Sunstep

Another brilliantly sunny and vaguely mild day today, following a pretty good one yesterday where a wander towards Hugh Town saw a Whinchat and 2 Black Redstarts on Porthmellon and another 2 ‘Black Reds’ on Town Beach while 3 Raven flew over (the most I’ve seen together still my return – but I think there’s 4 kicking about) . Old Town churchyard felt rare but provided only singularities of Chiffchaff and Blackcap form.

Today felt good. Probably because it was sunny and still – so felt good to be in! The moth traps contained more migrants however diversity was low with 68 Rusty Dot Pearl, 4 Rish Veneer and 11 White-speck. Post trapping the temperature increased drawing out the male Red-veined Darter but besides that the garden was quiet: 1 White Wagtail, 2 Skylark, 1 Swallow, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Raven.

Red-green Carpet

Angle Shades

 

Red-veined Darter on Novermber 4th!

News of a new Wilson’s Snipe down at Lower Moors tickled my fancy so I popped down late morning for a gander. On route to the hides there was plenty of Chiffchaff and 2 Reed Bunting calling to each other near the Hilda Quick hide. A male Red-veined Darter was also along this bit of track but was way too flightly for pics unfortunately. Uponreaching the ISBG The Wilson’s Snipe showed well but semi-distantly with some nice comparative Common Snipe - with only bins I couldnt get all the features but it looked as good as the one thats been hanging around this autumn (whether or not this was the first or second bird I dont know! Looked different but I havnt seen the initial bird for a couple weeks) while a Greenshank jibbed out around the scrape:

Wilson's Snipe thing

This Greenshank was actually more entertaining than the Snipe!

Heading back out the hide I heard the ever present banging of tools echoing across from Old Town..no wait, that’s a bird! The heavy acro check/tik wasn’t in Old Town but in the reeds, it must be the Great Reed! And low and behold there it was sitting in a sallow around 50yds away where I quickly rattled off 4 record shots while broadcasting the news.

Great Reed Warbler (presumably the ringed bird) Lower Moors

This absolute bruiser of a warbler seemed unsettled, but inquisitive as it flew from bush to bush, closer and closer until it popped up in the reeds 10ft away! Just me and the bird, fantastic! It then carried on along it’s course moving across the track and towards the Hilda Quick hide where I lost it but could still hear it, then it stopped and totally vanished – cue the arrival of birders, bloody typical!

On my way back through Lower Moors 2 Yellow-browed Warblers were having a nice call to each other while the Dusky Warbler for once, showed well and then disappeared Great Reed styley. All I can say is that’s the best 2 hours spent I’veat Lower Moors pretty much ever!

Halloween Monster!

Okay so Halloween over, not that I really noticed it occurring – well until a monster hit a net at Porthellick! An early morning call had us rushing down to the ringing station for some ubergrip in the hand Great Reed Warbler action. And what a ball blowing monster it was! Aged adult (and checked for being anything even rarer) it showed well in the hand and, once released in nearby Elms before vanishing. Cheers to Jim and Jaclyn who extracted, processed and gave us some grand views of this monster.

Jaclyn doing the honours.

Check that wear.

WHAT A MONSTER! awesome.

You would not want to start on this one - proper 'rum bugger'.

Emarginate this.

Lovely morning for a Great Reed...

Birds were particularly evident in the morning sunshine with tons of Chiffchaff around Porthellick to complement the Teal and 3 Greenshank sunbathing on the pool. But most surprising was the Whinchat (and Great Spotted Woodpecker) at Higher Moors. Holy Vale was just as packed with Passeriformes including Yellow-browed Warber, 24 Chiffchaff and some Goldcrest.

3 Species, 1 cup.

Late Whinchat. Stonk

The sunny relatively still condition obviously tempted some movement with 6 Skylark, a few Redwing (mainly heard) and 5 Siskin passing overhead. Garden wise the Common Buzzard was sitting on ‘its’ branch, while a White Wagtail was doing its thang. Other avian shapes were a female Merlin at Trenoweth.

Falco...

But today was always going to be about the little chitonous buggers the insects and we weren’t disappointed! Overnight the moth traps caught a bumper haul of  migrants among the 25 species, 241 moths - including 105 Rusty Dot Pearl, 2 Rush Veneer, 1 Palpita vitrealis 1 Turnip Moth, 1 Dark Sword-grass, 4 Delicate, 12 White-speck and 3 Silver Y.

Insect weather here on Scilly

But the best was yet to come (as always) with a Red-veined Darter in the garden and round at Innisidgen along with 25+ Silver Y, 10 Red Admiral, 3 Peacock, 1 Painted Lady and a frustratingly brief Blue butterfly sp.  

Not another Red-veined Darter pic...

Peacock loving the Granite.

Painted Lady showing us her abdomen.

A michelin star of a tasty atlantic low is hitting tomororw, but until then it's SE winds and warm temperatures. I suspect more bird and insect madness is on route. Long-tailed Shrike and Southern Migrant Hawker. Yes please.