ORTOLAN BUNTING at Little Porth

                                                                   

1st winter ORTOLAN BUNTING showing off at Little Porth

  Yesterday during gale force easterlies with heavy downpours, Phil Parsons found a 1st winter ORTOLAN BUNTING at Little Porth Beach. This morning the bird was still present and with others I went to have a look at it. When I got there it was feeding on the beach, but soon moved on to the path above the beach where it showed down to a few meters in the calmer sunny conditions. Before this while waiting for the chopper to come in at the airport, a Ruff circled the airfield and then flew off NW towards the golf course. At the latter site yesterday I had 2 Yellow and 20+White Wagtail, 50+Meadow Pipit and a single Skylark.

 

 

Watching the bunting on Little Porth

  I was giving 45 minutes off work this afternoon and had a stroll around the Garrison. Up to 5 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 20+Meadow Pipit, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Whitethroat and my first Redstart of the year. An hour before dark I checked the fields behind me house and flushed a Quial at very close range and watch it land in the top left corner.

 

Up to 2 Humming-bird Hawkmoth and 30+Red Admiral were also on the Garrison

 The first Yellow-browed Warbler of the Autumn was at Lower Moors and the third CITRINE WAGTAIL of the year was on Tresco Great Pool. 2 Barred Warbler included one found by Mick Turton at Giants Castle, who went on to find a Wryneck at Nearby Tolman's. The other Higgo had at the Fruit Cage, St Agnes, who also had a Wryneck at Porth Killier. A juvenile ROSE-COLOURED STARLING at Porth Hellick may be the St Martins bird.


  Yesterday in the afternoon I got a text from Graham Gorden who is on Fair Isle at the moment. Half an hour later the pager went off mega 'MAGNOLIA Fair Isle!!' I called him immediately 'You know about the Magnolia? 'What the one I'm watching now!' It's ironic that the only other UK record was just down the road from Graham's digs, 31 years ago on St Agnes! This morning there was no sign of the warbler. However, Graham went and found a Paddyfield Warbler.

  Another birder from the Scillies, Will Scott, found the WHITES THRUSH on the Farnes today. Read his amazing account and have a look at that face!
 http://dub-birder.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/white-magic.html#comment-form

 

 

This Starling came to a very sad end 

Sigur Rós (Icelandic pronunciation:is an ambient/post-rock band from Reykjavík, Iceland, who has been active since 1994. Known for its ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals, and the use of bowed guitar, the band's music is also noticeable for its incorporation of classical and minimalist aesthetic elements. The band is named after Jónsi's sister Sigurrós. This song 'Olsen Olsen' is from the documentary and double DVD Heima (Icelandic pronunciation: at home) set about the tour around Iceland in the summer of 2006. During the tour the band played two big open-air concerts at Miklatún, as well as small scale concerts. In addition, a protest concert against the Kárahnjúkar dam was performed at Snæfellsskála . The documentary also includes footage of an acoustic concert played for family and friends at Gamla Borg, a coffee shop in the small town Borg, on 22 April 2007. The documentary premiered in Iceland at the Reykjavík International Film Festival opening day, 27 September 2007. The DVD has sold 5,000 copies in Canada earning it a Gold Award under the Video Certifications On May 27, 2011 the band released an official HD-quality version of Heima on their website, available as digital download in QuickTime forma