20/10: A quiet day on St Marys - but it started with a chase after a mega-rarity - Chestnut-eared Bunting (3rd for Britain, if accepted), which unfortunately, was only seen by 2 or 3 people, despite considerable searching.
21/10: Today we said good-bye to Ben as he steamed away home on the Scillonian. But before that we had our best self-found bird of the trip - a 1st winter Citrine Wagtail. Ben, again demonstrated his outstanding ability to hear and to identify birds by their call. Although I could see that the pale surround to the ear coverts looked convincing for Citrine, I was concerned that the lores should be paler and the wing-bars stronger for this identification. Ben was insistent that the calls were completely wrong for an alba wagtail, but they were beyond my ability to hear. We obtained some photos, posted them and got immediate confirmation from other birders that Citrine Wagtail was the correct ID. Despite the bright yellow plumage of the adults, that gives this species its English name, 1st winter birds are completely devoid of any yellow colour. |
22/10: The best weather of the Scillies so far, and one of very few days when wet-weather gear was not required. We had a lovely day on Bryher.