Nice weather for ducks...

...and geese, not to mention swans, on the Isles of Scilly last week. Not bad enough to stop us getting out every day though. The hides at Porth Hellick often provided shelter from frequent showers, and, conveniently, this also seemed to be the waterbird hotspot for the week. The pool attracted:

11 Whooper Swans - an adult and 2 juvs shown here

Whooper Swan is a scarce bird on Scilly...

...though 6 were also on Tresco at the same time.

A small flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese - all young birds judging by the absence of black patches on their bellies.

Initially wary, they stayed in the most well-hidden corner of Porth Hellick Pool...

 

...but on my second visit they came very close to the hide. A rare bird on Scilly.



2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese also came in with the Geese (another Scilly scarcity, though slightly commoner than its Dark-bellied cousin, of which I saw four on the sea off St Mary's)



The pair of Pale-bellied Brent Geese together

And finally, an actual duck - a female Ring-necked - surprisingly rare perhaps given how many turn up on the mainland, but still the most common trans-Atlantic duck to appear on the islands