Scilly - 10.10.24

The morning was a quiet one with nothing of note seen. That was until news popped up on the WhatsApp group of an Olive-backed Pipit on St.Agnes. Needing this for my Scilly list we jumped on the boat and were some of the first on site at the bulb dump. Within 30 seconds it popped out onto the short grass and started feeding and showing well. It was also my first anywhere for 21 years and just my 3rd ever so a great bird all round. 

Olive-backed Pipit

In the last field at Browarth was a lone Pink-footed Goose and this was followed by another 28 Barnacle Geese over on Annet.

A Spotted Flycatcher was just down the road past The Parsonage and even evaded a Sparrowhawk attack.

Snow Bunting

After a spot of lunch we took a wander down to the Troy Town maze area where a Snow Bunting was showing very well. It was just after leaving this bird we heard that the Olive-backed Pipit had amazingly been joined by another one so off to the bulb dump we went. They had gone into a patch of tall dense weeds no bigger than a pool table but were tricky to see. I did managed to see both in the same scope view a couple of times and they did fly out and perched in nearby hedges a couple of times. With these two birds I’d doubled the number I’d seen in the UK! 

As I was watching the pipits the radio crackled with the news of a Marsh Harrier over Annet so I clambered up the bank around Porth Killier and scoped the island and thankfully got on it straight away and that was my number 1 Scilly ‘tarts’ tick finally seen.

Aurora!

After dinner I went along to the Scillonian club for the auction of artwork of the late Scilly regular Wayne Collingham who sadly passed away earlier in the year but it was interrupted by news of the Northern Lights showing outside! The auction raised just shy of £2000 for the ISBG so a great success and it was on the way home from the log that the aurora became bright enough to be seen by the naked eye. I headed up to the health centre where it was a bit darker and took the above photos. Sadly there was just a bit too much cloud for clear pics but to have seen it twice in the same year is one of the highlights of the year for me.