Scilly - again!!

We enjoyed our spring trip to Scilly so much that it had to repeated, for a late half tem break in the same lovely house (Grenofen at Thomas Porth, St Mary’s). And equally enjoyable it was too. This time Jane Gregory joined us for a few days and of course was great company. It was very much the end of season, with almost nothing open and virtually no visitors. Bliss. The weather was typically Scilly-kind, and generally warm and pleasant. We spent a fabulous day on Tresco in the sunshine, and the image of the kids jumping off the quay into a cold clear sea will live with us for a long time - nuts!

 

Birding was enjoyable too, with the most noticeable thing being the sheer number of birds around. Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests and finches were everywhere, with some lovely bramblings, siskins, a female bullfinch and a couple of flyover hawfinches noteworthy. This was to be the start of an unprecedented year for hawfinches, with a simply enormous invasion to follow. One bird on St Mary's was uncharacteristically tame and showed beautifully on the ground on my last day.

 

 

There were good numbers of yellow-browed warblers with multiple birds every day, but star bird of the week went to a simply superb Radde’s warbler which I was able to enjoy alone and at point blank range.

Firecrest, always stunning



Joe Pender’s more impressive shot of the obliging Radde’s

Autumn elms

Deserted Treaco

I managed to find a little bunting at Porthellick, where the putative Wilson’s snipe hid amongst common snipe. Greenshanks were noticeable and little egrets typically common. The boat trip back from Tresco revealed an adult and juvenile spoonbill on the usual rock near Sampson - I'm sure I've seen them on this rock since the 80’s!

‘Siberian’ oystercatcher. Maybe.

A red-breasted flycatcher was just along the road from the house all week, whilst the garden and adjacent beach held multiple black redstarts too. On nearby Porthloo the sanderlings were a joy to watch (aren’t they always?), and a putative Siberian oystercatcher was present amongst its Eurasian cousins. A Mediterranean gull hung around too, and a couple of late Sandwich terns lingered.

 

All in all a fabulous week, and I’m delighted that Scilly has become a Fearn family place too.