Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Friday 8th October - Sunday 17th October

The week before our trip was spent with anticipation and everlasting hope that the winds might change. For the best birds, Scilly needs the occasional storm front which originates in America blowing strongly across the Atlantic to arrive at our shores and then helpfully interspersed with some Easterly and Southerly airflows all originating far East and far South, indeed mixed weather is ideal to produce excellent autumn birding. Instead what we've had is an unrelenting strong NW wind originating somewhere around Iceland that has been gradually nudged out of the way by a high pressure zone which centres off the Irish coast..... perhaps this can be appropriately termed the Scilly birding doldrums, great for tourists and in-fact we experienced the equivalent of a dreamy Mediterranean holiday with warm weather plenty of sun, little wind and clear skies.

Before our arrival, there had been one or two interesting birds on the islands such as the Balearic Woodchat Shrike, that had lingered for over 3 weeks and we were anticipating picking these off after landing, but they duly departed before we got a chance, with the last sighting all seemed to be on Thursday.

However, Ian, Gary, Chris and I were undeterred and gathered with enthusiasm on Friday morning at my house for the drive to Penzance. A full tank of fuel was importantly in place with the continuing fuel shortages still existing. My excitement heightened on the morning as I had 3 Redwing flyover when I was waiting for the others to arrive, my first of the autumn.

The journey was fairly relaxed, we had half a plan to head to the Salcombe peninsula to try and see a Red-eyed Vireo which had been found yesterday, but on reaching Exeter, negative news had come through so we continued as far as Bodmin before stopping at Dozmery Pool. Shortly after getting out of the car Gary spotted a male Hen Harrier gliding over the far side of the lake, a top sighting on any day and the Ring-necked Duck was easily found with some Tufted Duck we also added Raven and a flock of c300 Golden Plover were nearby.

We went the short distance to Siblyback reservoir where a Grey Phalarope had been seen the previous day, which there was no sign but we added Kingfisher, and 3 Wheatear. We had enough time to visit a Cornish valley on the West coast before light faded and opted for Cot Valley. It was quiet, but we did see Chough, Merlin, Stonechat, Rock Pipit, Firecrest, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

We spent the night in the Premier Inn at the harbour and had a decent meal in a local pub and were up early and down to the quay for the Ferry crossing to St Mary's

The crossing was calm but reasonably active for birds, with another Merlin seen before we got on the boat and then 2 Balearic and 8 Manx Shearwaters, a Peregrine, a few Razorbill, Guillemot, Gannet and a Sandwich Tern and a coupe of pods of Common Dolphin and Harbour Porpoise. We arrived around midday and adopted the same routine as last year to do a food shop in the Co-op and cart our bags to the accommodation, settled in, then went for a walk in the afternoon around the centre of St Mary's. There had been very little reported, even the reliable Turtle Dove seemed to have gone and our highlight was a Pied Flycatcher.

Sunday 10th

With nothing specific being reported that we wanted to see first, we decided to visit St Martin's, the one island we did not visit last year. Before the boat left the quay at St Mary's we had a quick walk on the Garrison and had a surprise Dotterel flyover and head towards the north of the Island. On St Martin's we did see a Little Bunting, Whinchat, Wheatear, Stonechat, Blackcap but no sign of a Common Rosefinch that we spent a while looking for in a bulb field. On returning to St Mary's we wandered down to Lower Moors and the best bird we saw was a Jack Snipe which ended a fairly quiet day.

Monday 11th

We opted to visit Tresco this morning, as an American Golden Plover had been present on Castle Down with 3 Dotterel and was probably the only decent option. On arriving, we headed straight up to Castle Down with a number of other birders and had a surprise when the distinctive call of a Red-throated Pipit was heard as the bird flew over our heads and settled somewhere on the Down a few hundred metres away, there were lots of Meadow Pipits and despite some hopeful shouts of finding the bird on the deck we only saw a number of pale and streaky looking Meadow Pipits. The Great Pool held a few wildfowl we added to our trip list, and a new trip bird included Spotted Redshank and another Jack Snipe was at the edge of the pool. News of Red-breasted Flycatcher being found a few hundred metres along the path had us in a brief scramble, we all eventually got views of the flycatcher but it was pretty awkward and stayed well hidden in the Sallow scrub. We returned to St Mary's on the later boat and then went down to the local Porthloo beach where 3 Black Redstarts were giving good views.

Tuesday 12th

Another quiet day where we remained on St Mary's all day, it started with a wander through to Lower Moors where we had good views of Jack Snipe, Common Snipe and Water Rail. We weren't far from where a Serin had been seen a Parting Carn and as we joined the crowd we had brief views of the Serin before it flew up to alight briefly in a tree before flying away. We then walked toward Longstones where a Rustic Bunting had been seen feeding at the back of a field with Linnets. It eventually showed but the views were disappointingly distant and we didn't have a scope between us. Another Black Redstart was in the same area. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the island but added very little.

Wed 13th

St Mary's all day on what was probably our quietest birding day, with the highlight being probably my best ever views of a Merlin, which brushed past me in a low swoop then landed on a close rock and remained perched for a few minutes in perfect light. The bonus was the weather continued to be glorious so being out was a pleasure despite the lack of birds.

Thurs 14th

Hope ensued today with a slight change in winds and after a Bluethroat which had been seen yesterday afternoon on Bryher and an early boat had been put on this morning, it was with little difficulty we agreed to visit Bryher this morning.

On the crossing we added the islands only Pale bellied Brent Geese and on arrival it was clear there had been a decent fall of Redwing, we added to the geese with 2 Pink-footed Geese on Bryher Pool, but as we arrived near Gweal Hill there had been no sign of the Bluethroat. A Wryneck had also been seen nearby, which had also gone to ground. After waiting a while for the Wryneck not to appear we walked over to the area where Bluethroat was last seen, and after around 30 minutes there was a brief sighting on a cliff-edge path. We positioned ourselves and waited, unbelievably the Bluethroat popped onto path right next to us and gave great views. We walked back to where the Wryneck had been seen and eventually it gave decent but brief views, our luck was changing !

Gary and I went for coffee and cake leaving Ian and Chris to navigate the South of the island. We walked around the old campsite area where there were plenty of Redwings, Siskin and Chaffinch moving plus we found a Common Redstart and Common Whitethroat (our only ones of the trip).

We met Ian and Chris back near the boats and decided to hop off the St Mary's return boat at Tresco as a Red-rumped Swallow had been seen at the Old Town Bay and we worked out we would have just enough time to try for this bird then walk to the southern point where the last boat back to St Mary's would be departing. The route-march to Old Town bay had us stopping briefly, a Yellow-browed Warbler called and showed in a Sycamore above the path which was our only one of the trip (and my only one this autumn !). Unfortunately, on arriving in Old Town we discovered the Swallow had already continued its journey and flown to St Martins, so we walked quickly to the Southern end of Tresco arriving just in time for the returning boat adding a Yellow Wagtail to the trip list on the way.

Back at base on St Mary's we had almost decided the day had ended but instead worked out we could just about make it to Toll's Porth before light went, a very brisk walk along the coast had us at Toll's Porth in about 35 minutes and there was just sufficient time and light for all of us to eventually get a scope view of the Spotted Sandpiper which was playing hide and seek in the rocks on the shoreline. A slower stroll back had us arriving at base in the dark but ended an excellent day which was definitely our highlight of the week.

Friday 15th

Report of a Radde's Warbler and Common Rosefinch on the Garrison edge of town, saw us head there first thing, not surprisingly neither were visible, our walk around the Garrison produced very little other than a few Blackcaps near the scout hut and we decided to try and find a Snow Bunting which had been seen on rocks from a boat on the path back to town, but yet again a Snow Bunting eluded us. Undeterred by our lack of success in the morning, reports of a Red-rumped Swallow near Port Hellick had us marching in that direction. We spent quite a while trying to scan over the pool and reedbeds from quite a distance back on the road and had some very unsatisfactory views of the swallow. Eventually we persuaded ourselves to relocate to the beach and on arrival ended with quite prolonged and excellent views of the Red-rumped Swallow which was hawking with a group of Barn Swallows and House Martins. The other highlight was a Monarch Butterfly which flew over our heads whilst we were Swallow watching.

Saturday 16th

Our final morning on the islands and the weather remained the same. We decamped from the apartment and took our bags to the quay, then had a few hours birding before queuing for the Ferry. We walked to the Newford Duckpond, which was hosting a typically skulky but vocal Dusky Warbler which after a short wait at least offered views, then a bit of circling back on ourselves and we were looking at a Red- backed Shrike on some gorse at the back of a field. We spent a short while in Carag Dhu gardens with only Siskins to view and a spot of lunch at the Longstone cafe before finally back to the boat.

The Ferry crossing was once again calm and we lucked in with 2 Purple Sandpipers which felw close to the boat and a Sooty Shearwater. Arriving on the dark we drove to Hayle for an overnight in the Premier Inn.

Sunday 17th

A quick visit to the Hayle Estuary was in order before we headed home and after a bit of a wait and a lot of scanning we found the Semi-palmated Sandpiper which had been present in the area for a few days, which was a great way to end the trip.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable week, once again the accommodation was excellent, we ate well and had a few laughs and the weather was astonishingly cam, hot and sunny. As for the birds, well we didn't have a big one, but I ended up with a trip list of 122 with just over 100 seen on the islands and a good list of scarce birds. The notable difference which has been a reflection of autumn everywhere is just the general lack of migrants and it certainly felt in the early part of the week that we were struggling to find much until we got to Thursday when it picked up, but I am sure I will be back for another autumn visit.