Tuesday 7 May 2019

Spring trip to the Isles of Scilly April 4th until May 2nd.

 Eastern Subalpine Warbler one of the highlights of Kerry and my honeymoon on the magical Isles of Scilly .
 Male Redstart ,St Martins.
 This Night Heron showed well for a while on St Marys at Old Town.
 As above.
 Male Pied flycatcher .
 A very interesting Yellow Wagtail on Bryher on the 19th ,hopefully put some more pictures of it on  soon when i,ve had time to have a proper look.
 Male Woodchat Shrike ,we actually had it singing for a few minutes ,Bryher.
 One of the two Cattle Egrets on Tresco coming in to breeding plumage.
 Yellow Wagtail.
 Yellow Wagtail possibly Flava type.
 Eastern Subalpine Warbler showed very well on the 20th.Cracking bird.
 As above .
 As above.
 As above.
 As above.
 Swallows were nest building on Bryher by the 22nd.
 On the 22nd we treated ourselves  to a nights stay at the Hells Bay Hotel on Bryher ,it turned out to be a good decision as the next morning there was a big fall of common and scarce migrants ,including Lesser Whitethroat ,Whinchat,Cuckoo,7 Whitethroat ,5 Pied Flycatcher,Spotted Flycatcher,4 Tree Pipit,3 Garden Warbler,4 Sedge Warbler,5 Grasshopper Warbler,2 Turtle Dove and many Willow Warbler ,Blackcaps and Wheatears. The bird above is a Tree Pipit.
 Tree Pipit .
 Male Pied Flycatcher.
 Female Pied Flycatcher.
 As above.
 Male Wheatear.
 Grasshopper Warbler.
 As i was  walking back for breakfast this superb male Whinchat landed in a bush next to me,as you can imagine i wolfed it down and got back out there it was dripping with migrants everywhere.
 Lesser Whitethroat.
 A few more Tee Pipits had arrived.
 This vocal Cuckoo gave us brief views always great to see.
 I managed to get a better shot of the Whinchat later in the day as it settled next to the pool.
 Willow Warbler one of many that arrived that day.
 This stunning male Wood Warbler was singing at Carreg Dhu gardens on the 25th also present there were 2 Pied Flycatchers and a Garden Warbler.
 Wood Warbler.
 Wood Warbler my favorite pic of the trip.
 Female Pied Flycatcher.
 Garden Warbler with missing tail feathers.
 Escaped Godlewskis Bunting ,initially thought to be a Mega Rock Bunting it soon became clear after images were taken that it had a ring on and in fact was an escapee.How elation can turn to despair in a matter of moments.
 Male Linnet in resplendent breeding plumage.
 We found at least 3 Garden Warbler on the 23rd on Bryher.
 Garden Warbler.
 The male Woodchat Shrike had moved to the camp site and landed on the volleyball net in front of us to provide some more photo opportunities .

 There were a fair few Golden Plover roaming the Islands during the month with one flock reaching 30 plus ,some were looking really smart turning into summer plumage .

 One of a few Puffins we had on a boat trip around Annet we also saw a Marsh Harrier over the island.
 Presumed Ashy Headed Wagtail.
 Male Blue Headed Wagtail which dropped into the same field as the presumed Ashy Headed.
 News broke early morning on our last day that Jim had trapped a Savis Warbler at Porthellick ,it was great to see but not the same seeing it in the hand ,at least i got to see it flicking around some brambles a few minutes later if only briefly.
What better way to finish the trip on our final walk before catching the boat home than having this Turtle Dove fly past us at Higher Moors.Other good birds we saw included Montagus Harrier ,Rough Legged Buzzard and Hobby to name but a few.

1 comment:

  1. What a cracking honeymoon. Some awesome birds there. Eastern, very nice!! What a day on Bryher. Wish I was there. Migrants dripping off trees. Those Flava look interesting. Integrades?!?! Top Girl finding Red rump. Savi, RLB all great Scilly ticks.
    Can u thank The Lad for an array of truly brilliant shots. He was on top form out there again. How did he get that Eastern shot!! Class! !

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