Birding folklore has made Scilly only slightly less mystical that Camelot and the iPhone 6, and whilst the boom period is mid-October, the flow of birds I observed in the middle of September was impressive enough. The learning curve I followed over a week's birding in Scilly was little short of vertical, and I would consider myself a better birder because of it. However, this talk of learning is boring (and is something I will be doing a lot of over the next few months). So let's move onto birds, baked beans and scrumpy cider.
I arrived bright and early on the Scillonian III on a bright(ish) morning, with a pair of broken(ish) binoculars and a text telling me there's a Wryneck at Lower Moors. So naturally I ran up to the Garrison and put my tent up in record time, threw a cheese and onion sandwich down my neck and headed out after it. I couldn't see the Wryneck, but made do with the common fayre on the pools, such as Ruff, this Greenshank...
Further off, but with better light...
and a few Snipe...
On the tip off of a local, I decided to catch Joe Pender's Sapphire Pelagic out that evening, even though it'd be very late in the season for anything and there was rain forecast. Good call as it turned out. I stopped on Hugh Town beach for some Turnstones...
Looking at the people on the quayside above...
Then headed off onto the boat. First off were the hundreds of gulls following the boat out, taking bread from the bow wake. I really wanted a shot of the smart Med Gull amongst them, but I had to settle for some of the commoner species, like this juvenile Herring Gull...
And this surprisingly pale Gannet...
The first quality bird of the day took the form of a Bonxie, feeding in the chum and coming for bread off the boat. Couple of primaries missing though...
The next bird to pass (aside from Storm Petrel, a lifer for me) was Sooty Shearwater, a truly beautiful bird and against the dying sun little more than a shadow over the breaking waves...
As dark drew near we saw more stormies and shearwaters, and Joe caught 3 blue sharks. Common Dolphins were breaching all round the boat, and interestingly the dog on board went mad every time one surfaced. I think it might've heard them calling. A second, younger Mediterranean Gull joined the birds feeding on the slick...
And we had 3 Sabine's Gulls flying past. But as the dark drew in my stomach was nearly as close to my mouth as those of the sharks we'd caught (fun fact: a shark caught on a line can (and will) throw up it's own stomach in an attempt to dislodge the hook. They can swallow them again of course, so no harm done), and with this we headed home in the gathering dark and rain. Not before I talked with Jim the ringer, and set up a rendezvous the next morning.
The next morning was foggy! And a lot warmer than I was expecting. It was also busier than I was expecting, and out of the nets came a steady stream of wonderful warblers, from Grasshopper Warbler to Willow Warbler to Chiffchaff to Reed, Sedge and onto Melodious. This was quite an exciting find and only the second of the autumn for Scilly, so photographs were in order...
The local birders were out in force...
Next up was a trip up to the allotments, to look for Barred Warbler. There are two problems I can find with the allotments:
1) They're fenced off with no public access
2) They're a bit too close to a children's playground to use a long lens and binoculars without feeling weird
And add to that the relatively small problem that the Barred Warbler wasn't showing then you get a reasonably clear picture of the place. Osprey overhead was cool...
As was the Ruff that was showing really well down at Lower Moors...
Too close to focus with the new lens at times...
The numbers of Willow Warblers was so large now that they were actually feeding on the mud at Lower Moors, presumably not enough food out in the bush...
Next stop was Booted Warbler up on the headland, which showed wonderfully at close range in the murky and non-too-photogenic light...
...no 'boots' here, I think it needs a new name really as Booted makes it sound misleadingly well-marked!
Next day I was up and out looking for migrants in the nets again with Jim, but not much in the way of quality (aside a smart little Whinchat I forgot to photograph) so most of my photos were of the Black Tailed Godwits feeding in the shallow waters of a nearby pool. Quite confiding, and even prettier in real life...
With a curlew sand...
This was joined by a pair of Curlew Sandpipers, a bird I have a disproportionate love for...
Next stop was Hugh Town, where I picked up the BN Grebe, surprisingly close in it was too...
And this rather sad sight, a Herring Gull juvenile hanging around the corpse of another, wondering what it should do. I know we shouldn't anthropomorphize but this really did look like mourning...
Next order of the day was birding the fields in the north of St Mary's, where a lot of common stuff turned up and not a lot of rarities, such as this Pied Flycatcher...
Next day I was back ringing, and back watching the sandpipers and godwit on the pool. The light was better and I picked out both quite nicely in the weak (non-foggy) sun...
In a lone ray of sunshine...
Over to Tresco I went, to see the long-staying Spotted Crake (which to my knowledge hasn't been reported since I saw it) and had some photographic goodies in a mixed bag of waders close into the hide. I don't care much for the elevated angle I was viewing from, but the species were decent so who cares? First another Snipe...
...and a Green Sandpiper (NOT juvenile solitary as I'd briefly got excited about)...
...and yet another Godwit...
Walking about Tresco looking for migrants I picked up (amongst the Wheatear and the Whinchat) the local Linnets, which were more obliging than their Manc counterparts...
Not much going on back on St Mary's though so I called it a night after a fairly intensive search for Wryneck (none turned up though). My final full day (and final day's ringing) turned up the Curlew Sands again (but no Godwits), and finally in dawn light! This was waterbird photography as it should be: low light, low angle and close subjects. Set boots to filled...!
But noise from the reeds to my left alerted me to the presence of a Water Rail, close in to me too. I tracked it as it skulked across my position, and got some shots I'm quite pleased with...
The hardest thing is always getting the water perfectly horizontal...
Pity the bird's a scraggy little bugger...
I think it could hear my shutters...
Once it'd passed it was back to Curlew Sands and they were close enough for some full framers...
Rainbow water...
They moved off a bit then and again I could take advantage of the still water and perfect reflections...
Next stop after saying goodbyes to Jim was the Barred Warbler at the allotments, which was finally showing nicely in the open. A bit distant but hey it's a Barred Warbler...!
I then boarded the boat to St Agnes to look for migrants and try and photograph the long-staying Little Stint. I found the pond it favoured and embedded myself in the reeds (sadly quite literally, the mud was like cement only more solid and smelling faintly of dog shit) and waited for the Stint to arrive. It soon did in a flock of 7 Dunlin, which were initially more obliging and so I photographed them first...
Interestingly it's easier to get a glint in the eye of a Dunlin than a Stint...
But soon the Stint drew level. The first thing that struck me is how small it was. Surprising, right? The Little Stint is Small.
But it was reasonably calm with me watching from a few feet, so I proceeded to get my best shots of this, my favourite wader...
The mud kept bogging the birds down, so they stuck to the less viscous shoreline...
Another one down the hatch...
I switched positions to a slightly lower angle, not a big difference but I prefer it...
Stretching to free the leg from the mud...
Back on St Mary's I didn't have much luck with the rest of the birds, but did again find the local Linnets very obliging and photographed this slightly scraggy bird up at the airport...
...before another look for Wryneck, at which point I gave up and went to bed.
Next day, my last, started with the dismantling of my tent and packing of my bag. Next stop was the day's obligatory Wryneck dip (this time at Penninis head), where I got this rather lovely little Wheatear...
At this point I decided I was going to find my own birds and screw the pager. So I headed up to Holy Vale, and found a Wood Warbler (but then remembered it was a long-stayer I'd forgotten about), but then I got the news of a Yellow Browed Warbler down at Higher Moors. This showed really nicely, easily identifiable by call and easy to track through the bushes...
pity about the twig across the beak, but hey it was my last bird on Scilly so still a belting sighting.
But yea that was it basically. All things considered a great trip to go on, and one I'd try to repeat as soon as possible (though maybe later in the year next time). My thanks must go to the Manchester birders who helped me plan things, as well as to Spider who helped me get onto more birds than I'd have dared hope for, as well as to Jim for letting me sit in on the ringing.
Also if you're the guy who was sleeping in the bunk above me at Penzance Youth Hostel, please address your sleep-talking; you kept saying that it was 7:40am which was when I was meant to be leaving and it kept me up and on edge all night. Try saying something less time-sensitive. Ta.
