Possible EASTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL on St Mary's

Two days ago another possible Wilson's Snipe was at Lower Moors in the evening but there has been  no sign of it since then.

  At 07.40, I drove out of my drive and almost ran over a Merlin that was sitting at the side of the track on it's kill!! It was that crazy female that is not afraid of humans. I was late for my taxi and quickly snapped off some shots before picking up guests. Later in the morning, Nigel Hudson and I kicked the Standing Stones Field and got 3+Reed Bunting and 4+Whinchat. Later in the afternoon I had an hour off and there were good numbers of Chiffchaff feeding out in the warm sun at the airport end of Lower Moors. There were also 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Tree Pipit, 30+Chiffchaff and 2 Yellow Wagtail. 

Unfortunately the light was dark as this female Merlin fed on the Song Thrush under the pines just outside my home and the sun was just coming up. It's possible that the Song Thrush that the Merlin has killed could be one of the individuals that comes in my digs and hangs out with me! 

There were possibly 4 Reed Bunting in the Standing Stones Field

Only a handful of Goldcrest in Lower Moors

2 Sparrowhawk flew over Lower Moors

  I then had a private plane coming in and up in the control tower, waiting for the plane to arrive, I stepped outside onto the platform and heard a eastern 'type' Yellow Wagtail. I was thinking of maybe a Black/Grey-headed Wagtail but when it landed on the runway I could see that I had a possible EASTERN WAGTAIL. A Plane came in and it took flight and buzzed around the tower, calling all the time. I raced down to where the horses were but it never settled and flew off. Two other birders had been watching it in the horse paddock before I heard it and thought that it also looked good for an Eastern Wagtail. I returned shortly afterwards and with Mark, we walked the airfield when it had closed. All we got were 3 Skylark, 4 Wheatear and 1 Whinchat. Later on I discovered that the possible Eastern wagtail was seen at Lower Moors after it left the airport and before this, on the football pitch at 11.00 this morning.

4 Wheatear were on the airfield

While I was in the tower, this Black Redstart hit a plane as it came into land but was released shortly afterwards. Up to 6 Black Redstart arrived on scilly today

  Yesterday an Aquatic Warbler was discovered in braken next to the coastal path at Porth Mellon. Shortly afterwards Lawrence Pitcher found a Greenish Warbler at Broweth followed by a Red-throated Pipit at Periglis Beach, St Agnes! I gave the Aquatic a miss as there were other birds to be found and all I could come up with was a Spotted Flycatcher at Rose Hill. Only the Greenish Warbler was still present today.

Spotted Flycatcher

Stonechat

  Two days ago at 17.00, news came out that there was greyish snipe at Lower Moors. As I was nearby I thought I would go and have a look. Other observers thought it was just a Common Snipe and when I was asked what I thought I said that I thought it looked good for a Wilson's Snipe. James Lidster was asking for photos of the snipe to be sent over on the WhatsApp group. I obliged and sent over some snaps saying that it looks good and thought that it could be the same possible Wilson's. The light was dull but Jim came back on the Scilly Bird News WhatsApp group and thought that it was also a Common Snipe. Everyone moved on and I had a few minutes to get to football. An hour later I opened my mobile and it was packed with WhatsApp messages on the Group. There were more better photos put on the group shortly afterwards, including a underwing shot, and this time Jim came back with the snipe in question looks good for a Wilson Snipe and it's a different bird from the individual last week! Ideal!! But we still need to get upperwing and spread tail shots.

 

The second possible Wilson's Snipe at Lower Moors in less than a week. Last weeks individual has not been seen again since it was first seen.

  Three days ago on Sunday, Paul Stancliffe and I went birding on St Mary's all day with the only break being a cracking roost cooked by Mary and his lovely wife, Abbey. The first half of the day, Elliot Mudd joined us and shortly after 08.00, Paul had relocated the Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the Salkee fields viewed from the eastern runway on the airfield. We made our ways into the field where we also had a Firecrest, 2 Reed Bunting fly through with a Ring Ouzel flying north. The day before I had at Porth Hellick 2 Yellow-browed Warbler but we couldn't find them and instead went to look at the Barred Warbler that was found also yesterday. The Barred Warbler was showing very well in the Sallows just to the left of the gate as you go out onto the beach and Skylarks were flying in off the sea in small numbers with a total of over 20 in an hour.  Nearby, we flushed a Jack Snipe at Carn Friars and then made our ways to Lower moors, dropping off Elliot in town. Learning on the gate we scanned and had two buntings on the distant brush. One was clearly a Reed Bunting but the other we thought looked good for a Little Bunting. The buntings both disappeared in the brush and when we ventured in for a closer look all we had were 4 Whinchat and 2 Yellow Wagtail overhead but we couldn't find the buntings and with the very distant brief views we observed we were happy that it was a Little Bunting and put the news out. However, we had to go as we were late for dinner.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Salkee

This male Ring Ouzel flying north over the airfield was my first of the year

There were at least 10 Wheatear on the airfield 

This Barred Warbler showed well at Porth Hellick

This Raven was pushed off by the 2 resident Carrion Crow at Porth Hellick

  Paul and I returned to the field with our bellies full and we had nothing of note in the Pelistry area and at content we could only manager a single Spotted Flycatcher, 5 Blackcap and 100+Meadow pipit. As there were now 2 juvenile Rose-coloured Starling on St Martins we scanned the many flocks of Starling to nothing. In this time the Little Bunting was being seen on and off with now 2 Reed Bunting by other observers.

On the 5th, a Scilly record of 6 Cattle Egret showed up on Tresco Great Pool. The following morning one of these birds split and in the rain was looking sorry for itself on the football pitch, Garrison, St Mary's. Just before the egrets were found on Tresco, Graham Gordon had a Glossy Ibis over St Agnes before flying NW towards Annet with a Peregrine close behind.

Throughout the day the Cattle Egret was seen mainly in the NE of Mary's and while I was at Porth Hellick watching 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, news came on that the egret was in the cattle field at the Higher Moors end of Holy Vale. From here I had cracking views before it flew off towards Porth Hellick.

On Porthloo Beach I had an interesting Oystercatcher with brown underparts. 

New single 'Body' out now Julia Jacklin (born 1990) is an Australian singer/songwriter based in Sydney, Australia. She gained an audience and significant critical acclaim through her first two singles 'Pool Party' and 'Coming of Age' which both received radio airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music.^[8] She has been touring extensively since March 2016 in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, appearing at various festivals (most notably End of the Road Festival, Electric Picnic and South by Southwest). She has played headline gigs and has also supported artists such as Whitney, Marlon Williams and Okkervil River.^[9] In 2016, Rolling Stone Australia tipped Jacklin as one of their "Future Is Now" artists,^[10] while Triple J nominated her for a J Award for Unearthed Artist of the Year.^[11] Jacklin didn't really consider herself a full-time musician until August 2016 when she really started touring and figured she couldn't work her regular job anymore.^[12]