Isles of Scilly - Day 4 - Red-rumped Swallow & Red-breasted Flycatcher

 

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Peninis Head Seawatch

A Red-rumped Swallow had been seen on the north of the island the previous evening but I just didn't have the energy for another eight mile round trip so I wandered along Porthcressa, adding Common Gull to trip list, before heading towards the harbour. Just I past the Police station I picked up what I thought was a late or could it be.....Yes it was the Red-rumped Swallow.

One of the locals appeared behind me, so I asked them to put it out on the radios as What's App was down. What a drama...well it was for a few birders. As I edged towards town, the bird appeared again over the Mermaid. It seemed to stay pretty loyal to this area for the rest of my trip.

I bumped into Paul by the dump clump when I had my first Yellow-browed Warbler quickly followed by a Red-breasted Flycatcher sitting out in the sun.

I saw 2 Firecrests just before the rain started, so I headed back to take cover for a late lunch. The rain relented, or so I thought, so I headed up for some sea watching. There was a steady flow of Gannets, 4 Manx Shearwater, 5 Great Shearwater and 2 Sooty Shearwater. For the record, I was drenched again. It's not always sunshine in the Isles of Scilly.

Scillies - Day 5 - Chiffs & a Flycatcher

 

Portuguese man o'war

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Red-breasted Flycatcher

St Marys Harbour

Red Admiral

Painted Lady

Siberian Chiffchaff (Paul Freestone)

A nice day without any superstars is probably the best summary. A Siberian Chiffchaff was singing throughout the day at Lower Moors. I'd previously not heard one sing which was interesting.

I managed to miss the reported Woodlark for the 10th time, it seems to come and go in a particular bulb field, I'd be trying again for sure. At the top of the Sunnyside trail, just up from the Woodlark, I spent an enjoyable forty minutes watching a Red-breasted Flycatcher.

Only other noteable sightings were good numbers of Painted Lady & Red Admirals and a Portuguese man o'war on Porthcressa Beach.

Scilly Season Day 9 - Homeward bound

Great Northern Diver

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Ringed Plover

Unwelcome guest for lunch

Turnstone of beach outside house

Black Redstart

With an afternoon departure myself and the Squire made the most of time available in the hope of finding a last hour superstar. Seven Fieldfares flew over as we reached the highest point of the Garrison before dropping down to the coastal path where I found a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver edging out of Portcressa bay. 

Despite a real grilling we couldn't find anything else so we headed to Lower Moors to re-find the Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Hawfinch, Black Redstart & four Redpolls flying over.

The crossing back home was thankfully very calm but quite bird less until we edged into Cornish waters were sightings included 2 Balearic & a Sooty Shearwater, a flow of Kittiwakes & Auks, 2 Mediterranean Gulls and our final addition was an Arctic Skua flying our of the bay found by Paul, giving the Squire his fifth lifer of the week.

So in terms of a first visit to the Scillies did I achieve what I wanted to ? 

• Go on a mega Scillies Twitch ✓ - The Yellow-billed Cuckoo was a great trip to St Agnes

• See two lifers ✓ - Hopefully so with the Cuckoo & Wilson's Snipe

• Visit all the main islands ✖ - Only walked St Marys, St Agnes & Tresco but did visit the coast of Brhyer & St Martins. 

• Meet new friendly birders ✓ - The house was full of great characters. Many thanks to Paul, Adam, Brad, Jake & the Squire for great company throughout the week.

• Walk 10 miles a day ✓- We certainly did, I may have dipped under that amount the day I wasn't feeling 100%. 

Autumn in Norfolk (Day 3)

Stonechat

Dunlin

 Wheatear

Fungi ?

Just don't mention Holkham

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Alex Berryman)

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Alex Berryman)

Yellow-browed Warbler (Alex Berryman)

Brambling

Warbler hunt continues

Winter Wigeon 

Female Redstart

Determined in make the most of our stay after the previous days near misses we headed to Cley for some sea watching. We certainly managed to add some good birds on to the trip list including a single Black-throated Diver, 20 Red-throated, Slavonian Grebe, 2 Great Skua as well as a good passage of Gannets, Wigeon & Teal.

We then made the short distance to Salthouse where we did a triangular walk through Kelling and then over Grambrough Hill. Whilst the walk started slowly we did pick up Stonechat & Whinchat then 4 Wheatear that were in the stubble field. A Jack Snipe flushed from one of the channels as we approached the Kelling Pools where there were many Meadow Pipits and Chiffchaff that made us look twice.

As we headed down the shingle our second Richards Pipit was seen before heading into cover and a single Dunlin was feeding in one of the flash pools. As we reached the car we received a message from Ben that there was a Red-breasted Flycatcher at Wareham Greens. Thankfully it didn't take a lot of finding and was a super bird to see up above us. As we walked back up there was another Yellow-browded Warbler calling & a female Redstart. The Radde’s alarm then went off again however we diverted to Wells Woods instead as the gates were going to be locked at 6pm.

At Wells there has been a major fall of Golfcrest’s. There seemed to be 4/5 in every single tree. Mixed in with the Goldcrests were good numbers of Chiffchaffs, however hard we tried we couldn’t find a Radde’s or a Greenish Warbler.

Fish & chips was duly dispatched in Wells harbour before heading back home to our Bed & breakfast to sink a bottle of Merlot.

Many thanks to Alex Berryman who kindly forwarded three images for use on the blog.