Isles of Scilly - Part 1 (05-10/10/2018)
I left home early morning on Friday 5th. By the time I got to Exeter I received 3 messages (text, email and phone) from Isles of Scilly Travel to say that they had cancelled tomorrow's sailing and my booking had been transferred to Sunday. A few quick phone calls and I had arranged a guest house for Saturday night in Penzance, and for Ben, who was travelling on the overnight train from Paddington to Penzance, to have breakfast with me at the B&B I had already booked for Friday night. I arrived in the Lands End peninsula by lunch-time and headed for Drift Reservoir where I soon located a Pectoral Sandpiper that had been there for the previous few days; unfortunately it was a bit distant for anything other than a record shot when it came to photography.
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I then headed for Porthgwarra to do a walk around Gwennap Head. The area is now managed by a partnership of the local landowner and the RSPB as a site where Chough (a bird which appears on the Cornish emblem) have been reintroduced to Cornwall, after many years of extinction in the county. It was a very mirky afternoon but I managed to find a pair of these birds.
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I collected Ben from Penzance station early on Saturday 6th and returned to the B&B in Nancledra for breakfast. In view of the cancellation of the Scillonian, we were expecting a wet and windy day - as it turned out it was a dry, mostly sunny, breezy day - though the sea did look quite lively.
We returned to Porthgwarra to explore some of the nearby footpaths and valleys eg Najizal. As far as birds were concerned, the first bird we saw after leaving the car was the best of the day - a Firecrest, found largely through Ben's extraordinary hearing and seen well.
On Sunday 7th we made our sailing to St Marys in flat calm conditions. This was good for viewing several pods of Common Dolphin and Harbour Porpoise, but hopeless for sea-birds - with only one Manx Shearwater seen.
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After shopping, a taxi ride to Peacehaven, lunch and a short wait for the Island Carriers to deliver our luggage - we set off for a stroll to Porth Hellick where a Barred Warbler had been seen. Having gone missing for an hour or so it promptly popped up on our arrival and showed pretty well for us.
We then went in search of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper on the airfield - but this had been flushed by a dog - never to be seen again.
We then went in search of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper on the airfield - but this had been flushed by a dog - never to be seen again.
We stopped for a pastie at the Kavorna and took the afternoon boat to Bryher to look at a Tawny Pipit. This showed reasonably well but again not close enough for good photography. On the way back we saw a Spoonbill on Green Island |
Best moth in the traps from the first 3 nights was a Bordered Straw on the morning of Monday 8th. I've only had this on one previous occasion.
Ben & I had a nice walk around the coast south and then west of the island. During our stroll news came of an Aquatic Warbler at Porthmellon. This would be a new bird for Ben and one I have not seen since the early 1990s - though Alison and I have had experience of previous Scilly Aquatic Warbler twitches! We arrived at the site to find a host of old friends and others staring into bracken and obtaining occasional very brief views of a bird that many hoped was the bird in question. I did not obtain identifiable views and it was later suggested by people that did get good views of a bird here, that it was an immature Sedge Warbler. Ben did get good views of what he thought/still thinks was an Aquatic Warbler - so he is left in a quandary. |
Tuesday 9th was a beautiful sunny day. We decided to head off to St Agnes. Passing Juliet's tea garden we found a Hummingbird Hawkmoth sunning itself.
St Agnes is always a lovely place to visit and today it was very popular - with 3 boatloads from St Marys. The main attractions today were a showy but mobile Greenish Warbler and a Red-backed Shrike - both of which we saw well. We bumped into several of our old friends who are resident or regular visitors to the islands. We also found the best pastie yet at the Post Office - the Coastguards Cafe having run out of food! and had a much needed pint at the Turks Head. |
Wednesday 10th we stayed on St Marys and walked into Hugh Town via Newfford Duck Pond, where we found a Yellow-browed Warbler; Holy Vale, where we found 2 Yellow-browed Warblers; Higher Moors; Salakee; the Tremelethan Trail; Old Town and Penninis. Again the weather was warm and sunny - it is expected to change at the weekend (the Scillonian has already been cancelled for Friday and Saturday)