SANDWICH BAY BIRD OBSERVATORY HOLIDAYS The Isles of Scilly 12th – 20th October 2017 ‘The Scillonian’ approaching Hugh Town, St. Mary’s. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday October 12th and Friday October 13th: Sandwich Bay to the Scillies, via Penzance. The Observatory building was especially crowded this evening – a combination of the usual Thursday Club, topped up with all those of us bound for the Scillies. We got our bags loaded at about 9.30 p.m. and, ably driven by Steve and James, drove all the way down to Penzance, with just a couple of ‘comfort-stops’ at Membury and Exeter services. Most people got at least some sleep. Despite leaving 2 hours later than in October 2016, the traffic-free roads meant that we still managed to arrive at Penzance with over two hours to spare before we needed to board ‘The Scillonian’, so we sat in the coach as the dawn broke over Penzance Bay. Needless to say, the first birds of the trip were gulls, in this case Herring 1 Gulls, calling out over the Penzance roof-tops. When boarding time came, it was handled very efficiently by Jackie from The Steamship Company. We then assembled on the aft observation deck and waited until it was time to leave. The bird list soon started to grow, with Common Eider, Northern Gannet, Shag etc. around the harbour and a large juvenile Peregrine did a fly-through. Once on our way along the south coast of the Lands End peninsula, more sea-birds became apparent and between us we recorded Kittiwakes, Guillemots, and several skuas, some of which were certainly Arctic, but one looked different to me – slender, elegant and tern-like with a paler mantle than most skuas – a possible Long-tailed? Some in the group also got onto several Puffins. Further out, beyond Lands End and in much rougher water, a couple of Sooty Shearwaters cruised by and later, nearer the Scillies, a single Balearic Shearwater was recorded. Two Great Skuas (Bonxies) put in their usual dramatic appearance. A single Harbour Porpoise surfaced briefly at one point and Common Dolphin was reported, plus a possible Bottle- nosed. Once arrived at Hugh Town on St. Mary’s we went up to our hotel and got checked in – a process that looked for a brief moment as if it was going to descend into a bit of chaos but which the young front of house staff quickly rose above and sorted out. After a lunch of soup and sandwiches we went for our first walk as a group – through Hugh Town; along Porthcressa Beach; up Buzza Hill; out along the Peninnis track; back down through Old Town Bay; across the Lower Moors Nature Reserve and thence back to the hotel by way of Town Beach. We saw quite a range of birds, but the Peninnis area was fairly wind-blown and bird-free. A nice adult Mediterranean Gull was off Porthcressa Beach and singles of Kingfisher and a Greenshank were in Old Town Bay. A Yellow-browed Warbler was heard calling from willows along the Lower Moors trail and two Grey Wagtails were here also. In the evening, the staggered eating arrangements at the hotel seemed to work well for our large group and when we came to eat, the food was good and it came promptly to the table. An early night followed for most of us. Saturday October 14th: St. Agnes A few stalwart members of the group were up and about around dawn for a walk around The Garrison, behind Hugh Town. They reported back at breakfast with a range of commoner birds seen. After a decent buffet breakfast it was time for all of us to make our way down to the quayside for our first ‘off-island’ trip, across to St. Agnes. It was a grey day for most of the time, with even some light drizzle, but, as always on The Scillies, temperatures remained 2 mild. Once landed on St. Agnes, a block advance booking of lunch-time pasties was made at The Turk’s Head pub before we started to explore further into the island. A few of the group ventured out across the Gugh Bar and later some got wet feet because the tide has come in and covered the sand there. A number of Portuguese Man o’ War jellyfish were washed up on the beach there, along with other jellyfish species, while up on the rocks on the skyline, some Carrion Crows were mobbing one of the local Ravens. We carried on along the lanes towards the centre of the island, marvelling at the range of exotic plants lining our way – Pittosporum trees forming field windbreaks everywhere; there were spectacular (and deadly poisonous) Datura trees in full flower and splashes of colour from the orange Nasturtium plants tumbling over the roadside walls. By this time the group had split up a bit, with some still coming off Gugh, some going on to look for the main bird attraction on the island at the moment, more of which later, and some heading off to the cafe at the Coastguards Cottages. Here there were wonderful views across the south- western side of St. Agnes and out into the Western Approaches, with the lonely tower of the Bishop Rock light away on the horizon to the west. Most of the group assembled in the lane down from the St. Agnes’ lighthouse, to join a largish group of other birders all staring intently across a field to find a rare vagrant to the U.K., which had been identified as a Western Orphean Warbler. The bird looked a bit like a very large Lesser Whitethroat as it clambered about in the Brambles and the Pittosporum. Most members of the group were able to see the bird, sometimes using the telescopes 3 kindly offered by the other birders. Commiserations to those members of our group who did not manage to see it. Things got even better with this bird, however, because a few days later, after we had left the Scillies, better photographs were obtained and it was re- identified as an Eastern Orphean Warbler, a first for Britain. We returned to The Turk’s Head to consume our pasties before walking round the north side of the island, towards Big Pool and Periglis Beach. Good views were had of a number of Rock Pipits scurrying about over the washed-up wrack on a beach, while later a rather fine Peregrine was perched up on some rocks. Here too were several Atlantic Grey Seals, one of them a large bull, all being very inquisitive and coming quite close inshore. From Periglis we walked slowly up towards Troy Town, where the roadside ice cream shop did some good business, and then across the island back to the jetty for collection by the launch back to St. Mary’s. By this time, the late afternoon sun had broken through the grey clouds and was transforming the sea and the land by its brightness and warmth. Comparing notes during and after the evening bird log, we found out about other birds seen by members of the group who had gone off on their own during the day. On St. Agnes, Hawfinches were seen by several different people; a Little Bunting seen by a couple and at least two Yellow-browed Warblers were found. Meanwhile, back on St. Mary’s, other members of the group were finding Isabelline Wheatear on the airfield and American Golden Plover at Porthellick, amongst other things. Sunday October 15th: Tresco, Another grey dawn, but it brightened a little mid-morning before there was a real change in the weather around lunch time. The talk to-day was all about the forecasted on-coming storm ‘Ophelia’ which was due to arrive along the western seaboard of the British Isles on Monday, and the weather did look as if it was on the change during the day, with a heavy mist coming in from the Atlantic by the mid-afternoon. We landed at New Grimsby on Tresco, having gone across in two separate launches, and then dispersed across the island. People in one of the boats saw 4 Mediterranean Gulls and there were over 20 Little Egrets and 200 Shags in the Tresco Channel area. Once on Tresco, the bulk of the group walked down through the time-share and holiday apartment complex which is now such a feature of the island and then skirted round the end of the Great Pool. At the end of the Pool were a number of Greenshanks and Redshanks roosting together at the water’s edge, (a later count reproduced about 40 Greenshanks), while the pasture leading down to the Pool had a number of White Wagtails and a couple of Grey Wagtails present. On the Pool there was a variety of ducks, including several pairs of Gadwall. We continued our walk through the planted woodland which borders the Pool before arriving at Tresco Abbey and, shortly after, the entrance to the world-famous Abbey Gardens. Some of 4 the group paid to go in and have a look round – always interesting, even in mid-October – while the rest of us partook of morning drinks at the Abbey Gardens Cafe. The introduced Red Squirrels provided interest in adjacent trees, while Brown Rats running around the outdoor area of the cafe produced rather different emotions. A European Spoonbill flew over and landed by the side of the Abbey Pool, while other interesting records by different members of the group included 6 Pink-footed Geese, up to 100 Siskins and 9 Golden Pheasants in one group.