Finally embarked on my first trip to Scilly today! The target lifer was a semipalmated sandpiper, a species I've missed in the UK on multiple occasions. The american golden plover on St Mary's would also be a good year tick for me, but really I just wanted to get the lay of the land before I decide to stay for more than a day.
Arrived in Penzance at around 8am, and before the ship departed, I'd picked up singles of Eider, Arctic Tern and Kingfisher in and around Penzance Harbour.
Once we were heading around the Southwest tip of Cornwall we came across some large rafts of seabirds, mostly Gannets and Manx Shearwaters, plus a few pods of Common Dolphin. In amongst the rafts, I picked out a few Kittiwake, 2 Balearic Shearwaters, 7 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Great Skuas, 1 Arctic Skua and a flock of Common Scoter. At one point, one shearwater flock suddenly took flight as a very long dark shape emerged from the water before submerging again.I never saw a dorsal fin however, so couldn't confirm the Id. The last hour and a half of the journey was very uneventful with a few Guillemots and Razorbills, and singles of Manx Shearwater, Kittiwake and Grey Wagtail on the Approach to Scilly.
On landing at St Mary's, I promptly headed towards Lower Moors. Another birder kindly gave me a lift to Old Town, and put me in the right direction. On arrival in the Hilda Quick Hide, the SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER was giving point blank views, through was frequently behind vegetation. After a while, it started to wander away from us, so I wandered north along the path, mistakenly thinking there was another hide looking out onto this pool. Whilst wandering back to the hide, I heard a familiar call. With a bit of patience I'd clamped eyes on the Yellow-Browed Warbler! A very welcome find, my first for the year and only the second on Scilly so far this Autumn.
I wandered back, by which time, the Semipalmated Sand was now showing even closer to the next hide and in better light, allowing me to get some great shots through the scope:
I wandered over towards Porth Hellick for the AGP. There were plenty of Wheatears along the cliffs, however I didn't make it all the way as I was short on time. I did scan the beach from a distance but no luck.
I headed back to St Mary's and boarded the Scillonian. I had several Gannets and Sandwich Terns from the ship as we departed. The first hour or so was more eventful than the trip over with several Manx Shearwaters and Fulmars. Eventually I picked out a single Storm-Petrel showing fairly close to the ship, though a scope was really required. I was pretty pleased with this year tick, as I hadn't expected to get any today. Shortly after, I picked out a second stormie, though the difference in wing shape was immediately obvious. The wings were more pointed with a straight trailing edge, a long sloped leading edge. I quickly attempted to find any white on the underwing. This bird was keeping much closer to the sea, and for a long time I couldn't make out the underwing, just the black upperwing which at times I thought showed a grey bar. It took me a while to realise that the white rump extended right down the flanks, giving the impression that I was looking at the top off the bird, when I was actually seeing the black underwings! The bird flew along side the boat for a good 5-10 minutes, giving me ample time to get all the features and nail it as WILSON'S PETREL! Definitely not something I expected to get!
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Most of the shearwaters off Porthgwarra had dispersed, with just 2 Balearic Shearwaters of note. Returning to Penzance harbour, I had a flock of Turnstones and great views of a Common Dolphin alongside the boat.
A fantastic place, I'll definitely come back for the next rarity, or maybe to stay for a few days over October. I would certainly recomend the use of a scope on Scillonian when the sea's not too rough - I saw at least 5 other birders on there today, all using binoculars and I'm sure they wouldn't have been able to get most of the birds I picked out.
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