Isles of Scilly part 1 (September 23rd - 27th)
Sat Sep 23rd: Scillonian III crossing to St Mary's. A bit of bother getting them to agree to take my stack of 3 moth traps - they tried to get me to agree that it was freight rather than luggage and should travel on the Gry Maritha on Monday - in the end I got them to agree that it was a bicycle and could travel with the other bikes. Almost no wildlife to see apart from Gannets on this crossing. Seas a bit rough but we arrived in good health at midday. Having done some basic shopping and settled in to Peacehaven, we went for a stroll along the coast to see the only rare bird available - an American Golden Plover at Porth Hellick.
Sun Sep 24th: We had a leisurely stroll around St Marys, taking in the legendary Bavarian apple strudel at Kaffeehaus. Nice day, little to report.
Mon Sep 25th: Headed towards the quay intending to visit St Agnes, where a Bee-eater and a Red-eyed Vireo had been reported yesterday. Just about to board the boat when news came of 2 bee-eaters on St Marys. We decided to stay and got several reports over the next few hours of this pair of birds flying at various widespread locations (whilst good view were being had of the St Agnes bird perched). Decided to head for the higher ground at the north of the island via the newly refurbished Longstones cafe - and they have done a really good job of it - not only that but they know how to make a great flat white. We opted to take Green Lanes and were fortunate enough to have the Bee-eaters fly around overhead for a minute or so. A new UK bird for Alison and only the 2nd time I have seen them in UK. Returned to Peacehaven for a spot of lunch. Just finished lunch when a report came of an Icterine Warbler at Peacehaven! Went to have a look but we couldn't find either the bird or anyone who may have been looking at it recently. It was a fine day so I decided to go on the 4pm pelagic trip on the Sapphire. This proved to be a complete dead loss as far as birds were concerned - 2 Great Skua were as good as it got. But the shark fishing proved more interesting - I been on several of these trips before, but this is the first time I've seen them actually land a Blue Shark - this one measured 6'. There is an ongoing study involving fin-tags, but few ever get reported again - probably due to the large amount of illegal fishing that occurs.
Mon Sep 25th: Headed towards the quay intending to visit St Agnes, where a Bee-eater and a Red-eyed Vireo had been reported yesterday. Just about to board the boat when news came of 2 bee-eaters on St Marys. We decided to stay and got several reports over the next few hours of this pair of birds flying at various widespread locations (whilst good view were being had of the St Agnes bird perched). Decided to head for the higher ground at the north of the island via the newly refurbished Longstones cafe - and they have done a really good job of it - not only that but they know how to make a great flat white. We opted to take Green Lanes and were fortunate enough to have the Bee-eaters fly around overhead for a minute or so. A new UK bird for Alison and only the 2nd time I have seen them in UK. Returned to Peacehaven for a spot of lunch. Just finished lunch when a report came of an Icterine Warbler at Peacehaven! Went to have a look but we couldn't find either the bird or anyone who may have been looking at it recently. It was a fine day so I decided to go on the 4pm pelagic trip on the Sapphire. This proved to be a complete dead loss as far as birds were concerned - 2 Great Skua were as good as it got. But the shark fishing proved more interesting - I been on several of these trips before, but this is the first time I've seen them actually land a Blue Shark - this one measured 6'. There is an ongoing study involving fin-tags, but few ever get reported again - probably due to the large amount of illegal fishing that occurs.
Tue Sep 26th. Another fine sunny day. We had a stroll around the garrison. Vary little in the way of bird life but we did find a cuckoo and a Pied Flycatcher.
Wed Sep 27th. Rain and wind. Had the morning resting and writing up this blog.
4 nights of moth-trapping has so far not produced anything new for me, but I have obtained all the usual Scilly autumn specialties and one rarity - Radford's Flame Shoulder.
4 nights of moth-trapping has so far not produced anything new for me, but I have obtained all the usual Scilly autumn specialties and one rarity - Radford's Flame Shoulder.