Scilly Birding

Just starting to sort through some photos from last week's awesome trip to the Isles of Scilly. Never been to Scilly before, but with the chance of seeing a few rare birds in an amazing setting, it was surely something not to be missed.

For some reason, I never plan things in advance, so didn't book the trip till about a week before I was planning on going. Not surprisingly, most places on St. Mary's were booked up, but last minute I stumble upon a small, family run B+B, situated in the centre of the action, just a two minute walk back from Hugh Town- handy after a night on cornish ale. Only downside is that I didn't get out into the field until half nine every morning... fresh caught pollock, homemade sausages, and fresh baked fried bread; didn't want to leave the house. Seriously though, really friendly B+B, honest price, April Cottage is definitely one to try if your heading down this way.

Without a pager, I was pretty much reliant on the island grapevine, and the sightings called out at the Scillonian club bird log every night. The result was a more chilled approach, spending more time looking for birds, and less time running after birds. This seemed to be working surprisingly well, and day one already produced self-found Wryneck, Yellow-browed Warbler, and a co-found Buff-bellied Pipit.

I must admit, I have an undeniable love for waders. The problem is we're slightly wader deprived down here in London, so the next two days were pretty much just spent around St. Mary's, lying in mud, photographing any waders I could find. A Dotterel and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper happened to be sharing the same feeding space out on Peninnis Head (seriously, it's a real place, look it up) for most of the week, affording some brilliant views with a bit of patience...

St. Mary's airfield is a real magnet for scarcer waders and grassland birds, with the likes of Curlew Sandpiper and this smart juvenile American Golden Plover turning up during the week...

A piece of grass Richard's Pipit was on Peninnis Head all week, feeding with the huge Meadow Pipit flocks...

Buff-bellied Pipit was a chance find for the three of us who waited around on Peninnis Head to stake out the Buff-breasted Sandpiper in failing light. Initially heard in flight, we finally managed to pin it down along the coastal path, after a nervous period of time spent scanning a never-ending Meadow Pipit flock, for what seemed like a needle in a haystack!

Rose-coloured Starling, Hooded Crow and Yellow-browed Warbler made up an attractive supporting cast around the islands, but all eluded the camera. As is standard for any kind of birding holiday, the best birds turned up on the day I boarded the Scillonian back home, with a Blackpoll Warbler and Solitary Sandpiper both kicking about the same spots on Bryher that I had walked past the previous day.

Still a fantastic experience, and one I wouldn't hesitate on doing next spring/autumn. Bear with for some photos of the commoner stuff, as well as the excellent scenery.

Hi From Scilly

It's raining outside, and I've managed to take cover in one of the only shops in St. Mary's to have a usable computer. Whilst I'm not doing much, here's a few taster photos from the first two days on Scilly.

The weather has been a bit disappointing, but that hasn't stopped the birds. Whilst photographing a Yellow-browed Warbler in torrential rain yesterday, the camera decided to jump out my hands and take a dunk in a nearby stream. It functioned for a while after that, but soon the buttons stopped working, and now it won't even turn on. Nightmare. These two were taken before the watery accident- luckily the memory card that was in the camera at the time is completely fine, and the lens had a waterproof cover on at the time... why didn't the bloody camera body think of that?

Now back to using my trusty old back-up Nikon D60. An absolute life saver of a DSLR, never let me down... touch wood.

Be Right Back

... just going to the Isles of Scilly to indulge in a well deserved week of hardcore birding. Should be interesting.

Here's a Migrant Hawker to fill this space in the meantime; never seen one at rest before.

Yeah, I'm Still Alive

Quite a fair bit has changed since my last post back at the end of August. Got my A-level results - they weren't bad, but a D in Biology was a bit disappointing, so I'm planning on heading back to college to re-take the exams I flopped.

In the meantime though, I've got a nice long gap year to enjoy, and I've already booked myself in for full time retail at work over the Christmas period, so that should be extra fun. Before that though, I've decided to treat myself with a week away in a B+B on the Isles of Scilly in the second week of October. If all goes to plan, my arrival will coincide with the arrival of rare American vagrant birds, blown hundreds of miles across the Atlantic... can't wait.

Whilst I count down the days till twitching mania on Scilly, here's some stuff from Bushy Park the other morning...

18th Birthday Moths

As I write this, its uncomfortably warm outside, and I've had the worst hangover possible for most of today (the big old 18th last night... don't ask). Weirdly, I woke up this morning to the sight of a moth trap in the garden. I don't remember doing it, but it seemed that somehow, before I went out and did more stuff I don't remember doing, I must have registered the promisingly muggy, calm and warm conditions and put out a moth trap... that is the kind of thing you do before your 18th isn't it?

Anyway, there was some decent stuff waiting for me in the trap this morning, including a nice Hoary Footman, and an even nicer Gypsonoma minutana.

Back on the 16th August I was slightly more sober when I emptied the moth trap, and resting on the last egg box at the bottom was a Toadflax Brocade. It's quite a rare species in Britain, usually confined to shingle beaches along the south coast, but in recent years, wanderers have been turning up further inland, with the likelihood of localised breeding in Surrey and London. It's been on my garden wish list for a long time now, but I never thought it would actually turn up...

Another species that's been on the wish list for ages is Jersey Tiger. Unlike the Toadflax, Jersey Tiger already has a well established population in the London suburbs, so I was expecting it arrival to an extent. Still an absolute stunner, especially as its the scarcer form lutescens which has awesome yellow hindwings...

Hoary Footman- fighting off hoards of these at the moment...

Possibly the most wanted insect in Britain, Oak Processionary. DEFRA would have a fit if they knew how common the species is becoming in the garden...

Sallow Kitten...

Narrow-winged Pug...

Rush Veneer, a very common immigrant, but only the 3rd garden record...



Straw Belle and the Road Race

Encouraged by the recent excursions of blogger Steve Gale (of North Downs and Beyond) to Box Hill in search of rare lepidoptera, I couldn't help but make my own way up there on Monday, if it meant the possibility of catching up with my dream Surrey moths, the Straw Belle.

It may have the aesthetic appeal of a folden piece of white paper with two pencil scribbles down either side, and I'll admit it's not really much of a looker, but Straw Belle is the creme de la creme of rare moths, with an extremely restricted range covering just a few isolated sites in the North Downs (including one of the most reliable sites, Box Hill), along with a small isolated population in the west of Ireland.

The routing of the recent Olympic road race through Box Hill caused quite a stur, especially once it was released that crowds would be allowed onto the upper chalk slopes occupied by Straw Belle at this time of year.

On arrival, there were no obvious signs of damage to the wildflower slopes, and careful consideration had clearly been taken to ensure minimum disturbance to the most vulnerable areas, including the so called Straw Belle 'viewing point' below...

Despite a strong breeze, and spells of rain at times, at least 6 Straw Belle were weakly fluttering above the grassy slopes, dropping down to shelter on the underside of grass stems every few seconds. The caterpillars feed on low growing herbaceous plants, and it was worried that the high risk of trampling associated with large crowds could shatter breeding hopes when it came to egg laying on the foodplant. Of course, we'll have to wait until next year to note any possible adverse effects, but the condition of the hill, not to mention the lack of litter, was really pleasing to see...

With a slightly wider distribution throughout Britain that Straw Belle, but a similar restriction to chalky soils, Chalk Carpet were out in large numbers as well, but only started to settle for photographs once the rain kicked in...

A nice supporting cast of late summer butterflies were also about, including this slightly worse for wear Dark Green Fritillary...

Chalkhill Blue were staying low to the ground, perching for long periods of time on grass stems to shelter from the rain. I spent bloody ages with this one butterfly attempting to get an in-focus shot and the stem blew about in the wind. Not to dissatisfied with the results...

Never seen so many Silver-spotted Skipper before in my life...

Things Finally on the Tern?

Things haven't been looking too bad in the past few weeks. The moth trap has, rather surpringly, begun to catch some moths, and we've reached that time of year when everyone's favourite migrant birds start to return to the South coast, before ditching us again for hotter climes.

With a few hours free last Saturday, before another evening in front of the Olympics, I thought I'd try my luck down Richmond Park for a few early Whinchats or Wheatears that might have dropped down.

... No luck on that front, but a pair of Common Terns had successfully fledged at least two chicks on Pen Ponds, and there was a smart pair of Little Owls in oak trees a little further up, by the car park...

Sad to see the Olympics coming to an end tonight. I'm far from patriotic, but after watching Team GB's performance this year, it's hard not to feel a sense of pride in what the team has achieved this year. Watching the legendary likes of  Mo Farah make history in the 10,000 metres, and then go on to win the 5,000 metres the other night, and Jess Ennis winning Heptathlon gold, was a real priviledge to watch... not forgetting the cycling and rowing success, and of course the Jamaicans, laughing their way to more incomprehensible world records.

T.V. will be boring for another 4 years, and I guess I'll have to get outside into the field again. A trip down Box Hill for Straw Belle, me thinks.

Moths

The weathers a hell of a lot better, and without further ado, here are some garden moths to celebrate with...

Small Ranunculus...

Dark Sword-grass...

Leopard Moth...

Coronet...

Hoary Footman...

White-point...

Recurvaria nanella...

Eudemis profundana...

Gypsonoma oppressana...

Enarmonia formosana...

Lozotaeniodes formosanus...

Just let this be a warning. Whenever I have nothing to blog about, I'm just going to throw moths at you... like now.