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