Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly - 17th - 22nd October

It has been a long time since we had visited our cottage in Cornwall and so we had booked a long weekend away in Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly. Due to work commitments we had to reduce our time in Cornwall and so we eventually only had one full day. We headed down on 17th and spent the afternoon and evening relaxing. On 18th the weather was foul but as it was my only birding morning on mainland Cornwall I headed out at first light and spent 1.5 hours seawatching at Pendeen in a F7 westerly with some heavy squally showers. There were many Gannet, Razorbill and Guillemot passing plus smaller numbers of Kittiwake. Highlights were four Arctic Tern, a single Sooty Shearwater, two Balearic Shearwater, three Manx Shearwater, four Dunlin and a Merlin which zipped westwards. News broke of a first year Subalpine Warbler at Cot Valley and I decided to have a quick look for it. The bird was in the bracken and scrub above the Youth Hostel and in the strong winds and heavy rain it was pretty hopeless and all I managed was a brief flight view of the bird as it flicked between two Hawthorn bushes.

On 19th we were up at 06:30, tidied the cottage and were on our way to Lands End airport for our 09:30 flight to St. Mary's. Arriving on Scilly at 09:50 on a beautiful sunny day we checked into the Star Castle Hotel and then headed out. We wandered out to Old Town Churchyard and spent some time here where the only birds were three Goldcrest and two Blackcap. There was no sign of the long staying Red-backed Shrike. We then headed through Lower Moors, a couple Yellow-browed Warbler called, the hide was devoid of birds and the long staying and confiding Spotted Crake did not show. After a relaxing lunch in Juliet's Cafe we headed out to Holy Vale where there were three Yellow-browed Warbler and then to Porth Hellick pool where there were eight Common Teal and 11 Snipe but no sign of the long staying Blue-winged Teal. It was now 15:45 and so we decided to head back to the Star Castle. A stop at Lower Moors produced a very brief view of the Spotted Crake and a single Water Rail which had just chased the crake away. It had been a slow start to our time on the islands but its always good to be back here.

Cot Valley as we flew from Land's End to Isles of Scilly

Grey Heron - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Porthellick Pool, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

On 20th we headed over to St. Martin's and walked along the back of Par Beach before cutting up to the Day Mark and then headed back down to the road before walking along the spine of the island to the Karma Hotel in the west of the island where we had lunch. Birding was fairly slow going but there were large numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare with around 250 of the former and 50 of the latter. A Firecrest and two Yellow-browed Warbler were in the Middle Town area, a male Merlin on Chapel Down and two Stonechat. We caught the 15:30 back from St. Martin's and on arrival on St. Mary's we headed up to Lower Moors where the Spotted Crake was showing well as it preened in the boggy woodland at the Rosehill end of the trail. We watched the bird for a few minutes before it slipped away into the flooded woodland once again. We then headed to Porthloo Beach where there were around 45 Oystercatcher and a single Northern Wheatear. The main thing I wanted to see here was Portuguese Man' O War of which we soon came across five beached animals, although most were now bleached and colourless, one had retained its bright blue and pink colours. These strange creatures, dubbed locally as 'Purple Pasties', are not true jellyfish (which are single organisms) but a siphonophore, which is a colonial organism made up of many specialised animals (polyps) of the same species.

Greenfinch - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Oystercatcher - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

View to north-west over St. Martin's from the Day Mark with White Island to the right

Redwing and Fieldfare - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Dark Common Pheasant, these seem to be the common form present on St. Martin's - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Redwing - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Northern Wheatear - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Portuguese Man O' War - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

On 21st we caught the boat across to St. Agne's, one of my favourite of all islands, and wandered out to Wingletang Down via the Gugh Bar and back down Barnaby Lane. It seemed fairly quiet and the highlights were two Swallow, a single Northern Wheatear, Chiffchaff and two Stonechat as well as moderate numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare. At the top end of Barnaby Lane 'pishing' into the elms produced a Goldcrest and a single Yellow-browed Warbler. We then dropped down through Middle Town to Porth Cloose where a Spotted Sandpiper showed well as it fed along the strandline seaweed mounds. After lunch at the Turks Head we were on the 14:15 ferry back to St. Mary's and enjoyed a wander around the Garrison where eventually the Blue Rock Thrush showed fairly well but a little distantly as it fed on the beach at Morning Point. This bird has been present since 22nd September and is my second in the UK after the Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire bird on 3rd February 2017. There was little else to be seen and so by 17:00 we were tucked up in the Atlantic with a pint.

Yellow-browed Warbler - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Blue Rock Thrush - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly 

Blue Rock Thrush - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Blue Rock Thrush - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

View of St. Agnes from the Garrison, St. Mary's with the Scillonian

The 22nd was our final day and after breakfast we had a walk around the pines, campsite and Woolpack area of the Garrison where there were small numbers of Redwing, three fly-over Brambling, a couple of Goldcrest and a Chiffchaff. Spider collected us at 10:40 for our 11:40 flight and we stopped in Old Town where a New Zealand Spiny Stick Insect had been seen yesterday and after a bit of searching we found this superb 15cm insect dangling from a Pittosporum. Our flight was delayed by 50 minutes but our crossing was very smooth and the sea flat calm allowing us to see around 20 Common Dolphin from the air. We landed at Land's End at 12:45 and were home by 18:00.

New Zealand Spiny Stick Insect Micrarchus hystricuelus - Old Town, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Cotswold Birding - 3rd February

The 3rd February found me heading up to the Cotswolds for a relaxing weekend but I couldn't resist some birding en-route. First stop was for four redhead and a male Smew that had been present for a few days on Pit 29 of the Cotswold Water Park. Arriving at around 11:00 I was fairly optimistic that these birds would give themselves up quickly so setting up my scope I was disappointed when the first scan produced no-sign of them - 25 Tufted Duck, three Red-crested Pochard and five Great-crested Grebe were the highlights. I walked from the southern end of the pit to the northern end scanning all the way across both Pit 29 and 35 and then eventually Pit 38 but there was no sign of the Smew. I decided to cut my losses and head off before the rain forecast for the afternoon set-in.

I headed for Stow-on-the-Wold just as news broke of the continued presence of the Blue Rock Thrush and just as the heavens opened. A 45 minute drive through persistent rain did not bode well. I arrived at Fisher's Close but there was no sign of the bird so I wandered to Maugersbury Park where I quickly located the bird on the roof of number 9. I watched the bird for around 30 minutes, it seemed to favour perching on the solar panels on the roof of the property. In this dull light and rain the plumage looked largely slate grey with perhaps a slight bluish tinge. On one occasion the bird dropped down to eye level when the blue plumage tones were more evident.

First identified on 27th December 2016 but by then already present for a week this bird seems to be in an unlikely location for a genuine bird. However, it is hard to believe that such a scarce bird in captivity would not support rings, even commonly kept species such as Budgerigars and Zebra Finch are usually ringed - and why has no one claimed it as their lost bird? The bird seems to have a slightly drooping left wing and some feather wear but such features are commonly seen in wild birds also.  DNA analysis has indicated that the bird is of one of the southern European or North African subspecies either the nominate subspecies or longirostris. I would have thought that most of the captive birds would be of Asian origin where trapping for the cage bird trade is more common place. While its geographical location and rather odd choice of a housing estate would not seem to indicate a genuine bird I can only see that on balance this must be a wild bird.

There are six accepted British records of Blue Rock Thrush as follows:

• 4th-8th June 1985 - Skerryvore Lighthouse, SSW of Tiree, Argyll. Male.
• 4th June 1987 - Moel-y-gest, Gwynedd. Male.
• 14th-15th October 1999 - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Male.
• 25th October 1999 - Cot Valley, Cornwall. Male (possibly same bird as the Isles of Scilly bird)
• 14th-18th May 2000 - Geevor, Pendeen, Cornwall. First-summer female.
• 11th April 2007 - Elan Valley, Powys. Male

Interestingly all these are of birds in the west of the British Isles perhaps making the Stow-on-the-Wold bird a little less surprising in terms of its geographical location although the time of the year is at odds with the other British records. Surely, the spring records are of overshooting migrants from the south and therefore of the same race as the Stow-on-the-Wold bird?

Blue Rock Thrush - Number 9 Maugersbury Park, Stow-on-the-Wold

After getting my fill of the Blue Rock Thrush I headed for Kingsway in Quedgeley where up to 40 Waxwing had been present since the 24th January. I spent a fair bit of time looking around the orchard and playing field with no success and being gripped off by the locals pointing to where they had seen the birds. Eventually six Waxwing flew north overhead and appeared to land in the nearby estate but despite trying to relocate the birds I did not see them again. It was time to head to the cottage and open a bottle of red wine.