Scilly - 9.10.24

Having dried out from yesterday’s deluge we headed up to Peninnis again to try and see the elusive Wryneck. Again we failed and to make matters worse when I was down looking for it both Brendon and Ian Williams had had 3 geese fly over. They shouted at me but due to the wind I didn’t hear them and so I missed a Scilly tick of 3 Barnacle Geese. 

With that disappointment myself and Brendon headed over to Bryher to try for another potential Scilly tick. 2 Great White Egret were in Tresco channel and as we arrived on Bryher another one flew off to join them. Before I’d even left the quay the radio burst into life with news of an Osprey nearby and sure enough there it was heading towards Tresco. 

Every time I go to Bryher I managed to take a wrong turn or get lost and today was no difference and we ended up walking around the south side of Samson Hill instead of heading straight to Popplestone Beach  but it did pay off with a Firecrest by the boatyard. 

Eventually we arrived at Heathy Hill and after a short wait a group of tourists walked down a path and flushed out the Hoopoe that’d been present for a couple of days. Sadly it took flight and headed around the back of the hill and was then seen over the boatyard heading towards Tresco. Not the best views I’ve ever had of one but a Scilly tick all the same and considering some people on site missed it completely we were lucky. My luck then improved when a Barnacle Goose flew past just offshore. 2 Scilly ticks in 30 seconds!

Dave Hall then mentioned a Grey Plover on a small island off of Stony Porth. We saw that and for me it was an embarrassing year tick!

Whooper Swan

Happy with the morning so far we said let’s go celebrate with a cuppa at the Hell Bay hotel (don’t do it unless you want to pay £9 for two teas!) but before we got there on the neighbouring Great Pool was a Whooper Swan with its Mute cousins.

Barnacle Geese

And on Gweal Island were 16 more Barnacle Geese! The northerly winds were obviously helping with their arrival.

Mauve Stinger Jellyfish 

As the boat was arriving soon we decided to to try and see if we could spot the Spoonbill on Green Island. Thankfully we were successful albeit it was distant. From the jetty I spotted my first ever Mauve Stinger jellyfish. 

An Arctic Tern was spotted just off of Tresco on the way back and being glutton for punishment we popped back to Peninnis for another crack at the Wryneck. This time though we had more luck as I managed to pick it out perched up. It then decided to show on and off for the next 20 minutes. 

Goose Barnacles

Our last stop of the day was at Porth Thomas where a 30ft long log had been washed up and it was covered in Goose Barnacles. This was the first time I’d seen these but sadly there were no Columbus Crabs seen with them.

I wonder how many people have seen Barnacle Goose and Goose Barnacles on the same day before?!