Scillies 2017 - Day 5 ( well two hours of day 5 ) - Keep quiet in the roads

Always a sad day, the one when you are leaving Scilly …..

It could not have been more different to yday, not a breath of wind and a patchy blue sky, birds were everywhere, and the first bird I set eyes on was the male Black Redstart on the roof of the garage outside the house window. 1 Chiffchaff was in the Pittosporum hedges below the house, a quick check of the Bants Carn area revealed 2 Chaffinches, 2 Goldcrest’s, 1 Stonechat and 2 Meadow Pipits.

View of my home for last 3 nights - Standing Stones

A 1^st year Northern Wheatear shot past me as I walked out onto the golf course, but nothing else was doing up there.

A Mute Swan swimming in the roads (the patch of sea between St Mary’s and Tresco was unexpected and with that, I headed back to the house to wait for the taxi to the airport.

* Please note that this is the same bird that eventually moved to the Big Pool on Bryher - it was a tad more distant when i saw it :-) c Phil Lymbery

Phil and Helen are off to Bryher today and took a lift in the taxi, dropping me off to the Airport , although sad to say goodbye , sure I will be seeing them both again soon – Phil is the CEO of Compassion in World Farming and has written two ground breaking books , please read them. https://www.ciwf.org.uk/philip-lymbery/books/ Helen is a wonderful cook ( even if she tells you she isn’t ! ) and Duke is awesome. Phil's excellent pictures will also grace these log pages when i get home and upload them ! 

But it wasn’t all over for the birds, one last find before the plane, another Black Redstart on the roof of the Terminal building

So, not quite the American fest I had hoped it would be, but some great experiences, friendships renewed and the best scenery on the planet, and the Birds were not too bad either for a 4 day stopover J

Western Orphean Warbler

Isabelline Wheatear

“Probable” Wilsons Snipe  

American Golden Plover

Little Bunting

4 Hawfinches

3 Yellow Browed Warblers ( 2 found)

2 Firecrest’s

2 Spoonbill

2 Pale Bellied Brent Geese

Lapland Bunting

Storm Petrel

Leach’s Storm Petrel

2 Peregrine

4 Black Redstarts  

Cannot wait to get back next year!