Tuesday 30 October 2012

Scillies 2012 Trip Report - Final Installment

Pretty much it with the Scillies for 2012. Not as good as the two visits from 2011, but then that was sort of expected, the weather just didn't deliver. Though can't complain with some of what we did see.

Just saw that I forgot to add the pictures of some Snipe that we had, and also some images of an 'interesting' Lesser Black-backed Gull that we came across. If anyone has any thoughts please drop me a note! In the field, the bird had fairly long-looking primaries and a fairly thin-looking long bill. We also saw a fairly cool Stick Insect!

One of the good things from this trip to the Scillies was catching up with some familiar faces. One such 'familiar face' was Richard Thewlis. It was great to catch up with Richard. Dave and I had met him here last year. Richard is a great artist and it was a pleasure being able to watch him at work on the American Golden Plover and many of the other birds on St Mary's.  I'd highly recommend checking out Richard's Blog: 'Sketches from the field' to catch his work. Many of the birds that Dave and I enjoyed last year are fantastically painted and adorn the pages of the 2011 Scillies bird report too. October 2011 looks full of great birds in Richard's sketch book, with Solitary Sandpiper, Northern Waterthrush, Sandhill Crane and Siberian Rubythroat!! I'm looking forward to seeing what Richard got after we left!

Stick Insect © Andy Walker 2012

Moorhen 2012 Andy Walker 2012

Spotted Flycatcher © Andy Walker 2012

Snipe © Andy Walker 2012

Snipe © Andy Walker 2012

Snipe © Andy Walker 2012

Snipe © Andy Walker 2012

Snipe © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

'Lesser Black-backed Gull' © Andy Walker 2012

Monday 29 October 2012

Scillies 2012 Trip Report - Part 4 The Best of the Rest..

The Hume's/Mandell's Warbler (or whatever it is) was probably the highlight on St Mary's (discounting the Solitary Sandpiper that flew over from Bryher to Old Town that we saw a couple of times).  Other birds we connected with included a very obliging juvenile American Golden Plover, Short-toed Lark and three Ring-necked Ducks (First winter drake and 2 first winter females), one or two Red-breasted Flycatcher (see below),

American Golden Plover © Andy Walker 2012 

American Golden Plover © Andy Walker 2012

American Golden Plover © Andy Walker 2012

American Golden Plover © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Short-toed Lark © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Short-toed Lark © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Ring-necked Duck © Andy Walker 2012

Red-breasted Flycatcher © Andy Walker 2012

Red-breasted Flycatcher © Andy Walker 2012

Red-breasted Flycatcher © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Red-breasted Flycatcher © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Others that we connected with included several Yellow-browed Warblers, Black Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Short-eared Owl, Great Northern Diver, Sabine's Gull, Sooty Shearwater, Manx Shearwater, Pale-bellied Brent Goose, Firecrest and some showy Snipe.

Black Redstart © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Ring Ouzel © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Ring Ouzel © Andy Walker 2012 (phone)

Sunday 28 October 2012

Scillies 2012 Trip Report - Part 3 St Mary's (Hume's/Mandell's Warbler)

The majority of out first two days were spent on Bryher.  The rest of our time on Scillies was spent on St Mary's where we walked miles and miles and then some, generally with fairly little reward though we did see some nice birds, and some interesting ones that will require some further investigation (think warblers and gulls!). Met some familiar faces too, which is also one of the things I like about the place and I'll expand on later.

Highlights from our time on St Mary's included an interesting Hume's Warbler. It looked a bit like a Yellow-browed Warbler but didn't sound like one. It didn't look like the 'typical' Hume's Warblers I've seen on the East Coast. The first few days we saw it, it didn't sound like a typical Hume's Warbler, it was giving a call I've not heard before, then on the third day it continued with this call but threw in a few more typical Hume's Warbler calls (and went crazy to Humes tape)! Whilst in the log at the Scillonian Ralph (one of the Scilly birders) brought in some communication he'd had with some contacts in Thailand regarding the potential that this bird may represent Eastern Hume's Warbler Phylloscopus humei mandellii - Mandell's Leaf Warbler. The in-hand pictures from ringing looked very close to 'our' bird and a sound recording of mandellii sounded a lot like the calls I was not familiar with. I think the Sound Approach guys got some sound recording so it will be interesting to see what the outcome of this bird is, but it certainly raises several questions, like can you tick a Yellow-browed Warbler if it doesn't call.... I got the following pictures of the bird. One of the questions was 'could we get Mandell's Warbler over here?' Well I guess after having Pale-legged Leaf Warbler turn up last week there probably is a chance!

Hume's Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Hume's Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Hume's Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Hume's Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Hume's Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Will post some of the best of the rest in the next couple of days so please pop back and have a look!

Saturday 27 October 2012

Scillies 2012 Trip Report - Part 2 Bryher

After the distraction of some East Coast birding this week I'll carry on with my Scillies Trip Report.  I posted Part 1 a few days back: Part 1: The Journey South (excellent views of Paddyfield Warbler). Here is Part 2:

Uncle Albert and I had a few ciders in the Youth Hostel on Friday night as we were expecting a nice relaxing 15 minute flight to St Mary's, however when we got up the next morning to find that the flight had been cancelled due to 'waterlogged airfield' (!) the fear set in... 3 hours on the boat! Ouch! The crossing was generally OK, the middle was a bit rough and it was birdless! A few sausage sandwiches were consumed to soak up the cider and I was relieved to reach dry land!

Fortunately/Unfortunately while on the Scillonian news came out that the Blackpoll Warbler and Solitary Sandpiper were still on Bryher. That meant one thing... another boat ride!  We ditched our bags in the harbour, jumped into another boat and shot across to Bryher where we spent the afternoon dipping the Blackpoll Warbler and dodging the heavy showers.  On the plus side we did score with the Solitary Sandpiper on the muck heap. This bird was showing almost as well as the bird we had at the Dump Clump on St Mary's last year so it was at least nice to see that well. We also saw a Hooded Crow and some Pink-footed Geese.

The next day there was only one thing to do, hop back onto another boat and head back to Bryher! Thankfully we had a bit more luck on this visit as after a little over 20 minutes back on the island we were enjoying excellent views of the (very bright) bird as it fed out in the open in the sun. It was a little too far for my camera but I managed a couple of record shots. This was the first time in 4 days that it had actually showed to more than a few people. After our visit over the following days it apparently showed really well, even coming out onto the beach! We also had some Whooper Swan and a Spoonbill. Was good to meet Scilly Spider here too. A bit disappointed we didn't catch up with the Irish Coal Tits though.

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Solitary Sandpiper © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Blackpoll Warbler © Andy Walker 2012

Spoonbill © Andy Walker 2012