Pectoral Sandpiper on an Isles Of Scilly Day Trip

I visited the Isles of Scilly on a day trip back in September 2014 and had a great day out and it is something I have wanted to do again but have never managed to get around to doing. However I decided that this would be the year for a revisit and so on Wednesday 12th September I headed off on the early train from Plymouth to Penzance, arriving in Penzance at 08:15hrs to board the Scillonian ferry at 08:45hrs. The ferry ticket only cost me £25 due to a special day trip offer for residents of Devon and Cornwall only, a bargain price. It was a grey, cool and mizzly morning and as I settled in on a seat on the top deck of the ferry I felt a little nauseated, a combination of lack of sleep, too much caffeine, excitement, anticipation and a bit of anxiety about potentially arriving late on the train and missing the boat.

I scanned around Mounts Bay while waiting for the ferry to leave and noted an immature/eclipse male eider diving in the harbour while gannets, kittiwakes, Mediterranean gulls and 2 Sandwich terns were flying around offshore but more interesting was a stream of Manx shearwaters flying low over the water and heading west in the far distance.

The ferry headed off at 09:15hrs and soon we were offshore amongst the Manx shearwaters as we sailed along the Cornish coastline, there must have been 2000+ present, and as I scanned through them as they passed by I managed to pick out 3 Balearic shearwater. Even better were the 9 sooty shearwaters I picked out too, 1 of which gave a great view as it sheared low over the water right in front of the ferry. A few distant auks were also picked up flying low over the water along with a common tern, a few fulmar and a few brief glimpses of harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphins and tuna. As we passed the Wolf Rock lighthouse the sightings became much more sporadic with the odd gannet, Manx shearwater and herring gull seen and before long we were arriving in Hugh Town on St.Marys at just before 12:00hrs.

I decided to walk out to Porthellick Pool first, somewhere I haven't visited before, and while walking through Lower Moors on the way there I saw a few swallows overhead and some moorhen on the pool in front of the hide. A few speckled wood were flitting about amongst the sheltered trees, being the Scilly form of speckled wood (Pararge aegeria insula) and not the mainland form (Pararge aegeria tircis), noticeably more orange toned than the yellow toned mainland form. I had seen them before on previous visits but hadn't realised that they were a subspecies and so I was very glad to see and photograph them.

 Speckled Wood - P.a.insula (Scilly, 2018)

Speckled Wood - P.a.tircis (Exmouth, 2017)

Arriving at the hide at Porthellick Pool I quickly found the reported pectoral sandpiper feeding unconcernedly right in front of the hide where it gave some fantastic views.

 Pectoral Sandpiper

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

Pectoral Sandpiper

Also seen from the hide were 3 snipe, a grey wagtail and a common sandpiper along with a few mallard and more swallows overhead.

 Snipe

 Snipe

 Snipe

 Snipe and Pectoral Sandpiper

Grey Wagtail

Onwards to the golf course to look for the reported buff breasted sandpipers but I was out of luck although I did find 3 wheatear, a whinchat, 2 stonechat, a kestrel and linnets and goldfinches while enjoying the stunning scenery.

I returned to the hide at Porthellick Pool but the pectoral sandpiper had moved further away to the back of the pool and so after a brief look I walked onwards to the airfield to see if the buff breasted sandpipers were there but again there was no sign of them although I did find another wheatear along with chiffchaff and blackcap.

It was time to return to Hugh Town to catch the return ferry and I walked back via Lower Moors where a nice spotted flycatcher showed very well, being given a lot of hassle from a robin, and song thrush, house sparrow, collared dove, blackbird and wren were all seen too along with a very well marked large white butterfly.

 Spotted Flycatcher

Large White

My 4 hour stay on the island was nearly up and I boarded the ferry for the trip back to Penzance for the 16:15hrs sailing, far too short a time but it had been a very interesting and pleasant few hours. While waiting for the ferry to set sail a small flock of house sparrows were feeding on scraps around the feet of the passengers, most flew back to the quayside as we sailed away but 3 decided to stay and travelled with us all the way to Penzance - maybe a regular occurrence?

Hitchhiking House Sparrow

The sun was beginning to shine from behind the clearing cloud cover and I was looking forward to the return trip. A few gannets and Manx shearwaters were seen again as we neared the Wolf Rock Lighthouse along with a few common dolphins, they were mostly secretive with brief views only but one pod was very showy with lots of leaping out of the water. As we sailed along the Cornish coastline again I was disappointed to see that the shearwaters and gannets were much closer to shore this time and viewing them was difficult into the wind, in the harsh light and at distance and so I concentrated on the seaward side of the boat where I did pick up a Balearic shearwater and a sooty shearwater amongst the Manx shearwaters flying by.

Arriving back at Penzance in the fading light and I had had a great day out again, one I really must make sure I repeat again next year.

Scillonian Ferry back in Penzance