Isles of Scilly Day Trip, Tuesday September 17th

With the weather forecast set fair for September 17th I booked my ferry and train tickets on the 16th for my day trip to The Scillies and indeed the weather was good - warm and mostly sunny with a gentle breeze.

After an 04:45 hrs alarm call and a train journey down to Penzance the ferry sailed out of Penzance Harbour at 09:15 hrs where 4 male and a female eider duck were bobbing about on the waves, the males either immatures or eclipse plumaged adults.

The crossing was as enjoyable as always although there were far fewer seabirds seen than on my last 2 trips. There were plenty of gannets with a few fulmar, guillemots, Manx shearwaters, distant auks and 2 ringed plovers along with a few pods of common dolphins, one of which came towards the ferry to bow ride.

Common Dolphins from The Scillonian

On arriving at St. Mary's at Midday I decided to stay on the island and look for a juvenile red-backed shrike being seen near Porth Hellick. Unfortunately the shrike had been seen around 30 minutes before I got there but had been flushed by walkers and had flown off - despite searching I didn't refind it and indeed it wasn't reported again. I did manage to see a spotted flycatcher, a whinchat and a whitethroat but the highlight was a wryneck pointed out to me by a couple of local birders which showed very well at times. Also seen were stonechats, swallows, chiffchaffs, blackcaps, house martins and song thrush.

 Spotted Flycatcher, St.Mary's

 Wryneck, Whitethroat and Stonechats

Wryneck and Whitethroat

Juvenile Swallow

A few butterflies were seen flitting about - large whites including a mating pair and some caterpillars feeding on nasturtiums, small whites, a peacock and quite a few speckled woods of the Scilly form.

 Large White

 Large White Caterpillars

Speckled Wood - Scilly form

A green sandpiper was a nice find from the hide at Porth Hellick Pool along with a snipe and 2 grey wagtails but time was marching on and it was soon time to head back to Hugh Town to catch the 16:30hrs ferry back to Penzance.

The ferry crossing back to Penzance was enjoyable too with gannets, fulmar, Manx shearwaters and guillemots seen along with 3 juvenile kittiwakes, a great skua and a razorbill plus the usual common dolphins.

Arriving back in Penzance and St. Michael's Mount was looking gorgeous in the setting sun and I eventually arrived back home at 22:45hrs having had a very long and tiring but very enjoyable day out.

 St. Michael's Mount

 St.Michael's Mount

Juvenile Herring Gull, Penzance Harbour