Isles of Scilly, 2023 Pt.3 - 27th & 28th September, 2023

This third instalment of my account covers another two days of our recent holiday on the Isles of Scilly. It is a little shorter than my two previous postings, but if I had added a third day it would have been excessively long.

If you missed Pt.1 or Pt.2, you can find them by going to the bottom of this post and then clicking on 'Older Post'. 

Wednesday, 27th September

This day had been forecast for a few days as being one of awful weather due to Storm Agnes, with an official Severe Weather Warning for much of the UK,  including the Isles of Scilly.  The main factor was high winds, but heavy rain was in the mix too.

We woke to fairly strong winds with light rain. However, the wind soon picked up, and the rain became torrential. Some birding folks ventured out in the foul weather and some interesting birds were sighted, but I stayed at base, mainly because I couldn't contemplate going out without my camera, and my camera isn't waterproof. I did take some photos of the Humming-bird Hawk-moth which was now in the conservatory.

Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) - from the house - Littleporth

After lunch it started brightening up, although it was still very windy, and so I took the buggy to Old Town and went into Lower Moors.  To my delight, the hide was empty apart from two other people who arrived at the same time as me. The juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper that had relocated from Higher Moors,  presumably to be in a more sheltered location, was immediately spotted and showed well.

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) - Lower Moors

I spent a while here but it started getting crowded in the hide, so I departed, heading for Carreg Dhu Garden as this beautiful garden is in a sheltered long-disused quarry and often used by sheltering small birds, such as Firecrest. I found butterflies and two Humming-bird Hawk-moths, but no birds to photograph. 

Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) -Carreg Dhu Garden

I next moved on to Higher Moors and, on entering Sussex Hide, found the unprecedented sight of  eleven Greenshank together. I have only ever seen single Greenshank.

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) - Porthellick Pool

Little else was happening here, so I moved on to Seaward Hide, where only Mallards were visible. I sat out a heavy shower of rain then went along to Porthellick beach. Here there were lots of House Sparrows and three Turnstone.

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) - Porthellick Beach

What was more interesting to me, however, was the several stranded 'jellyfish'. These varied considerably in size from maybe 3 cm to 15 cm across. Some seemed to be absolutely crystal-clear, but a couple seen had a circular ring of a pinkish colour. I did not know what species these were, but an image I posted of the second one was was subsequently identified by the excellent 'Scilly Wildlife News' WhatsApp group as Crystal Jelly. This very attractive and bioluminescent animal is not an actual jellyfish but classed as a hydrozoan. It is, I believe, quite a rarity in UK but there were numerous sightings being reported in the south-west of UK at this time. According to an on-line article, "The species is typically found off the west coast of North America, identified from the Bering Sea to southern California. It’s particularly common in Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean along the northwestern coast of Washington." I must say that I find this hard to believe!

Crystal Jelly (Aequorea victoria) - Porthellick Beach

I dropped back into the hides on Porthhellick Pool. At Sussex Hide, the Greenshank were still there, but put up by an arriving Grey Heron. This seemed to have prey, which looked rather like a small rodent, in its bill. I couldn't see clearly as this shot was of it at the seaward end of the pool.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) with prey - Porthellick Pool

The Greenshank soon settled back again and seemed quite relaxed.

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) - Porthellick Pool

Other than these, the only other notable sightings were a pair of Snipe in the distance, kindly pointed out by Julian Branscome, a member of the superb Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.

It was now time to head back to base.

Apart from a shopping trip to the Co-op, the evening was spent relaxing and writing up notes.

I'd been expecting the day to be a total washout,  but it was far from that.

Thursday, 28th September

The weather forecast indicated that a relatively dull morning would develop into a rather wet afternoon.  The girls decided that they'd like another attempt at collecting sea-glass on Treasure Beach (Porth Minick),  so I got Melanie to drop me off at the entrance to Higher Moors. The plan was that I'd see what was going on at Porthellick Pool and Beach, and then walk over Sallakee Down, past the airport turning circle, and meet them at Treasure Beach.

I saw absolutely nothing of interest until just before the airport turning circle, where I got some shots of a female Stonechat.

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (female) - by Airport Turning Circle

Between the airport turning circle and Porth Minick, I spotted a Kestrel. My previous sighting of a Kestrel on the Isles of Scilly was on 14th March, 2020 when some photos I took turned out to be the confirming photos for Lesser Kestrel - a 'mega' that had previously been reported as a 'very interesting looking Kestrel on Porthellick Down' with a request for photos.

I had no such luck this time!

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) (female)

I arrived at Treasure Beach before the girls had departed from base, so had a brief look around. All I found of interest was something that looked like a tiered lump of jelly, but again was subsequently identified by the 'Scilly Wildlife News' WhatsApp group as being a Beadlet Anemone. It seems that it would have been a real treat to see this animal in shallow water with its tentacles open.

Beadlet Anemone (Actinia equina) - Porth Minick

As the girls had not appeared, I made a quick visit to Lower Moors, but saw nothing of any interest. I then hurried back to Porth Minick and found the girls had already got there. I spent a little while with them, but was concerned that I was going to get caught out by the forecast heavy rain, there being only room for the four girls on the buggy, so I set off to return to base.

I stopped briefly for a comfort stop by Old Town Cafe, and noticed that the forecast had moderated, with the rain now coming in later. I changed my plan and took the path round Old Town Bay towards Carn Lêh, getting some shots of a large and wonderful Hornet Hoverfly which, unusually, settled.

Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria) (female) - near Carn Lêh

I went up onto Peninnis, seeing little of interest. 

As I descended the west Peninnis path a Grey Heron passed by, but the shots were binned. I was surprised to see some 'wild swimmers' who seemed to be launching themselves from what appeared to be a relatively inaccessible location, not far from Peninnis Head. 

Wild Swimmers - Peninnis

By the allotments I stopped by some Ivy where there were many Ivy Bees.

Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) - by Porthcressa Allotments

After a late lunch, we all went out to Carn Vean Cafe where we sat outside and enjoyed tea and cake. I was happy to be reunited with their fabulously succulent 'Jaffa Cake'. Because of the forecast rain, I'd left my now normal (non-waterproof) camera set up back at base and taken my old Nikon D7200 body with an old Tamron 28-300 lens (my only back-up equipment these days) with me. I found myself struggling to remember how to use this kit, but did manage some photos of the House Sparrows that wanted us to share our cakes with them. One even had the cheek to read the menu.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) - Carn Vean Cafe

While we waited for Melanie to return with the buggy (it needed two trips to transport five of us in a four-seater) I took Lindsay part-way down the path from Carn Vean Cafe to show her the views over to Toll's Island and the Eastern Isles. Toll's Island can be accessed on foot at low tide, but the tide was in on this occasion.

View to Toll's Island from Carn Vean

View to the Eastern Isles from Carn Vean

We got back to base just in time to avoid the rain.

The evening was spent, as usual, catching up with notes, making plans, etc.

 

My next blog post, if all goes according to plan, will feature the next day of our stay, and will be a little different. 

In the meantime, pleased take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard

Isles of Scilly, 2023 Pt.1 - 24th and 25th September, 2023

This begins my account of another family holiday on the wonderful Isles of Scilly. Lindsay and I  were accompanied by our daughter Melanie,  granddaughter Georgie,  and Georgie's friend Kerris.

To put things in context, we were both extremely nervous at the prospect of starting out on this journey to the Isles of Scilly. On Friday, 1st September on the way home from having a meeting with Lindsay's surgeon, while travelling at about 40 mph (65 kph) the rear wheels of our car suddenly locked solid and we skidded all over the road before coming to a halt. It was, to say the least, extremely frightening. Fortunately, there were no other cars around at the time. After about two hours the rescue truck arrived and took the car to the nearest Skoda dealership. It was even more unsettling that this could happen less than 200 miles (320 km) after the car had a full service and MoT test at the dealership.

It was the Tuesday before they found time to investigate, and found that the rear offside brake  calliper was broken, and so they replaced that, plus the brake disc and brake pads for an eye- watering price. They then took it out for a test drive and the same thing happened on the test drive as had happened to us. Having retrieved the car and supplied the test driver with clean pants, they got it back on the ramp and found a hole in the 4WD differential casing and came to the conclusion that the diff. was well and truly lunched. With a price now quoted for the repair being close to £6,500 we had a long hard think about whether to go forward with the repair or ditch the car. We decided on the former option. A day later, we were told that there was not a replacement diff. anywhere and it could be weeks or months before they managed to get the part. Arrangements were made for them to supply us with a car for our trip to the Isles of Scilly. We were comforted by the thought that we'd not have to take the long drive to the tip of Cornwall in a car that we'd not had time to regain confidence in.

I was not, therefore, overjoyed to get a call on Thursday 21st September to say that they'd got the part and fixed it, so that we could collect it on the Friday, two days before our departure, giving us no time to have a good run  and gain confidence. If it happened again when we were travelling at 70 mph on a busy motorway we would stand little chance of surviving!

Sunday, 24th September          Ashby de la Zouch to Hayle  :  Hayle, Copperhouse Pool

We managed what for us was a fairly early start, departing from home at 09.15. The first half of the 300 mile journey was in constant drizzle but it dried up later. I drove very gingerly at first but, after about 150 miles I started to gain confidence. We had a few comfort stops en route and arrived at the Premier Inn, Hayle, at 15.15. 

Having unpacked the car, I went off for a walk beside Copperhouse Pool as it is an interesting birding spot. I arrived to find winds of 26mph, gusting to 43 mph, rain threatening, and the tide out so the water was quite a distance from the road. Wind and distance made photography difficult, but there were some interesting birds to see - nothing rare, but with a few a bit different to what I see close to home

 

Close to where I'd parked the car, a Little Egret posed nicely.

 

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

Over on the far side of the pool, about 150 metres away, a Cormorant was spreading its wings.

 

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax Carbo) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

It was good to see a Black-tailed Godwit probing in the mud for a snack

 

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

Black-headed Gull is a familiar bird localy to home.

 

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

By far the most numerous bird species present was Canada Goose (I suspect that there were a couple of hundred, or more) - also a familiar sight close to home.

 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

I am used to seeing Redshank at this location and was surprised to only spot one on this occasion.

 

Redshank (Tringa totanus) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

The north end of Copperhouse Pool is usually good for Curlew in my experience, and so it was this time too.

 

Curlew (Numenius arquata) - Copperhouse Pool

On my way back to the car, the Godwit was in a slightly better position.

 

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

I'd only been there for about half an hour, and my timing was almost perfect as it started raining when I was just a few metres from the car.

 

I drove back in heavy rain and returned to base to find that Melanie and the girls had just arrived. 

After a chat, for convenience, our evening meals were obtained from 'the Scottish restaurant' with the two youngsters having takeaways and us older folks eating in. 

That night we turned in early at 20.30

 

Monday, 25th September          Copperhouse Pool, Hayle  : Hayle to St. Marys, Isles of Scilly 

The day got off to an unfortunate start, and seemed to be a bit jinxed thereafter. I'd set the alarm to wake Lindsay and I up at 07.00. The alarm went off in the morning and we both started sorting ourselves out when I suddenly noticed that my watch was reading 05.34. Somehow I'd also managed to set an alarm for 05.30!

There was an upside to this mistake as it meant that I had time to return to Copperhouse Pool before we needed to depart for the airport.

In contrast to the previous day, it was a sunny day with just a gentle breeze and I  hadn't reckoned with the early morning sunlight being all but horizontal and straight ahead of me as I looked over the pool. Also, the water level was even lower than it was the evening before. I did manage a few photos, however. I'll leave off the shots of species photographed the previous evening.

I thought that I'd found the Black-tailed Godwit again, but it was only when examining my photos that I realised that I'd been looking at a Bar-tailed Godwit. This is a species that I rarely see.

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) - Copperhouse Pool. Hayle

A Greenshank was near the bridge.

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

Grey Heron is, of course, common almost everywhere.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

We arrived at Lands End Airport in good time and had already checked in when I noticed that Lindsay was not carrying her binoculars. She'd left them in the car, so I had to hot-foot it back to the car park to collect them. Due to this minor kerfuffle it completely slipped my mind that I had to cancel the rooms that I'd booked at the hotel for that night as a contingency in case our flight was cancelled - flights to the Scillies are a bit vulnerable to weather conditions. By the time I realised this omission we'd already been charged for the rooms.

The flight was uneventful and we were on the Isles of Scilly by 12.30, and soon transported to the self-catering property we had rented on Littleporth, St Marys. Having collected our shopping for the week and had a light late lunch. I set off on what I'd intended to be a short walk along the sea-front that is at the bottom of the garden of the property that we were staying in.

 

I was delighted to see a Wren in the garden of the property.

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - property garden, Littleporth

On Porthcressa beach I found something that I was not sure of the identity of, but was informed that it was the 'holdfast' of Furbelows - a kelp seaweed.

 

Furbelows (Saccorhiza polyschides) (holdfast) - Porthcressa

There was far more seaweed on the beach than I have ever seen before, presumably as the result of recent storms. This Herring Gull was probing some of it for a tasty treat.

 

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - Porthcressa

In recent visits to the Scillies, I have seen far fewer Song Thrushes than I had previously been used to. These used to be quite confiding. I have even had them take food from the hand. I wonder if the seeming increase in domestic cats has been the cause. I was pleased to see a Song Thrush this day, gracing the back of a memorial bench on the sea-front.

 

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - Porthcressa

Deciding to go a bit further, I headed up the hill to Buzza Tower, dipping into the small disused quarry near the lower end of the path. Here I found the caterpillar of a White Ermine moth.

White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) (larva) - quarry below Buzza Tower

Further up the hill, I stopped to photograph a lowly Large White butterfly.

Large White (Pieris brassicae) (male) - path to Buzza Tower

Reaching the hospital, where I had intended to turn back, a message came through that there was a Wryneck on Peninnis Head. I was already halfway there so cleared it with Lindsay that I'd be back late and set off along the lane.

There was not anybody around when I arrived and I was not too sure as to where the bird had been seen. I looked around in the area where I thought it had been and, apart from a momentary double-take when a bird popped up onto the wall, which turned out to be nothing but a Dunnock, I saw little.

 

Dunnock (Prunella modularis) - Peninnis Head

I started looking along the start of the path that runs along the west side of Peninnis. I'd  not gone far before I saw a fellow waving his arms to me a few hundred metres down the path. I hurried to him and he confirmed that he'd had a Wryneck working it's way along the wall in a northerly direction. We continued to search together and at one point he had it spotted, but I misunderstood his directions and was looking in the wrong place, whereupon it flew before I spotted it.  I did get some distant shots of a Whinchat.

 

Whichat (Saxicola rubetra) (female) - Peninnis

We continued to look for the Wryneck for some time before giving up. I decided to continue northward and back to base, while my companion returned to Peninnis Head.  About five minutes later, a message came though on the WhatsApp group saying that Wryneck had been spotted at the place that I'd originally looked at, only about 10 minutes after I'd left that location.

As I continued my walk, another message came through, this time from my previous companion, with a wonderful photo of the Wryneck at the location. I only found some butterflies to photograph.

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) - Peninnis

Peacock (Aglais io) - Peninnis

As I neared base,  I found Lindsay and Melanie sitting on a seafront wall. I joined them and, just to rub it in, another message came through that  there were now two Wryneck at the same location. 

I took a few more photos at Littleporth. A Wren was in the usual corner at the western end of the beach.

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Littleporth

An Ostercatcher in drab, and rather cryptic, 1st- summer plumage was on the beach and flew as I watched from the sea-wall footpath.

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Littleporth

The youngsters turned in at around 19.30. Lindsay and I called it a day at 21.30 after what seemed like a long day. 

I will terminate Pt.1 of my account here. Pt.2 will probably follow in about a week's time, when I have had time to process the many photos that I took. I suspect that it might be rather longer than this post.

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - - Richard

 

 

Scilly Sojourns, Sept/Oct, 2022, Pt.2 - 28th & 29th September

Our stay on the Isles of Scilly had got o.ff to a bit of a slow start, as reported in Pt.1 of my account of our stay I am pleased to report that things picked up a bit as time went on, as noted below.

Wednesday, 28th September

I managed a relatively early breakfast,  and set off in the buggy for Carreg Dhu Gardens in the hope of finding a Firecrest. This place is known for its attractiveness to small birds on passage, and also for the exotic plants that grow in its sheltered location. I was seeing little and, once again, found myself resorting to photographing flowers, butterflies, and common birds.

This is one of many rather large flowers on a bush that was the size of a small tree.

 

Princess Flower (Pleroma urvilleanum) - Carreg Dhu Gardens

Specimens of Speckled Wood butterfly are of the subspecies insula and have markings on the wing that are more orange than the pale cream  of the nominate species. They were quite numerous when the sun was out during our stay on this occasion.

 

Speckled Wood (Parage aegeria insula) - Carreg Dhu Gardens

Here are a few of the common birds. The Chaffinches were enjoying the seeds in the pods on a tree  that I did not recognise.

 

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - Carreg Dhu Gardens

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (female) - Carreg Dhu Gardens

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - Carreg Dhu Gardens

After being here for just under an hour, and seeing very little, a message came in that a Pied Flycatcher was again showing at Newford Ponds, so I  went there. 

I was at Newford Ponds for over an hour before before the Pied Flycatcher showed, but it was constantly mobile and hidden for most of the time that it was present and no photos were obtained. I also failed to get any shots of the two Goldcrest that were zooming around from time to time. 

I had a request to return to base with the buggy, and so was back by mid-day, but immediately sent out again to buy crab for lunch.

As the girls wanted the buggy that afternoon to go to 'Treasure Beach', I  hung around until they were ready to go, so that they could drop me off somewhere on their way. I chose to use this waiting time to check out what might be around on Littleporth beach, at the bottom of the garden, so that I could get back quickly when they were ready. Again I resorted to photographing common birds. The markings on the wings of this thrush lead me to believe that it is a juvenile.

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) (juvenile) - Littleporth

Until this year, Littleporth beach has been a quite rewarding place to watch birds, with numerous Rock Pipits, a few Pied Wagtail, frequent Stonechat, the occasional Black Redstart, and plenty of gulls and waders. However, on this visit, the beach was greatly dominated by Starlings and House Sparrows, with a few Greenfinch added in to the mix. Low tides also seemed to be lower than I'd ever witnessed here before. This did not make for easy birding or photography.

 

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) (female) - Littleporth

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Littleporth

The Scillies is famous for its wealth of sub-tropical plants that grow there. I find this one rather attractive.

 

Cape Rain-daisy (Dimorphotheca pluvialis) - Littleporth

A message had come through about a Wryneck at Deep Point Quarry, and so I got the girls to drop me off near Normandy from which it was but a short walk to Deep Point.  I was not familiar with this location and spent half an hour or so wandering around the Deep Point area trying to find the quarry. In the end I resorted to putting out a question on the WhatsApp group to ask where the quarry was. I soon got a helpful reply to say that Deep Point Quarry was not at Deep Point but was at nearby Porth Wreck.

I spent around an hour and a half here, but failed to locate the Wryneck. I was entertained by the local Stonechats and what I believe to be a Meadow Pipit. However, I'm not any good at Pipit ID so please let me know if I have found something more exotic - it seemed strange that it was perched in this way.

 

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (female) - Porth Wreck

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) - Porth Wreck

A message then came through about a Wryneck between Giant's Castle and the airport runway turning circle so I set off on foot. I failed here also. As I approached the runway turning circle, the sirens were going to indicate an approaching aircraft and the closure of the path. I stopped to take a photo of the incoming plane, which was G-BUBN - an 8-seater Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, built in 1992.

 

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander G-BUBN - landing at St Marys

After the plane had landed, the sirens ceased and the path was opened. I stopped to have a brief chat with someone coming in the opposite direction and was then about to continue when the sirens started again, forcing me to  stay put. This time it was G-BIHO -  a 19-seat De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter which entered service in 1981. I have never been nearer to a landing aircraft than I was on this occasion! 

 

De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter G-BIHO - landing at St Marys

As I approached Porth Minick, I managed a few poor shots of a Wren and a Stonechat.

 

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - near Porth Minick

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (female) -near Porth Minick

My walk ended at Old Town, where the girls kindly came to pick me up and take me back to base.

It had been another relatively unproductive day, but any day on the Isles of Scilly is a bonus!

Thursday, 29th September

The day started rather cold and windy, although I didn't record the temperature or wind speed, and continued that way, with sunny spells and a couple of very light and short showers of rain.

After breakfast, I took a stroll along the sea front, stopping to photograph a few birds on Littleporth and Porthcressa beaches.

 

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) - Littleporth

Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus) - Littleporth

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - Porthcressa

Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus) -Porthcressa

I then continued up the path to Buzza Tower, stopping to look at the entrance grave (an ancient burial site) near the tower. In all my visits to the Scillies, I'd never been to look at this.  It was far from spectacular, however, but the view from here was! That's the entrance grave in the foreground.

View from Buzza Hill and Entrance Grave

I then headed towards Old Town, stopping to move from the pavement what I believe to be the caterpillar of a Ruby Tiger moth. I'm not sure that it was healthy as it seemed somewhat torpid.

 

Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa) (larva) - near Old Town

I took a diversion into Old Town churchyard to see if I could find stick insects, but failed.

Heading towards Lower Moors, I came across the IoS Wildlife Trust team at the entrance to the reserve, preparing to do some work around the two hides on the reserve. I hurried ahead of them, hoping to see some birds before the disturbance that they would create. I arrived at the ISBG hide to find a good-sized group of mini-rangers in action. This is a marvellous initiative where pre-school children (under fives) are introduced to wildlife and get involved with maintenance work. On this occasion they were tidying the hides, armed with dustpans and brushes. I thanked them, and their supervisors, enthusiastically. I only saw Mallards and a presumed domestic escape before a message to say that the Wryneck was being seen at Porth Wreck again. 

A quick call to the girls at base had them come along with the buggy and transport me to a near access point for the Wryneck location.

I arrived to find a gentleman who had seen the bird earlier, still on site. He explained where the bird had been seen, and how it had disappeared behind a large rock and he'd not seen it again. I stayed for about an hour, before deciding to move on, having not seen the bird. The visit was not totally wasted, however, as it is always a delight to watch Stonechat, and a fly-over bird had me scratching my head for a long while as I originally thought 'Kestrel' then realised that it had been flying without any tendency to hover, was rather pale and sparsely marked under the wings, and had quite a pronounced dark 'moustache'. I, eventually, came back to my original ID.

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (male) - Porth Wreck

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) - from Porth Wreck

I walked over the top to Porth Hellick, and into the Higher Moors reserve. At Seaward Hide I had great views of a Common Snipe.

 

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Porth Hellick Pool

Various other items were also seen on the reserve.

 

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Porth Hellick Pool

Speckled Wood (Parage aegeria insula) - Higher Moors NR

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - by Higher Moors NR

The girls kindly came out in the buggy to take me back to base so I  could fix myself a very late lunch while they set out to go to Treasure Beach again. However, they ended up going shopping instead and were back much sooner than expected.

As the Wryneck had been seen yet again at Porth Wreck,  I decided to give it a third try. 

 

A group of 16 Gannets, relatively close to the shore, caught my attention. Here are three of them.

 

Gannet (Morus bassanus) - from Porth Wreck

I'd been there well over an hour and just said to a couple that I'd been chatting with that I would do them the favour of departing as that, based on past experience, would guarantee the bird would appear within minutes of me being gone, when the lady said 'what's that on that rock'. It was very distant and with my poor eyesight and relatively cheap binoculars I said 'it looks like a spug' (sparrow), but I  took some shots anyway and when I zoomed in to my shot (as shown in my 2nd image, below) I saw it was our target!

 

Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) - Porth Wreck

My shots would just about be acceptable as record shots but we found that if we went to the gate at the entrance to the quarry we got a better, but brief, view as it ducked back in when someone moved to a couple of metres in front of me .

 

Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) - Porth Wreck

With mission accomplished it was time to visit Higher Moors again to try for a Jack Snipe as two had been recently reported. Both birds were soon located, with the help of a couple already in the hide. However, one was photographically too distant and only ID-able by its bobbing movement, and the near one was hunkered down behind a rise in the terrain, as shown below - it's the one on the left, with Common Snipe on the right.

 

Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) + Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Porth Hellick Pool

While waiting for developments in the Snipe situation, I took a few shots of the group of Greenshank with a Grey Heron near the far side of the pool.

 

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) + Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Porth Hellick Pool

After a long wait, with just two of us left in the hide, a Common Snipe sidled up alongside the Jack Snipe and set it in motion.

 

Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) + Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Porth Hellick Pool

The Jack Snipe's progress was frustratingly slow to the extent that my companion remarked that it will be dark before it comes into full view (sunset was two hours away!). It did, thankfully, improve on that schedule, although in not the best of locations.

 

Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) - Porth Hellick Pool

I am very fond of Snipe, and to get half-decent views of Jack Snipe was really quite excting for me.

 

It was now time to return to base, thus ending my birding day. It was, without a shadow of doubt, the best day for sightings so far in the break, and one of the better days photographically.

 

 

This brings me to the end of Pt.2 of my account of our visit to the Isles of Scilly. I intend for the third (and final) part of my account to be published in about a week's time.

 

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard