Isles of Scilly – Oct 26th-Nov 2nd 2024

Our annual ‘Bus man’s holiday’ to Scilly in ‘Teachers Week’ saw just 5 of us head out this year, the team depleted due to injury and family commitments. With two flying out early, we picked up a golf buggy from Scilly Cart Co. to pick up the others from the Scillonian and allow us to mop up a few birds that were around St Mary’s, making the most of our first day. First stop was Newford Duckpond where we picked up at least 5 YELLOW-BROWED WARBLERS, a FIRECREST and a somewhat elusive RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. Once we picked up the others from the boat the rest of the day was spent pottering about the north end of St Mary’s where we added GREAT WHITE EGRET and 8 PINK-FOOTED GEESE to the trip list. BLACK REDSTARTS were in good numbers and we caught up with 2 at Carn Vean and 3 at Porthloo beach.

Day 2

Our second day was spent on Tresco. It turned out to be a glorious sunny day and we started at Great Pool. Three FIRECRESTS were in Pittisporum by the tennis courts and 5 WHOOPER SWANS flew in from Bryher. After a bit of searching we manged to find one of the American LESSER YELLOWLEGS hidden among the Redshanks and reeds on the right side of the pool. It eventually showed well albeit at distance, definitely a telescope job in future. The annually weedy feild at the back of the Fire Station was full of finches and we soon located one of the two EUROPEAN SERINS feeding with a mobile flock of Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Linnet. A smart BRAMBLING was also with the flock. With a hour left we headed for the pub for a well deserved pint to wait for our boat back to St Mary’s. Three SPOONBILLS were on Green Island as usual as we passed by.

Day 3

Monday was dull and drizzly all day so we stayed on St Mary’s. A RADDE’S WARBLER was located at Mount Todden but our first attempt at seeing it proved fruitless. After an hours wait we decided to have a walk, bumping into a GREAT WHITE EGRET and 2 YELLOW-BROWED WARBLERS as we headed back towards town. Then the news broke that the Radde’s was showing again, so we grabbed a lift on a golf buggy and were soon enjoying close views, albeit in very poor light and wet conditions.

Day 4

Day four was to be our Pelagic day. The final organised seabird trip aboard The Sapphire for 2024. With 20+ birders on board we set of at 0930hrs towards Toll Bank and Bishops Rock, then north looking for Shearwaters. A 2nd Cal Yellow-legged Gull and 4 Purple Sandpipers were picked up as we sailed through the Western Rocks with the odd Cory’s and Great Shearwaters picked up as we entered open water. We later came across a large raft which held 500+ Cory’s and 40+ Great Shearwaters, sat on the water, often heard calling which was a great experience. Other birds included 2 Sooty and 10+ Manx Shearwaters, 3 Great Skua, singles of Razorbill, Guillemot and a very late Puffin! After 5 hours we headed back, finding another 15 Purple Sandpipers on the rocks and 3 more Yellow-legged Gulls as we off-loaded unwanted loaves of bread behind the boat.

Day 5

Wednesday was our second ‘off-island’ day, this time to Bryher. Due to tides our boat wasn’t until 11 o’clock so we had a relatively late start to the morning. We were aware that a Common Crane had been seen off the coast of Cornwall and as we crossed The Roads to Bryher Paul picked up a large bird coming in off the sea over St Mary’s. This turned out to be the aforementioned COMMON CRANE and we watched it fly over St Mary’s, across to St Agnes and out to sea over The Western Rocks. Despite giving constant updates on its whereabouts, none of the birders St Agnes got on to the bird! Common Crane is a rare bird on Scilly with about ten records and is probably the latest record with most others being seen in the spring. As we followed the Crane, a juv MARSH HARRIER came into view over Annet and St Agnes!

Once on Bryher we headed up to the highest point where a Dotterel had been reported two days previously. As we walked up two GOLDENEYE flew around the hillside, flushed briefly from Great Pool, Tresco. With no sign of the Dotterel, we walked down to Big Pool, where twelve WHOOPER SWANS loafed in the shallow water. A BLACK REDSTART and our first WHEATEAR of the week were on Popplestone Beach and after a short walk Brad picked up the long-staying HOOPOE on Great Bay. We later saw it fly over the Tresco Channel and land distantly on the SE end of Tresco. Two Swallows were the first of the week and near Veronica Farm a FIRECREST chased a YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER through the pittisporum. The island also held an Ortolan Bunting which sadly evaded us. A Great Northern Diver showed well in The Roads on our return journey to St Mary’s.

Day 6

Another day on the main island of St Mary’s and another great bird found. A RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL showed extremely well at times, often down to four or five feet at the west end of Holy Vale. The bird was constantly harassed by the resident Robins and could go missing for twenty minutes before re-appearing. We would re-visit the are later in the afternoon where, with much better sunlight, the bird showed beautifully and some great photos were obtained. With overnight easterly winds, the place felt very ‘birdy’ with lots more Redwing, Fieldfare and Chaffinches overhead. Despite lots of searching we couldn’t find anything else of interest so we spent some more time with the Radde’s Warbler, which again showed at ridiculously close quarters.

Day 7

Our penultimate day on the islands and we once again hired a golf buggy. This allowed us to get to the north of the island very quickly (usually a 45 minute walk) and as a result we had more time to explore the Green Farm and Watermill coastline. The Pink-footed Geese were still present at Pelistry and our first Stock Doves of the week flew over. A Great White Egret and a Golden Plover flew over Kitty Down. There wasn’t a breath of wind and the silence was incredible, broken only by birdsong. A Common Sandpiper was on the beach at Watermill and a ‘Siberian’ type Chiffchaff was in the sallows nearby. News then broke of a Red-rumped Swallow at Porthellick so we headed back to the main road where the buggy was parked. As we passed Green Farm, Paul picked up a RICHARD’S PIPIT in the field opposite. It called frequently and after a quick loop flew off towards Carn Vean and was never sen again! (That or another was seen on St Agnes a few hours later). Sadly the Red-rumped Swallow could not be re-located but we saw two CATTLE EGRETS that had eluded us all week. Another bird that had given us the runaround every evening was a SPOTTED CRAKE in Lower Moors. It was uncharacteristically skittish and elusive and despite using the Zeiss Thermal Camera, we kept missing it. Finally our luck changed and we had very brief views very late evening.

Day 8

Our final morning as usual was spent packing and tidying the house before our departure. However, this was cut short when Mark found a LITTLE BUNTING just up the road at Sunnyside Farm Trail. By the time we got there he had found another! We decided to have a last walk round before our respective boat and plane journey back to the mainland and took a route through Lower Moors, Standing Stone Field, Old Town Church and back along Peninnis Head. Birds along the way included YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER, Kingfisher, Merlin, 2 Brambling and finally, in the last field on Peninnis Brad picked up two male RING OUZELS. A great end to an equally great week finishing with 107 species.

BIRD LIST

Great Northern Diver, Fulmar, Cory’s Shearwater, Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Manx Shearwater, Gannet, Cormorant, Shag, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Spoonbill, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Shelduck, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Goldeneye, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine, Pheasant, Water Rail, SPOTTED CRAKE, Moorhen, Coot, COMMON CRANE, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Snipe, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Curlew, Redshank, Greenshank, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, Common Sandpiper, Turnstone, Great Skua, Mediterranean Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Kingfisher, HOOPOE, Skylark, Swallow, RICHARD’S PIPIT, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, White Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock Robin, RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Wheatear, Ring Ouzel, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER, RADDE’S WARBLER, Chiffchaff, ‘Siberian’ Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Firecrest, RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, SERIN, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Siskin, Linnet, LITTLE BUNTING.