Isles of Scilly, 2023 Pt.5 - 30th September to 3rd October, 2023

This fifth instalment of my account covers the final four days of our recent holiday on the Isles of Scilly. All ended rather differently to that expected or hoped for. 

If you missed previous parts of my account, you can find them by going to the bottom of this post and then clicking on 'Older Post'. 

Saturday, 30th September

The weather forecast for the day was not very favourable, with a strong wind all day, and a chance of rain, with very little sunshine.

My first job of the day was to retrieve my camera bag from the kiosk on the quay, where it had been put after I left it on the boat the previous afternoon.

Having returned to base, I then took Lindsay shopping so that she could buy a belated part of her birthday present, and we could get take-home gifts for granddaughters at home. The next stop was at Becky's Scilly Cakes where, on Saturdays, she offers the best doughnuts in the world. This week's special filling (it changes every week) was apple and cinnamon, which is what I chose. The girls, variously, had custard or jam. Mine was absolutely delicious and was eaten while still warm.

It was about 11.00 before I got out,  and I was given a lift in the buggy to Carreg Dhu Garden by Melanie and Lindsay. I saw little there, and only took shots of Humming-bird Hawk-moth without being able to freeze the wing motion because of the low light levels. They were on some Escallonia bushes, which had small, but rather beautiful, flowers.

 

Escallonia macrantha - Carreg Dhu

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

I set off to walk back to base and, just after I had passed the road to the airport, was accosted by a gentleman that asked if this was the way to the airport. Somehow I had managed to miss the news that two Bobolink had been seen there. Never having seen this extremely rare visitor from the Americas, I went to have a look. I found about 40 to 50 birders already there. The birds put in very brief appearances every time an aircraft flew in to land, but I only got one very distant sighting of one of the birds as it flew, and didn't get a single shot. Having an aversion to crowds, I gave up after half an hour and walked to Old Town and checked out Standing Stones Field and Lower Moors, only finding a Snipe at Lower Moors. 

 

Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Lower Moors

The girls then came and gave me a lift back to base.

 

After a very late lunch, I fell asleep on the sofa. It was 17.00 before I got out,  taking the buggy to Higher Moors,  having quick visits to both the hides and Porthellick beach. The light was atrocious by now and, as little was seen and a dense sea mist was building, I didn't linger for long.

I returned to base and took part in a 'build a better pizza' competition with the four girls. Mine was wonderful!

 

Thus ended the most unproductive day, photography-wise, of the holiday.

 

Sunday, 1st October

 

This was to be our last full day of the holiday as we were scheduled to fly back to the mainland the next morning. The forecast for the day was for little wind,  but low level cloud and the occasional rain. It turned out to be a bit worse than that as, for much of the morning, the cloud level was zero metres above ground. 

I took a few photos from the garden after breakfast,  including some of a seal that was venturing to occasionly stick its nose out of the water.

 

Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) - Littleporth

A few years back, a trio of Mallard hybrids made a name for themselves by regularly appearing in the bay at Porthcressa. For several years, 'the Porthcressa Three' were lauded and fed by locals and visitors, and were very much at home on the sea.

Last year, we found that the 'Three' had produced offspring and they were now the 'Porthcressa Three plus Three'.

This visit revealed that they had now become 'the Porthcressa Seventeen'! I took this shot from the garden.

The Porthcress Seventeen - Littleporth

Having sorted out a few administrative jobs, I  set off on foot at about 09.15.

As I  passed along the head of Littleporth beach,  I grabbed some shots of what I think was possibly a White Wagtail (rather than Pied Wagtail). This was on what I think were Mermaids Tresses (Chorda filum).

White Wagtail? (Motacilla alba?) - Littleporth

I took the path that climbs up to Buzza Tower, stopping to photograph Littleporth, including the property that we were staying at - at the bottom of that yellow line.

 

View to Littleporth from Buzza Hill path

A little further on I just about managed to photograph a Song Thrush. I believe that I have mentioned before that this species used to be numerous, and very confiding, on the Isles of Scilly, but I have seen far fewer on recent visits, and they seem far more nervous.

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - from Buzza Hill path

Having passed Buzza Tower I then found a Humming-bird Hawk-moth on Red Valerian opposite the hospital. Being one of my favourite moths, I hope that you will excuse more photos.

 

Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) -by St. Mary's Hospital

As I finished with the hawk-moth, I was greeted by Ren Hathway, who remembered me from previous visits. We chatted on our way to the airport where we both hoped to have views of the two Bobolink that were there. Unfortunately it started raining a bit heavily soon after we arrived. I didn't stay long because of the weather, and I didn't see a Bobolink, but I  did get some shots of a distant Whinchat and of the two Wheatear that were in the area.

 

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) (female) - near Airport entrance

Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) (female) - by Airport entrance

I returned to base a little damp and concerned for the welfare of my camera, particularly of the lens which is clearly stated as not being waterproof.

Having had lunch, I took a few photos from the garden.

 

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Garden, Littleporth

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) - from the garden, Littleporth

After this, I headed out to Carn Vean Cafe where I was to meet up with the girls. I first went down to the beach at Pelistry Bay with the intention of going onto Toll's Island. I have never been on the island, which one can walk across to when the the tide is out, as it was at this time. However, having crossed the beach to the island, I found that the initial scramble over boulders to get up onto the top of the island was a bit beyond the physical abilities of my aged body.

When they arrived, the youngsters enjoyed feeding the sparrows that eagerly visit the outside tables when it looks as if food might be on offer. Georgie took great delight in feeding the sparrows by hand.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) (female) - taking food from Georgie's hand

There being five of us, and with only a four-seater buggy, return to base needed two runs. Melanie dropped me off at Maypole, where Wryneck had been seen. I arrived to find people there, and was informed that Wryneck had not been seen for a long time. A Lesser Whitethroat was pointed out to me but I didn't manage to photograph it. My lift to base was on it's way and I was waiting at the appointed spot when a recently arrived lady spotted a Wryneck in the field next to the one where people had been looking. I got a view of it through a kind person's 'scope, but didn't manage any shots of it. I'd only brought my backup camera with me, as I didn't want to risk getting my main, non-waterproof, kit wet.

Once we'd got everyone back to base, I returned the buggy to Scilly Carts. 

The evening was spent relaxing and preparing for our departure.

 

Monday, 2nd October

 

The weather forecast for this day had looked a little worrying, with a high chance of low cloud and fog. I was up and packed quite early and found time to take some photos from the garden before our departure. 

 

I have difficulty separating White Wagtails from Pied Wagtails but, by the amount of grey showing on the flank, I think that this was a Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - Littleporth

A Shag was fishing in the bay too, and getting tangled in 'weed'.

 

Shag (Gulosus aristotelis) - Littleporth

Before 09.00, the weather did not look too bad, although low cloud was obscuring much of the view of Peninnis. However, I was dismayed to see on Twitter that flights were currently on hold due to poor visibility.

 

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 11.20 and our transport to the airport was booked to pick us up at the property at 10.20. We had to be out of the property by 10.00 but the management kindly let the girls sit in the kitchen while I kept a look out for the mini-bus outside.

 

The mini-bus arrived spot-on time and we were delivered safely to the airport, where we found many people trying to sort out what their situation was. We managed to find five seats in a quiet area (essential when you have two autistic teenagers with you that have difficulty coping with people in close proximity) and, hgaving been told that our flight was currently on hold, waited for news. We had been told that enough places had been reserved on Scillonian III (the boat which plies between the Isles of Scilly and the mainland), but no moves would be made until the status of our flight changed from 'on hold' to 'cancelled'. 

The flight cancellation was announcedjust before noon, and were bussed to the quayside. Check-in for Scillonian III was not until 15.30, for a 16.30 scheduled departure. As it was now raining, this resulted in us sitting in the waiting room for three and a half hours. 

We had another problem to sort out and that was, with an arrival at Penzance expected to be around 19.15, and then probably losing another quarter of an hour or more before being able to retrieve our baggage, followed by another half an hour being bussed to Lands End airport, we were not going to be on the road before about 20.00. This was clearly too late in the day to safely drive the 308 miles (496 km) to our home.

Melanie came to the rescue by booking hotel rooms for us for the night. She managed to get the last room available at the Premier Inn, Hayle, for Lindsay and I but the nearest she could find for herself and the two girls was in Oakhampton.

 

The ship was full and all areas were crowded, much to the discomfort of the two youngsters. It didn't help that a few Gig Crews were having a bit of a noisy party and sing-song on board. I did try and spend a little time on the outside deck-space of the ship. There were some dedicated birders out there, but it was very wet so I didn't stop for long.

Arriving on time at Penzance, for some unexplained reason, we had to wait for about twenty minutes before we were allowed to disembark. It was then a few minutes walk to the baggage retieval area, where it was difficult to find one's own baggage in the darkness.

Having reclaimed our baggage, I went ahead to find the bus and managed to find and 'reserve' a group of five seats so that the youngsters could sit together in relative isolation from the rest of the passengers. We departed for the airport almost immediately after the girls were boarded.

 

This allowed us to be checked in for the night by 21.00, but Melanie's journey that day didn't finish until about 22.30.

You will not be surprised to hear that this day was the absolute low-point of the holiday.

Tuesday, 3rd October

Lindsay and I awoke fairly early. I declined Lindsay's invitation for me to have an early morning visit to see what birds were at Copperhouse Pool, Hayle, favouring getting hgome as soon as possible. As I discovered on the outward, the light would have been totally against me anyway.

We soon ran into rain, and the traffic situation was worse than expected, resulting in us not getting home until 16.45. Melanie, who had a significantly shorter distance journey than us that day, had far worse traffic than us and didn't get home until about fifteen minutes after us.

 

From a wildlife photography point of view, it had probably been my least satisfying of stays on the Isles of Scilly, but I still had a great time. The real bonus was, however, seeing our granddaughter, Georgie, come out of her shell through having her friend Kerris with her, giving them both the confidence to do things independently of us adults. All five of us are very much looking forward to returning next year.

All things being equal, my next blog post will be covering my October sightings close to home. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard