The last time we went to the Scillies was back in 2016 which was a very quiet year on the islands for the week we were there on the birds front. So much so that I decided to abandon going there and opted for the Shetlands instead in 2017. The draw to Islands however is strong and we decided to book again this year to give them another chance.
As news broke about the Grey Catbird in Cornwall I worked out that there would be a lack of time to go and see it before our sailing on Friday and therefore performed some juggling and in the end managed to arrange to go and see it on Thursday instead. After waiting a couple of hours it came out of cover just before dusk and performed nicely to the 50 twitchers present - A good start to the trip - Maybe Scillies would be paying me back what it owed me after all.....
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| Grey Catbird |
The trip over to the islands on Friday morning was pleasant with a dead calm sea which didn't produce many birds except for a few Guillemots, 2 Razorbill, 1 Manx Shearwater, 1 Great Skua and lots of Gannets. However, it was good for the prevention of sea sickness and we did instead have good views of Dolphin, some Harbour Porpoise, a Minke Whale and several Tuna (presumably Blue-Finned). As we landed, we received news that a Red-Eyed Vireo had been seen on Bryher, so I left my Birder's Wife and Companions for the extra boat scheduled for birders to go and see the bird. I was in so much of a hurry that I forgot my camera....so the picture of the bird below is even worse than normal. Fortunately the bird performed well for the crowd of admirers.
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| Red-Eyed Vireo Twitch |
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| Red-Eyed Vireo naff photo through bins using my phone |
The following day we decided to go to over to St Agnes and I again left my Birder's Wife and Companions to go stake out the very elusive Grey-Cheeked Thrush in Covean. After 2.5 hours of absolutely nothing besides the back of a Boat Shed, I met the others for lunch at the Turks Head before going back to the Boat Shed for another stint. I know I should never have had the pint at lunch, as the bird decided to appear to one other birder present when I had decided to abandon my post for a wee - Not the best of days.
However, the following day I went back to St Agnes and we scored the bird after just 15 minutes of waiting. Result!
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| Not a wise choice when waiting for a bird to appear |
The rest of that day was spent walking round St Agnes taking in the beautiful scenery and some Troon Ice Cream while securing a Melodious Warbler and a Red Backed Shrike - Quality birding on a quality Island.
