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

Scilly Sojourn, March 2022 Pt.2 - 11th to 14th March

I'll open by saying that I have still not managed to resolve the problem with the comment facility on my blog. I used to have comments  in 'embedded' mode. However, something went wrong and any attempt at comment by anyone resulted a link to that person's profile, rather than a comment form. I suspect that, somehow, the blog 'theme' has been corrupted. Until I solve this issue I have had to swith comments to 'pop-up window' mode, which means that comments can't be 'threaded', so my response to any comment will not appear as a 'reply' and may be after someone else's comment! Please bear with me on this !

 

Here is the second (and last) part of my report on our family visit to the Isles of Scilly in March this year. You can find the first part here:-  https://peglerbirding.blogspot.com/2022/04/scilly-sojourn-march-2022-pt1-6th-to.html.

Friday, 11th March                       Littleporth ; Pelistry ; Toll's Hill ; Porth Hellick ; Lower Moors

We had a fine start to the day after a wet night, with the temperature at 10°c (feels like 7°) and wind speed 20 to 26 mph.

 

After breakfast, I took a stroll along Littleporth beach, and spent time sitting amongst the rocks trying to photograph the Black Redstarts. I was partly successful, but was also pleased to get photos of other birds, including a Grey Wagtail, and a Siberian Chiffchaff. As you can see, the Chiffchaff was ringed, but I've had no feedback from the partial detail that was visible on my photos.

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) - Littleporth

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) - Littleporth

Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis) - Littleporth

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) - Littleporth

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Littleporth

I then went off to fulfill the daily cake order at Becky's Scilly Cakes!

After getting back to base, I had an early lunch, and set off in the buggy to Pellistry, where I parked the buggy and walked up Green Lane, turning right at the end to take the path towards Tregear's Porth. As I approached the seaward end of the path, I was surprised to see a Red-legged Partridge run round the corner in front of me. I spent some time trying to find it, but didn't succeed. The header that is current with this blog post depicts the view from the t-junction at the seaward end of the path. There are many rabbits on the Isles of Scilly, and this is one of them, seen from that point.

 

Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) - near Tregear's Porth

At the junction, I turned right towards Toll's Hill. I have found the Toll's Hill area to be a relatively reliable location for Stonechat. On this occasion, I found two, with a male being totally uncooperative and one that I first took to be female, but now think it might be a 1st winter male, being only marginally better!

 

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (1st winter male?) - Toll's Hill

View from Toll's Hill - Toll's Island just showing on right

I then walked down onto the beach by Toll's Island, seeing nothing of interest and so I took the direct path back up to Pellistry and rejoined the buggy.

 

There had been reports of Purple Sandpiper in Porth Hellick bay and, as I had never seen Purple Sandpiper before, this is where I went.

 

On my arrival at the entrance to Higher Moors, some kind birders told me where the four sandpipers were. However, I found them in a different, and closer, place. Unfortunately all four spent most of their time asleep. It was good to get a 'lifer'  - I have tried for Purple Sandpiper on many an occasion!

 

Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) - Porth Hellick

After watching for a while, I headed into Higher Moors to see what might be on Porthhellick Pool. A male Garganey was being regularly seen there, although elusive. After a while, all I'd photographed was a passing Moorhen, so I decided to move on.

 

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Porthhellick Pool

As I left the hide, I bumped into one of the local birders, who had also been given the same location information for the sandpipers that I had been given, but had missed seeing them at their new location. We went back to the beach and they were still there. Soon we were joined by others who'd also been looking in the wrong place. We stood there chatting for a while hoping that the birds would wake up and do something interesting. The tide went out and they were still there.

 

Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) - Porth Hellick

Eventually, they were flushed from the rock by a Great Black-backed Gull and disappeared round the headland.

 

After this, some of us returned to Seaward Hide overlooking Porthhellick Pool and thought we saw the Garganey departing from the far corner, and agreed it to be a 'probable'.

 

My next stop was at Lower Moors to try for better shots of the Jack Snipe. I found the bird once more, when it started bobbing between a pair of Gadwall, but it stayed even more concealed on this occasion.

 

Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) - Lower Moors

Gadwall (Mareca strepera) (female + male) - Lower Moors

It was now time to head back to base. I got back to find that Lindsay and Melanie had headed to the beach to find sea slate for a project,  but had failed and were on their way back because Lindsay found that her knee would not allow her to walk on the sand with any degree of safety. I took the two tubs from them that they'd intended to collect the stuff in and managed to fill both tubs in about ten minutes as the sea slate was more plentiful than I have ever seen before.

 

My next job was to do the requested shopping at the Coop, and this proved to be a quick and easy task.

 

After all this, our evening meal was a little late, and the rest of my evening was spent catching up with my notes, and logging my photos. It had been a splendid day!

 

Saturday, 12th March                       Littleporth ; Lower Moors ; Porthloo ; Hugh Town

The weather forecast for the day came with a yellow warning for strong winds, and these would be accompanied by heavy rain. We had another 'washout day' in prospect.

 

Local Weather Forecast on Saturday 12th March at 07.53

Shortly after 09.00 I set off for Becky's Scilly Cakes to collect our doughnut order. The wind was already gaining strength and few birds were seen en route. On Saturdays, Becky makes the best doughnuts on the planet, and we ate these on my return while they were still warm. Whilst there, I also bought our cake requirements for later in the day and for Sunday also as Becky's is closed on Sundays.

 

After a doughnut, I went to sit on the bench that is in a corner on top of the sea wall just a few metres along from our base. Photography was virtually impossible due to the gusting wind, but a few birds were seen. Eventually the effect of the wind and cold got through to me and it was time to move. I did, however, manage some shots of Turnstone at the base of the sea wall by jamming my camera against the railings to steady myself and the shots.

 

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) - Littleporth

By now the wind had got so strong that I was getting sand blasted, even though on a wall about 3 metres above the beach. It was time to give up.

 

Some shopping was needed from the Co-op and so I volunteered. By the time that I returned it had started raining heavily.

 

The first part of the afternoon was spent sitting in the lounge doing admin things. It then brightened up a bit at around 15.30 so I took the buggy to Old Town and headed into Lower Moors once more as it was somewhere that I could sit out of the wind and rain. My timing was perfect from a weather point of view as there was a short deluge soon after my arrival.

 

I stayed for about three quarters of an hour and the only birds seen were three Gadwall and a Mallard.

 

Gadwall (Mareca strepera) (male + female) - Lower Moors

Gadwall (Mareca strepera) (female) - Lower Moors

Gadwall (Mareca strepera) (male) - Lower Moors

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Lower Moors

It started raining as I left the hide and I was rather wet by the time I reached Old Town. Having visited the public loos, I stayed in the doorway until the rain passed. I then crossed the road to the buggy.

 

My next stop was at Porthloo where I parked the buggy before heading for the beach. I realise that I keep mentioning the buggy, but have not shown you this useful means of transport.

 

The 4-seater buggy we hired from Scilly Carts - Porthloo on 12th March

On the beach, I photographed some Oystercatchers and a couple of Shags, attempted to photograph a Black Redstart, and found some Goose Barnacles attached to the plastic sole from a shoe! I'd seen pictures of Goose Barnacles before, and was looking forward to maybe seeing them in the flesh one day. I wish that I'd found them on something more appealing than a bit of plastic rubbish!

 

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Porthloo

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) - Porthloo

Goose Barnacles (Lepas anatifera) - Porthloo

My last stop was at Town Beach, Hugh Town, where there was a large group of Turnstone, some of which were bathing. I also collected some sea glass and pottery sherds for Lindsay, getting back to base just before 18.00.

 

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) - Hugh Town

A view from the bottom of the garden that evening, shows that the weather and sea were far from settled!

 

Looking towards Peninnis from Littleporth

Sunday, 13th March                       Porthcressa ; Peninnis ; Porth Minick
 

Somehow I managed to fail to write notes for this day, other than to record the forecasted local temperature ( 10°c with a 'feels like' of 6°) and wind speed of 17-25 mph. I also noted that it was sunny for much of the day and there was a gentle breeze.

As we were going to have a relatively early start, followed by me having a long drive the following day,  I decided that I ought to have a gentle day on this day.

 

Before breakfast, I spent time on Littleporth and Porthcressa beaches. On Porthcressa Beach, the Turnstones were true to character and very confiding as they searched for food.

 

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) - Porthcressa

At the western end of Littleporth, a Shag launched itself from a rock and landed in an area where the water looked worryingly shallow.

 

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) - Littleporth

The Rock Pipits were around, as usual, and one of them (in the first image) has found a tasty snack which, I am reliably informed, was a Sea Slater (related to Woodlouse).

 

Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus) - Littleporth

I found another stranded Portuguese Man O'War on the beach.

 

Portuguese Man O'War (Physalia physalis) - Littleporth

I also managed to photograph what I initially thought were a pair of Siberian Chiffchaff, although I am far from sure about that. Both were ringed, and what little I could see of the marking on one ring led me to believe it was probably the same bird depicted above. However, correspondence received today from the official recorder on thge Scillies casts doubt on this ID. I will, therefor, just not them as being 'Chiffchaff'

 

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) - Littleporth

I was on duty after breakfast in case nocturnal Georgie surfaced while Lindsay and Melanie went shopping, but returned to Littleporth beach late morning.

 

A Song Thrush on the path at the end of our garden was quite obliging.

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - Littleporth

I took a few shots of Black Redstart. The second image is a poor photo, but I include it as it shows the extent of the red rump.

 

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) - Littleporth

The warmer calm weather brought out the early hoverflies. As the  eyes do not appear to meet in this one, I believe it to be a female.

 

hoverfly (Eristalis pertinax) (female) - Littleporth

I also found a few more Portuguese Man O'War, one of which was quite tiny without 'tentacles'. This is one of the larger ones, but still rather small. However, you can see that those 'tentacles' are quite long.

 

Portuguese Man O'War (Physalia physalis) - Littleporth

After lunch I headed off to Peninnis, leaving the girls with the buggy in case Georgie woke up and wanted a trip out.

 

I saw little on the way there, but was pleased to connect with a feew Stonechats once on Peninnis Head.

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (female) -Peninnis

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (male) -Peninnis

The sea was still being quite lively at times.

 

View from Peninnis

I had just started heading towards the west side of Peninnis, to take the coastal path back to Porthcressa when I got, a call from Lindsay to say that Georgie had woken earlier and wanted to go to Treasure Beach (Porth Minick) and they were on their way. I decided to join then and, by the time I got to the east side of Peninnis Head I could just see them getting out of the buggy by Old Town Cafe. I hurried on and although I had three times the distance to cover, some of it over rough terrain, I arrived at Porth Minick soon after them. 

I helped with the gathering of sea glass, and also noted that there were many Portuguese Man O'War here too, but all were somewhat smaller than most of the ones that I'd found at Littleporth earlier.

We did not spend long here as I needed to drop the girls back at base, and return the buggy to Scilly Carts by 17h00.  In the event, I was earlier than required.

Most of that evening was spenty getting things in order so that we could make an early departure the next day.

Monday, 14th March      Littleporth ; St Marys Airport ; Land's End Airport ; Ashby de la Zouch

The alarm was set for 05h30 to give us time to have breakfast, tidy round the property, and pack, ready to be picked up by Paulger's Transport at 09h10, for our 10h10 flight to Land's End Airport.

 

Frustratingly, the weather for the day was forecast to be by far the best since we left home over a week previously!

I was ready in good time, so paid a last visit to the seat above the beach at the western end of Littleporth. The birds were in good voice, with a Song Thrush living up to its name high up on a nearby roof, and a Wren out-doing it in volume down on the rocks below me.

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - Littleporth

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Littleporth

Paulger's threw us into disarray by arriving twenty minutes early. At the airport we had a difficult half hour when Georgie decided that she could not possibly fly because she'd been allocated a seat which meant people other than family would be  around her. Sadly, total avoidance of unfamiliar people is part of her condition. Thanks to the efforts of the Skybus team, a solution that was acceptable to Georgie was found, and after a 15 minute flight we landed safely in Cornwall without any further problems.

 

We were soon on our way home and, unlike on our outward journey, found diesel in Penzance without difficulty. A picnic lunch was purchased at the fuel station, and we arrived home at around five o'clock in the afternoon.

It had been a very enjoyable break, in spite of some of the worst weather we have experienced on the Isles of Scilly and an avian scene that caused birders to repeatedly remark that "there's not much about".

 

The real highlight for me was, undoubtedly, seeing the Purple Sandpipers.

 

We are all very much looking forward to our return in September.

 

 

In about a week's time I'll probably be doing a post on sightings very much closer to home. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature - - - Richard