the week!

Just north of the hide a confused Willow Warbler was singing.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

 

I then decided to head up to the airport where after getting soaked I managed to pick out the juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper feeding just to the left of the runway and a single Wheatear. Another Wheatear was near Giant’s Castle alongside a very tame Snow Bunting. I had a quick 10 minute sea watch and noted 300+ Cory’s and 50+ Great Shearwaters past as well as 10 Sooty’s.

Snow Bunting

After more of the bunting I noticed a small group of people huddled around staring at the floor. I checked the WhatsApp news and realised they were all staring at a Crimson Speckled Moth! This African/Mediterranean migrant was one of my most wanted moths in this country so I shot over to join them and laid eyes on the stunning white, black and crimson moth perched in some gorse. Apparently it’d been seen to fly in off the sea! 

Crimson Speckled Moth

After having my fill of the moth I headed up towards Porth Hellick aiming for a slice of lemon drizzle cake at Longstones! At the entrance to PH Down I heard a call that superficially sounded like a Chiffchaff however when it perched up in full view the penny dropped and I realised I was looking at a Siberian Chiffchaff. Up at Normandy I bumped into Charlie Wilkins and whilst having a chat a Lesser Redpoll flew over calling. The rain then started falling again but even heavier. By the time I’d reached Pelistry I was totally soaked through and even finding a brief female Redstart didn’t help. After a much needed cuppa and cake I wandered through Lower Moors hoping to catch a view of a Glossy Ibis is as it was flying over but I only managed 3 House Martin. Down at Old Town I jammed in on the lingering Wryneck before it vanished and with it came the end of my week.

The week saw 120 species seen which included 6 Scilly ticks and 21 year ticks. Roll on next year.

The Ultimate Hat-trick? - 23.9.23

When stood watching the Black-winged Kite in Suffolk if someone had said to me within the next 7 weeks you’ll have been to Scilly and Cleveland and seen both Red-footed + Brown Booby I’d have called them mad. 

If at the Brown Booby someone had said in 13 days time you’ll have seen 3 American wood warbler species in 5 and a half hours I’d have called the men in white coats! 🤪

But that’s exactly what happened in this year of quality birds.

It all started on 20th September when ex-hurricane Lee swept in from the Atlantic and dropped a Blackburnian Warbler in Co.Kerry then 2 Cliff Swallows (Scilly + Co.Clare) followed by Alder Flycatcher on Skolkholm but the best was saved until last when a Magnolia Warbler was found at St.Govan’s Head in Pembrokeshire by Toby Phelps!

The 21st produced goodies such as Bobolink, 2 Black and White Warbler, Bay-Breasted Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole. Unfolding was the best few days in British birding history for American birds.

Plans were hatched on the 22nd to head to Pembrokeshire for the Magnolia Warbler the next day and a slice of luck saw me book 3 tickets for the boat over to Ramsey Island for the chance at another mega Warbler.

Magnolia Warbler. Photo courtesy of James Thorpe

Magnolia Warbler. Photo courtesy of Shaun Ferguson

At 1.30am on the morning of the 23rd myself, Matt Moreton and Dave Woodhouse set off for St.Govan’s Head and apart from junctions 20 and 19 of the M25 being closed the journey down was a smooth one and so we arrived just before 6am but worryingly to crystal clear skies and even a slight ground frost! Nevertheless we were the first to wander over to the viewing area and set up our scopes. The previous 2 days the bird had been showing before 7am so it was a tad worrying when at 7.30am there had been no sign. Had it gone overnight? Thankfully the call went up soon after that the bird was still present and for the next hour or so it teased us with brief glimpses until the sun came out and the bird decided to start showing off. The bright yellows, greens and blues shone brightly and lots of expletives were said! For the next 30 minutes we watched it and took in that Britain’s 3rd MAGNOLIA WARBLER was on our lists.

Around 9am we decided to head off north towards Pembroke to try and find a loo and a cafe and also a petrol station as we only had 30 miles of fuel left! After driving for about 15 minutes we parked up and just as I was about to get out the car I read a tweet from Adrian Kettle saying I’d turn around if I were you Canada Warbler at the same place! None of us had had an alert to this so I said to the other two what the message said and more expletives were said! So we headed back not knowing exactly where to go but thankfully news started coming in of where it was and where to park and Simon Nicholls kindly rang me to see if we’d heard the news just as we were arriving. 

Canada Warbler. Photo courtesy of James Thorpe

We abandoned the car at the side of the track and hurriedly joined the small throng of birders already here. There’d been no sign for at least 20 minutes. It was then we found out that the finder of this birds was the same Toby Phelps who’d found the Magnolia Warbler! That double probably won’t be beaten anytime soon. With just over an hours drive ahead of us to catch the boat we set 10.30am as the cut off time to have to leave. It was around 10.28am when we said right we’ll have to go when suddenly the shout went up that the bird was on show. We all went into the trees to try and get a vantage point. Every now and then people at the far end were on it then the middle group then finally myself at the right hand end was lucky to have it sit up on a branch at the back of the trees allowing me to firstly see the pale bluey/grey uppers then it shifted position and the bright yellow underparts gleamed brightly. Ooof!

Just a couple of hours after ticking the 3rd Magnolia Warbler for Britain I was now ticking the 1st CANADA WARBLER for Britain. Madness! Matt at the far end had had crippling views of it but Dave hadn’t yet got on it and was prepared to leave to allow us to get the boat. We said have 5 more minutes and luckily it perched out for him to get the views he wanted. High fives were exchanged but celebrations would have to wait as we now had to drive north west and hope we’d arrive in time for the boat.

We were almost into single figures of remaining miles when we found a petrol station but once filled we were on our way. Sadly not as fast as we’d have liked as the Welsh government had brought in new 20mph speed limits a few days earlier and everyone was adhering to it. We had to be on site by 12.10pm to get on the boat so 5 miles away I rang to say we’ll be there but maybe a minute or so late to which the reply was just be here before 12.30pm and you’ll be fine. We arrived and nabbed the last spot in the car park and ran down to the pier with just 8 minutes to spare which frustrated a handful of birders who’d turned up to try and nab a place on the boat should others not turn up. 

Bay-breasted Warbler. Photo courtesy of Mark Dowie

After a brief safety talk we boarded the boat and 10 minutes later we were at Ramsey Island. Another quick talk and we were finally allowed to walk up the path to the viewing area. Once set up we found out that it’d not been seen for 15 minutes. Another 5+ minutes elapsed before Rob Jones said he’d got it feeding in gorse on the slope to the right of the house. A nervy minute or two later and I finally laid eyes on my first ever BAY-BREASTED WARBLER! This was a 2nd for Britain and personally my favourite looking of the the 3. We all enjoyed great views of this bird for the next 10 minutes before we said let’s go and have a celebratory cup of tea!

Matt’s excellent diary entry for the day.

With a long journey ahead of us we finished our drinks and headed back to the quay for our boat home. With all the excitement the 8 Chough and a flock of 7 Raven earlier in the day were complete also rans. We made good time on the journey back up until the M25 so we had to make a detour around the houses. We arrived back at mine just before 8pm but none of us felt tired as the adrenaline rush from seeing a 1st, 2nd and 3rd for Britain in a day and all of them American wood warblers (my favourite group of birds) kept us going. Thanks to Matt for driving and to Dave for his company. I’m now up to 8 lifers this year and it’s still not October. Who knows what awaits us especially as during the time it’s taken to write this a Cape May and Tennessee Warbler have been found!

Many thanks also to James, Shaun and Mark for allowing me to use their photos. These three birds were a bit beyond my photography skills!

 

BOOBYTASTIC Part 2! - 10.9.23

Brown Booby

Back in September 2019 I managed to dip the UK’s 2nd Brown Booby near St.Ives,Cornwall on the 1st then on the 7th I managed to dip the UK’s 3rd Brown Booby on The Lizard,Cornwall and I thought I’d missed the chance of seeing one. But fast forward to this Summer and the warm temperatures of the sea had delivered 2-3 more to our shores including one that amazingly shared the Bishop Rock lighthouse with its Red-footed cousin for a day!

One of these birds had been seen off of Flamborough Head then numerous sites along the coast. Thankfully it decided that the numerous buoys just off of South Gare,Cleveland was a nice place to hang out and so on Saturday 9th I was up at midnight and on the road at 1am. Unfortunately before I’d reached junction 13 of the M1 I hit something on the road and it caused my car to start squealing like a pig from one or more of my wheels. I turned around and climbed back into bed just before 2am as I didn’t want to risk something happening on the 8 hour round trip!

My lovely wife said I could borrow her car and so along with Matt and George Moreton (who’d both dipped the Lizard bird with me) we left my house at 1am and headed north. We arrived at South Gare and parked up in between the numerous camper vans as somehow it was a favourite part of the country to go camping. Despite it still being dark we got out the car and got ourselves set up. Around 6am I managed to pick out a booby shaped bird on top of one of the green buoys and as it slowly got lighter the three of us were able to finally grip back and tick BROWN BOOBY! The bird an adult female is roughly the 12th for the UK and despite staying for over an hour it never moved from its spot. 

Happy with our views we headed over to Saltholme RSPB where after a few minutes I re-found the juvenile a Buff-breasted Sandpiper as it flew through my scope view. Sadly it was a tad to distant to get any kind of decent photo as you can tell below! It was another tick for Matt, a second for George and my 8th!

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

A single Curlew Sandpiper was also noted which was a nice year tick. We did miss both Temminck’s and Pectoral Sandpipers which was a shame. We arrived home just after 11.30am and I sat down with a much needed cup of tea knowing that I’d seen 2 species of Booby in the UK in 21 days!

 

Wilstone - 30.8.23

Garganey’s

 Another year older today so as I was on annual leave from work I headed up to Wilstone Reservoir to break my new walking boots in and hopefully see some birds. Water levels had started to drop and so there was a bit of exposed mud on the western side unfortunately nothing of note was utilising it.

A Reed Warbler in the hedge on the north side was an unusual sight and from the hide I quickly located the 2 Garganey a 1st winter bird and an eclipse male. 6 Common Sandpiper were also noted from the hide 2 Swift were still hanging around alongside 20+ House Martin. In the orchard I had 2 brief views of my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year. In cemetery corner a juvenile Willow Warbler was with a mobile tit flock. 2 Hobby were near the hide and I noted around 20 Chiffchaff from around the reservoir.

The only other thing of note was my first ever Hertfordshire Small Heath butterfly