Scilly Sojourn, March 2022 Pt.1 - 6th to 10th March

This return visit to the Isles of Scilly for Lindsay and I, plus our daughter, Melanie, and granddaughter, Georgie, had been eagerly anticipated as a relief from the confinements of a cautious attitude to the Covid pandemic. None of us had the intention to throw caution to the wind, but we did feel the time had come to try and recapture some elements of a 'normal life'.

Sunday, 6th March                Ashby de la Zouch to Hayle, Cornwall

Lindsay and I set off from home in  Ashby de la Zouch at 09.40. The weather was as forecast - cloudy with sunny intervals and a breeze giving a chill factor to the nominal 6°c temperature. Traffic conditions were good for the whole journey and after a few comfort stops and a break for a picnic lunch in a car park we arrived at the Premier Inn, Hayle, at 15h15. Our daughter Melanie, and granddaughter Georgie had a late start, not leaving their Leicester home until 14.00.

 

With time on our hands until the girls arrived, Lindsay and I set off to visit the pool at Hayle, known as Copperhouse Pool. 

 

We attempted to fill the car with diesel just before reaching the pool and had a sense of deja vu when we were told that there was no fuel to be had in the area as everybody had been filling their vehicles because fuel prices were about to increase dramatically. We'd been met with similar news when we arrived at Hayle in September, but it was a supply, rather than demand, problem on that occasion. We resigned ourself to hoping the situation wss resolved by the time of our return.

 

The north side of the pool has a very pleasant walk along it. However, Lindsay, who is troubled by a damaged knee, could only manage a short distance before having to resort to the comfort of a bench with a view, leaving me to continue to the far end and back on my own. This gave me the opportunity to photograph a few birds on the pool although they were mainly rather distant due to the tide being out.

 

view over Copperhouse Pool

On the far side of the pool, a Little Egret was near the bank

 

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

Much nearer were a couple of Shelduck and a few Teal. Unfortunately, conditions were such that neither were seen in the best light.

 

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) (female) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

Teal (Anas crecca) (female) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

Teal (Anas crecca) (male) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

In the middle of the pool, there was a small group of godwits and Redshanks. I have spent some time trying to positively ID the godwits and have come to the conclusion that they were Bar-tailed Godwits. This is mainly based on being just about able to spot indistinct barring on the tail and curvature on the bill, the extensive supercilium, and their association with Redshank which is, apparently, what Bar-tailed Godwits do. Please let me know if you think that I am mistaken.

 

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

Redshank (Tringa totanus) - Copperhouse Pool

After our walk, we called in at the Eastern Empire Chinese restaurant and bought a takeaway of crispy squid, followed by crispy shredded beef in chilli sauce with noodles to eat back in the hotel. While Lindsay was in the restaurant, which was on the south Side of Copperhouse Pool, I waited in their car park which was adjacent to the pool. Little was seen, but I did manage a shot of an Oystercatcher.

 

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Copperhouse Pool, Hayle

We ate our meal in our hotel room and it was delicious! Melanie and Georgie made good time and arrived at 19.15. 

 

Lindsay and I turned in at 21.00 as we had an early start the next day, with the alarm set for 04.45.

 

Monday, 7th March          Hayle ; Land's End Airport ; St Marys, Isles of Scilly

I woke at 04.43, 2 minutes before the alarm was due to go off, and we started to make preparations for our departure.

We checked out of the hotel at 06.30 and were at Lands End airport in good time for a 07.15 check in. Our Twin Otter G-CEWM, built in 1979, departed on time at 08.15 for the 15 minute, rather bumpy, flight to St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly. Paulger's Transport got us to our accommodation by 09.00 where we were expecting to have to leave our luggage in the car port as check in time was 15.00. We were, therefore, delighted to find a note on the door saying that we had immediate entry.

 

To give you some idea of location that we are in love with, the property that we stay at can be seen pretty-much precisely in the centre of the header image while this blog post is current.

We were on a self-catering stay, and our luck continued when I called the Coop at 10.00 to see if we could bring our click and collect order forward from the 14.00 to 16.00 slot, and was told that it was being picked now and would be ready in 10 minutes.

The next task was for me to pick up the buggy that we'd hired for the week from Scilly Carts. We were now all set up for our stay.

Our luck with the weather was, however a little less fortuitous. It was rather windy (28 to 34 mph) with a temperature of 7°c with a wind chill factor taking it down to 2°c.

Feeling rather tired after the long drive and early start, and in consideration of the weather, I had a very gentle day, just taking a stroll along Porthcressa beach front and in the afternoon taking Lindsay for a drive around the island in the buggy. Few birds were photographed.

 

The property we stay at is at the Littleporth end of Porthcressa and backs onto the beach. On the beach at the bottom of the garden, Rock Pipit is pretty-much a given. The amount of  wrack present at this time was something that I'd not witnessed here before. This was very attractive to gulls and shore birds.

Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus) - Littleporth

Oystercatcher are also regular visitors on Littleporth beach.

 

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - Littleporth

Not quite so reliable are Black Redstart, but it was good to find two present at this time.

 

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) - Littleporth

Herring Gulls seemed particularly attracted to the wrack line. However, I chose to take a shot of this one in flight.

 

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - Littleporth

In the past, I have found the rocks at the extreme western end of Littleporth beach to be a quite reliable place for Wren, and so it was during this stay.

 

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Littleporth

Some of my readers who have been with me for a while may remember previous mentions of the 'Porthcressa Three'. These are three ducks of Mallard extraction (at some stage) which are relatively domesticated, and spend much of their time on the sea at Porthcressa. They have been around for several years and readily come to tasty offerings from the local youngsters. Last year, they successfully raised a family between the three of them. I was delighted to see that the 'Three' were still there, but seemed to have gained a 'friend' - again of vaguely Mallard extraction, but quite pretty. As I approached them, they ran towards me expectantly - I felt quite guilty as I had nothing to offer!

The Porthcressa Three - Porthcressa!

The Three's new friend - Porthcressa

We spent most of the evening relaxing and I wrote up my notes before we all turned in for the night at 21.30!

 

Tuesday, 8th March          Porthcressa ; Lower Moors ; Newford Ponds ; Hugh Town

We woke to strong winds (37 to 47 mph) and a temperature of 9°c which felt like 4° with wind chill factored in.

An after breakfast visit to the sea front at the bottom of the garden revealed a mass of gulls and other shore birds in a feeding frenzy at the water's edge. As I was getting too much sea spray on my camera, I didn't stay there for long.

 

gulls - Littleporth

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) - Littleporth

At 09.45, I set off for Lower Moors, choosing this inland site in the hope that it would be more sheltered from the wind. A heavy shower of rain caught me out just before I arrived. There was little to see other than a Greenshank and a few Mallards, with a few Herring Gull coming in from time to time for a fresh water wash - something that I have observed here before in stormy conditions. The Greenshank also fancied a bath - I rather like this next sequence.

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) - Lower Moors

The gull taking off towards me in this next shot reminds me of images from my childhood days of huge flyingboats tasking to the air.

 

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - Lower Moors

As the weather seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, I set off back to base, getting soaked in the process.

The girls went out to do some shopping for goodies, and I  made another visit visit to Porthcressa beach at 11.30. The weather had improved, and was brighter, with less wind. The (20 to 30, I  didn't  count them) Turnstones on the beach were very confiding.

 

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) - Porthcressa

There were also two Pied Wagtail, and they were anything but confiding.

 

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) - Littleporth

I then returned for lunch at mid day.

After lunch, the girls wanted to go to a beach that they refer to as Treasure Beach to collect sea glass for a craft project. I drove them out there, leaving them with the buggy while I returned to Lower Moors. There was even less of interest there than earlier in the day.

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Lower Moors

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) - Lower Moors

On receiving a message from the girls that they were leaving the beach, I joined them and drove them on a circular tour of the island. At Newford Ponds we found a novel sort off road block - about twenty Mallard derivitives asleep in the middle of the road, and they were none too keen to move!

 

Road block, Isles of Scilly style - Newford Ponds

While trying to shift the ducks, I noticed a nearby Moorhen in the adjacent field. I just love the feet of of Moorhens!

 

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Newford Ponds

Having returned to base and enjoyed a coffee, I set off for Hugh Town Quay, bumping into Ren Hathway, who I didn't recognise at first in his full Post Office uniform, on the way. A couple of Shags were relatively close in to the quay and fishing. These next two images show the diving style of a Shag. It was now pleasantly warm (11°c) and less windy (17 to 23 mph).

 

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) - Hugh Town Harbour

I then walked round the shore, stepping over the mooring cables, to Town Beach, photographing a couple of Herring Gulls in the bay.

Lack of interesting photographic subjects was getting to be a little frustrating, and I found myself photographing another Herring Gull as I passed along Porthcressas beach before arriving back at base. The images from these last two locations were not worth keeping.

It was dark by the time we finished our evening meal, and we had another relatively early night after a relaxing evening. 

 

Wednesday, 9th March                  Porthcressa ; Lower Moors ; Higher Moors

 

We woke up to strong winds, gusting up to 60 mph, and rain, with both forecast to get worse during the day, making the day a total washout.

 

I braved a walk along Porthcressa sea front at around 10.00 and found my self walking like a drunk with the wind gusts and nearly blown over a couple of times, so cut across to Hugh Town harbour where it was a little less windy. I'd  not taken my camera with me, just binoculars, but saw nothing of interest.

 

Later that morning, I volunteered to do the daily cake run to Becky's Scilly Cakes. This was also a less than pleasant excursion, but totally necessary!

 

I spent some time debating whether to go out birding in the afternoon, thinking that perhaps I could take the buggy to one, or both, of the locations that have hides, and sit in the dry. However, with the wind causing the rain to be horizontal, I'd have been soaked by the time I got there, and the wind would be keeping the birds tucked down.

 

However, I went against my instincts, and took the buggy to Old Town, where I went off into Lower Moors and sat in the ISBG Hide. All I saw was a drake Mallard and, briefly, four Herring Gull,  and it was not worth breaking the camera out of the bag. For my last ten minutes there, there were absolutely no birds visible, so I decided to see if  Higher Moors had more to offer. By the time that I got back to the buggy, I  was well and truly soaked.

 

Arriving at Higher Moors, I set off on the path to Sussex Hide, soon encountering muddy water that was ankle-deep - and I was only wearing walking boots! Undeterred,  I  pressed on, arriving at the hide to find just a Mallard and Moorhen visible through the rain. I didn't stop there for long, and moved on to Seaward Hide, where only Coot and Herring Gull were added to the list and, again, the camera stayed in the bag.

 

I was now cold and wet and it was time to get back to base and have a shower and get into clean dry clothes. 

 

I arrived back to find the best bird of the day awaiting me. Melanie had, in my absence, skilfully crocheted me a bird. I shall treasure it and have named it Blue!

 

'Blue' - by Melanie Pegler

Having spent some time washing the mud from inside my walking shoes, I ended the day without having taken a single photograph! 

 

Thursday, 10th March                   Porthcressa ; Peninnis ; Lower Moors

 

There was a much better day in prospect, with a forecast for sunny intervals, temperatures around 10°c, feels like 6°, and wind speeds of around 25 to 30 mph.

After breakfast, I walked along Littleporth sea front, and was surprised to get a brief view of Grey Wagtail.

 

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) (male) - Littleporth

Black Redstart, Greenshank, Pied Wagtail?, and several Rock Pipits were also seen, plus the resident Wren. I suspect that the wagtail might have been a White Wagtail, however.

 

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Littleporth

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) - Littleporth

Pied Wagtail? (Motacilla alba yarrellii) - Littleporth

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) - Littleporth

Out in the bay, a pair of Shag were resting on a rock.

 

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) -Porthcressa

The sunshine had brought out the bees. I didn't notice it at the time, but this one, on the flowers of Three-cornered Leek, seems to have a major parasite infestation.

 

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)  (queen) - Littleporth

I'd  promised Georgie that if she surfaced early enough in the day, I'd take her to a shop that closed at mid day to buy her some earrings that she'd set her heart on. We made it by about 11.30!

 

After this, I set off to make a round trip to Peninnis Head. As I  passed along Porthcressa beach, I found a very small Portuguese Man O'War washed up on the sand.

 

Portuguese Man O'War (Physalia physalis) - Porthcressa

You may find the following, extracted from the Wildlife Trust's web site, to be of interest.

 

The Portuguese Man O'War is not a jellyfish. It is a colonial hydrozoan, made up of small individual animals called zooids - each with their own specific function, e.g. feeding or breeding. They can't live separately and function together as one "animal". The Potuguese Man O'War lives at the surface of the open ocean, held afloat by a gas-filled bladder. This has a crest like structure at the top which acts as a sail. They can't swim and are at the mercy of the winds - which is why they often end up washed ashore after big storms. They are fearsome predators, catching small fish and crustaceans with their long stinging tentacles. It's these tentacles that you need to watch out for too - they can sting long after the animal has died.

 

I then headed up to Buzza Hill and along to Peninnis. Little was seen en route, or on Peninnis Head, but I could not resist taking some shots of the wonderful rock formations on the head, and the usual Stonechat were around although they kept their distance. 

 

Pulpit Rock - Peninnis

Rocks - Peninnis

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (male) - Peninnis

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (female) - Peninnis

I was also pleased to find a Meadow Pipit on the head.

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) - Peninnis

As I came back along Porthcressa beach, I found another Portuguese Man O' War which was even smaller than the first one.

 

Portuguese Man O'War (Physalia physalis) - Porthcressa

I arrived back at base to find that I'd  been bought a large pork and black pudding sausage roll, and a slice of rich fruit cake, which I had for a rather late lunch. I also found that Lindsay had bought me a beany hat with Puffins and 'Isles of Scilly' embroidered on the front.

 

Later in the afternoon I took the girls off to Old Town so that they could collect sea glass on the beach, and I set off once more to Lower Moors. The wind had increased a little and there was a chill in the air. This time I was lucky and found the Jack Snipe that I'd  been looking for. I would never have spotted it behind the reeds if it wasn't for its continual bobbing motion and I didn't get a clear shot, but it was a delight to watch.

 

Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) - Lower Moors

I had a call from the girls to say that they were ready to be picked up, and this, fortunately coincided with the Jack Snipe disappearing. 

 

 

I'll save the notes on the rest of our stay for a subsequent blog post. In the meantime, take good care of yourself, and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - - Richard

FOR SOME REASON, BLOGGER IS REFUSING TO LET ME RESPOND TO COMMENTS. If it is also preventing you leaving comments, please drop me an email - richard@peglermail.co.uk - thank you.