Time off between jobs afforded me the luxury of a few days on the Isles of Scilly earlier this week. My last visit was a two day stay in 2017 with David Bradnum, the highlight of which was seeing a
Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush on St Martin's. That bird was a riot of red, white and blue - red tail and breast, blue head and a white blaze on the back. So as I booked tickets for the sailing of Scillonian III on Monday there was a certain symmetry in knowing that the rarest bird on the islands this time was the closely related Blue Rock Thrush, a species with which I became very familiar on our
summer holiday to Mallorca.
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| Blue Rock Thrush on the Garrison |
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| The Blue Rock Thrush could often be seen from distance thanks to its habit of perching on prominent boulders |
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| The Blue Rock Thrush was aged as a first winter, looking quite brown in certain lights |
Scillonian III made good time with a largely uneventful crossing being punctuated by a pod of Common Dolphin and, as we approached St Mary's, a small group of Harbour Porpoise. On arrival I headed straight for the Garrison where the Blue Rock Thrush had been seen earlier in the day. It was reportedly moving clockwise around the Garrison, and after not too long I caught up with it between the Woolpack Battery and Steval.
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| I had never seen Harbour Porpoise this far out of the water before |
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| A snub nose and small dorsal fin identify this as Harbour Porpoise |
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| Harbour Porpoise |
I had read various horror stories about visiting birders taking days to see this bird so I was perhaps fortunate to walk straight up to it. It was, however, clearly a very skittish bird, but as we sat quietly at the end of the bay it was feeding in, it paid us the courtesy of flying towards us at one point, enabling a few passable photos to be taken with the aid of a teleconverter.
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| Citrine Wagtail |
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| Note the complete pale border around the cheek and broad wing bars |
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| Just a hint of yellow on the vent of this bird |
My other main target for the day was a Spotted Crake which had been giving good views at Lower Moors. I spent an hour there without success before breaking news of a Citrine Wagtail saw me heading off in the direction of Salakee Farm. This newly discovered rarity didn't play ball at first, feeding in long grass at the feet of cattle at the back of a field on a convex slope which made viewing difficult. For no apparent reason though it took flight, calling distinctively, and landed just in front of the assembled birders.
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| Wren |
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| Spotted Crake, Lower Moors |
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| Very long toes on this bird! |
On the way back to my B&B in Hugh Town I called in at Lower Moors again where, thanks to a shout from Pete Aley, I enjoyed extended views of the Spotted Crake preening out in the open at close range. So an excellent start to the trip, with both of the main target birds seen well and a bonus breaking rarity thrown in.
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| The Spotted Crake preened out in the open |
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| This went on for several minutes |
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| A rare view of the underwing of a Spotted Crake |
