First spring EASTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL for Britain!

Scott Reid did a great job in finding and identifying the 5th Scilly and first spring record for Britain  of EASTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL at Lower Moors two days ago.  

  After gale force winds from the east over the weekend it was no surprise that some good birds turned up and it started off two days ago on the 16th  when Scott Reid found an interesting flava wagtail with a raspy call in a reedy/marshy area north of the board walk after the hides at Lower Moors. Scott called me to ask me to try and relocate it as it had gone missing and he had to go. An hour later I found it in the same spot where Scott last saw it by it calling like a Yellow Wagtail very quietly in the reeds out of sight. It then flew up into the near willows, it gave a alarm call that didn't sound raspy but maybe more like alba wagtail. Sat in the willows it looked like a female type Blue-headed Wagtail. Scott appeared and asked what I thought of the bird and I really had no idea. We observed it for a good few minutes before it flew across in front of us, calling, and landed out of sight in some willows. Both of us had our mobiles on record and got that 'buzzy' call. However, as I had a flave wagtail with a similar call last year in September and shared the recording with others, it was thought to just be a Yellow Wagtail. So I thought that it was a Yellow Wagtail with a sore throat. To me it didn't sound like the Eastern Yellow Wagtails from last year or any 'eastern' type flava wagtails of heard in the past. How wrong was I when later on from the recording on sonogram proved it to be an EASTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL. Also we had photos of a long hind claw and what appears to be a pale base to the bill/

Note long hind claw and what appears to be a pale base to the bill

1st summer EASTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL

   Scott put the news out immediately of the wagtail when he first saw it and while Robin was searching for it after it had gone missing, he observed an adult Night Heron fly into the Standing Stones field and land in the SE end. A few of us arrived and watched it fly off to Old Town Bay. Here it was quickly relocated and made a short flight towards Tolmans point. Later that evening it was seen over Porth Hellick by other birders. Satisfied with good flight views, Joanne and I went to finish our dinner at Porthloo where we got a pair of Black Redstart.
  Later on there was a report of a Hoopoe, 30 minutes after the sighting when it was almost dark, on the airfield! A Wood Sandpiper was also on Tresco.

The lack of white plumes on this adult Night Heron identified it as a different individual from last week

The small crowd gathered for the Night Heron. John getting his breathe back after cycling on a child's bike all the way from Jacksons Hill!

There were a pair Black Redstart at Porthloo just before dark

   Yesterday morning I picked up a dead probable Western Subalpine Warbler off Paul St Pierre that he brought over from St Agnes after his children found it on a track towards the campsite and then I passed it onto Ren. Shortly afterwards the adult Night Heron was relocated roosting in sallows in the SE end of the Standing Stones Field. However, it was mid afternoon when Rob and Lucy Lambert observed it land in a hedge out in the open opposite the boatyard at the west end of Old Town Bay that I got to see it. It was soon on the deck on the edge of the small field where it showed superbly at close range for the small crowd present for the next two hours.
  A search for the reported Hoopoe on the airfield later, as expected, proved a waste of time but an unusual sight was a flyover Canada Goose.

The adult Night Heron showing off for all present

Probable Western Subalpine Warbler found dead on St Agnes. If DNA proves it to be a Western, it would be the first confirmed record fr Scilly out of the 70+records of Subalpine Warbler. 

Today this 1st male Pied Flycatcher turned up in the north pine belt of the golf course. Other birds seen today included Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Turtle Dove, all at Longstones and Will Scott found a female Subalpine Warbler sp nearby in fields behind Carreg Dhu Gardens. Also there was an Osprey on Bryher and the 2 Cattle Egret were still on Tresco.

This 4th year Yellow-legged Gull was sheltering from the gale force easterlies on the Garrison football field on the 13th

As this 1st summer Mediterranean Gull on the same day at Old Town Bay

Last week this male Ring Ouzel showed very well on the golf course but it was almost dark. Also had a female Redstart near by.

Sunset from the golf course

And Bants Carn

700 MILLION raised in a day for a building for people to pray to an invisible god in!! It seems like most people in the world believe that a building is more important than peoples lives!! Just think how many lives could of been saved from 700 MILLION!