Isles of Scilly May 9th - 13th

The first of three spring birding holidays saw me head to the south west with an overnight stay in Penzance. Arriving in the late morning and with nothing major to go and see I plumped for a trip to Porthgwarra in the hope of seeing and photographing Red-billed Chough. 

I got onto one bird below the coast guard look out and after brief views it went below a hummock and there would have been no way of getting a photo without flushing the bird, so I was satisfied with views of the head and bill popping up intermittently. After a few minutes the bird took flight and I got a couple of decent flight shots as it flew off firstly and then passed me going in the opposite direction a few minutes later.

Red-billed Chough

As bad luck would have it, I had coincided my visit with a party of school children and numerous students doing some kind of running challenge along the coastal path which made any attempts to photograph the Linnets and Stonechats that were around impossible.

Instead, I headed off the beaten track and had a go at photographing Fulmars.  I managed one decent fly past looking down on the bird and one of a pair that were perched in an alcove of a kind of cliff at the top of a chasm but were level with the path after I had descended a grassy slope. While I was in this spot another Chough landed nearby and I was able to get a perched shot.

                                                          Northern Fulmar

The next day I boarded the Scillonian for four nights on St Mary's. This was only my second trip to Scilly in May after a rarity peppered week in 1994. The journey was very calm but I was kept entertained by up to 75 Manx Shearwaters, the odd Kittiwake and Gannet.

                                                            Manx Shearwatwers

There were no biggies to go for but hearing that a Golden Oriole had been heard calling at Carreg Dhu gardens, I headed in that direction but there was no sight nor sound and reports indicated it was a very elusive bird, singing briefly and infrequently. A message about a Ring Ouzel at Salakee sounded more promising, so I cut down to Parting Carn and was soon at the appointed field where the bird was feeding. The thrush was at the far end with the sun behind it and the views were rubbish. I calculated that I could walk along the tall edge and sneak up on the bird without flushing it. On the late side for a Ring Ouzel, a very attractive bird.

                                                                            Ring Ouzel

I headed back to Longstones for tea and cake.  I thought I would have a punt on the coffee and walnut cake. I am often underwhelmed by this particular bake as places often merely wave the coffee jar in the general direction of the mixture but happily, this had a full octane flavour of coffee.

As I was finishing my refreshments, news came through of three Turtle Doves at Sunnyside Farm, only 10 minutes walk away. I arrived at the field, which contained three circular cattle feeders and located the birds half way up the field. These were joined by a fourth bird and I managed a record shot of three doves together. Sadly this is a rare event. I haven't seen more than one Turtle Dove in the UK for over 30 years!  As I was watching the doves, some commotion with a couple of corvids attracted my attention to a much larger bird and I was delighted to see an Osprey.  I got the other people with me on to the bird and put it out on WhatsApp immediately. It never came close enough for even a record shot as it looped round and headed north west, although Kris Webb got on to the bird over Pelistry and managed a decent shot.

                                                                         Turtle Doves

                                                                            Osprey (Kris Webb)

In the evening I had a walk down to Porthloo beach on the off chance that there would be a decent wader. On arriving I saw a Whimbrel really close to the path and got a few nice photos. The bird was joined by two others although these remained around the shoreline. There was also a Curlew for comparison and a single Oystercatcher.

Whimbrel

                                                                            Oystercatcher

                                                                         Curlew

The following day I caught a boat to Tresco in the hope of seeing a drake Garganey and a pair of Scaup.  I had limited success although Tresco was a joy to walk around bathed in sunshine. The Garganey eluded me and the drake Scaup had gone but I did get a shot of the female Scaup and I tried my hand at a Sand Martin, which are tricky to capture in flight. 

                                                                              Greater Scaup

                                                                               Sand Martin

                                                                           Shoveler

                                                                    Common Pheasant

On day three news came through of a drake Garganey at Porth Hellick. I went their directly to find the bird asleep at the back of the pool. However after an hour, during which time I added Raven and Common Snipe to the trip list, the Garganey swam much closer and gave excellent views.

Garganey

                                                                     Common Shelduck

The winds having turned round to the west meant it was very quiet on the islands for migrants. It was lovely to be on the Isles of Scilly but for most of the time I was walking around seeing common birds and looking for something to make a nice photo. Just such an image was a female Great Black-backed Gull below the Atlantic pub in the evening light.

                                                                  Great Black-backed Gull

On day four in an effort to see something different, I boarded a boat for the northern isles. I saw two distant Great Northern Divers en route and the boat came to a halt at the island of Mincarlo, where I had fantastic views of the auks.

Atlantic Puffin

                                                                    Common Guillemot

Razorbill

I had tea and biscuits with friends in the afternoon but this was interrupted by news or another or the same Golden Oriole at Lower Moors. This too failed to give a peep or show itself. However, news of a Black-tailed Godwit at Porth Hellick was worth a walk and I made a bee line for the Sussex Hide where the Godwit and the drake Garganey were both present.

Black-tailed Godwit

I had a walk back to Hugh Town via Giant's Castle and Old Town. There wasn't much doing apart from a couple of skittish Northern Wheatears, a Stonechat and a male Blackbird with a particularly vivid orange bill and orbital ring.

Stonechat

Blackbird

Later, after dinner I had another evening walk and photographed a Stonechat in the last light of the day on the beach behind the Atlantic.

Turnstone

There was nothing new to look at on my last day, so I had a walk to Peninnis, via King Edward's Road.  Half way along I came across a puddle where a couple of Swallows were pausing to drink.  Sitting on the ground with my back to the hedge, I waited to see if the Swallows would come back. Despite the unwitting efforts and general ignorance of the general public to thwart my attempts to photograph birds visiting the puddle, I got some nice shots. 

Goldfinch

Linnet

Barn Swallow

I finished my walk cutting down through Old Town and Lower Moors onto Rosehill and Porthloo Lane. By the duck pond a Reed Warbler was singing and popped into view long enough for me to get a couple of nice photos. Remarkable in that the many birds I had heard in my trip had remained resolutely hidden in the reeds.

Reed Warbler

I headed down to the harbour for my ship after five days of birding. A week earlier or a week later I would have dropped onto some nice rarities but that's the way it goes and personal circumstances means I can't have longer holidays at the moment and the shorter breaks makes coinciding with rare birds harder.